The DomainsBot study on parts of speech in domain names shows the power of using nouns in domain names. By looking 4304 domain names sold at AfterNIC, then breaking those names down into their constituent parts of speech, Emiliano Pasqualetti (with some assistance from me) was able to show which parts of speech are valuable.

In the graph above (and there are many more graphs in the data pages of the DomainsBot study), N = Noun, A = Adjective, V = Verb, O = other parts of speech and X = non-grammatical elements.

The results:

• Most domains names are made of components directly recognizable as a part of speech.
• The noun is clearly the most valuable part of speech in a domain name. One domain name in three contains a noun, and almost 70% of all domain names contain at least one noun.
• The value of a noun is shown most strikingly in domain names of one keyword: the average value of a one-keyword noun domain is $100 more than a verb, and $500 more than an adjective.
• Verbs and adjectives are the only relevant parts of speech apart from nouns. Verbs have a $400 higher average value than adjectives for domain names of one keyword, but for two- and three-keyword domains adjectives are worth more than verbs.
• For one-keyword domains, 60% of the total value came from non-lexical (words which don’t appear in dictionaries) domains, but the average value of lexical domains is nearly twice that of non-lexical domains.
• For two- and three-keyword domains, the value of non-lexical components shrinks considerably, both for total value and average value.
• Grammatical components other than nouns, verbs and adjectives (adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, etc.) are irrelevant to value.

I’m not sure if these results accord with people’s intuitions, because I haven’t heard anyone even conjecture a guess about parts of speech. But there are clearly patterns here that affect the value of domain names, and those in the domain name aftermarket should pay attention.

Posted by Antony in: Domains