The Freename Forum

Two search engine-related questions to start the content in this section of the forum:

1) Currently I have page 1 rankings in Google for "web3 NICHE" keywords like "web3 domains for sports" similar style keywords; but the traffic coming in is non-existent. In your opinion, at the time of this post (late April 2023), is the best way to get traffic from the search engines to be more generic? Example: attempt to rank in the top 3 spots in Google for question-based keywords such as "how to register a web3 domain?" and "why should I get a web3 domain?"

I am open to any suggestions for the keyword structure likely to generate clicks through our respective referral links.


2) At this time, are there any likely candidates to become the preferred search engine (like Google is now in web2) for the web3 world? I ask because in the late-1990's, before Google really even was being used, the competition for search engine traffic had platforms like Yahoo, MSN (later on Bing), Ask Jeeves, AOL's search engines, the last of Netscape's browser search traffic, and a few others including the late-1990's-style directory websites.

By web3 search engine, I mean something which can crawl and index web2 websites + web3 websites (websites based on Freename domains, Unstoppable domain websites, etc.), NFT's (at least on the main platforms like OpenSea & Rarible), blockchain transaction searches, virtual land NFTs (Upland, Decentraland, Earth2, etc.), and other web3 content not behind any password. Currently Google has a search engine for most content (web pages, Maps / Business listings, Images, Videos - in addition to YouTube, News, Books and more) - just nothing great in terms of searching for podcasts or audio files. Do you think that web3 search engines will be split up depending on the kind of content for which you are searching, or do you think that there will be a nearly "all-in-one" web3 search engine solution?

Thanks for your thoughts.

bullpen wrote:1) Currently I have page 1 rankings in Google for "web3 NICHE" keywords like "web3 domains for sports" similar style keywords; but the traffic coming in is non-existent. In your opinion, at the time of this post (late April 2023), is the best way to get traffic from the search engines to be more generic? Example: attempt to rank in the top 3 spots in Google for question-based keywords such as "how to register a web3 domain?" and "why should I get a web3 domain?"

I am open to any suggestions for the keyword structure likely to generate clicks through our respective referral links.

IMHO the problem is the keyword "web3 domains for sports". The monthly volume for it is zero search queries, e.g. in America.
As long nobody uses this keyword, you won't be able to generate any traffic with it.
Hence, your target should be to reach page one for frequently used keywords instead of place one for rarely used keywords.

bullpen wrote:2) At this time, are there any likely candidates to become the preferred search engine (like Google is now in web2) for the web3 world? I ask because in the late-1990's, before Google really even was being used, the competition for search engine traffic had platforms like Yahoo, MSN (later on Bing), Ask Jeeves, AOL's search engines, the last of Netscape's browser search traffic, and a few others including the late-1990's-style directory websites.

By web3 search engine, I mean something which can crawl and index web2 websites + web3 websites (websites based on Freename domains, Unstoppable domain websites, etc.), NFT's (at least on the main platforms like OpenSea & Rarible), blockchain transaction searches, virtual land NFTs (Upland, Decentraland, Earth2, etc.), and other web3 content not behind any password. Currently Google has a search engine for most content (web pages, Maps / Business listings, Images, Videos - in addition to YouTube, News, Books and more) - just nothing great in terms of searching for podcasts or audio files. Do you think that web3 search engines will be split up depending on the kind of content for which you are searching, or do you think that there will be a nearly "all-in-one" web3 search engine solution?

That is a most interesting question.

From my point of view, the race is still completely open, because the Web3 content is still in its very early beginning.

The following web3 search engines exist who are more in an experimental stage:

Algolia: https://www.algolia.com/
Neeva.XYZ: https://search.n.xyz/
Cyber project: https://cyb.ai/

Very interesting from the known Internet is the service from the popular browser Brave: https://search.brave.com/
They have partnered with Unstoppable Domains, which allows people to access more than 700k domains registered there.

Thank you for sharing those!

From the current SEO industry perspective there are tens of millions of dollars spent each year training current (and aspiring) SEO consultants. This ranges from products, courses, live training, software and services for topics ranging from link building & "tiered link building", press releases for SEO benefit, click-through-rate (CTR) manipulation software, Wordpress plugins for SEO, search engine result scraping & analysis software packages, and much more. I ask about web3 search engines as it is likely in the next 1-2 years there will be a demand from aspiring web3 marketers as well as local business owners for client services to help them get new customers/clients with web3. Also affiliate marketing will need a foothold in web3 as well, especially inside DAO's & NFT platforms.

I like some of Brave's features, but their inability to crawl/index Freename websites is frustrating. Hopefully we soon see one web3 search engine gain the capital fundraising to properly (and quickly!) index web3 content which offers at least basic value + still has the ability to handle regular web2 (or even web1) searches.

Thanks again for your list of the experimental stage search engines.

Expert wrote:

bullpen wrote:1) Currently I have page 1 rankings in Google for "web3 NICHE" keywords like "web3 domains for sports" similar style keywords; but the traffic coming in is non-existent. In your opinion, at the time of this post (late April 2023), is the best way to get traffic from the search engines to be more generic? Example: attempt to rank in the top 3 spots in Google for question-based keywords such as "how to register a web3 domain?" and "why should I get a web3 domain?"

I am open to any suggestions for the keyword structure likely to generate clicks through our respective referral links.

IMHO the problem is the keyword "web3 domains for sports". The monthly volume for it is zero search queries, e.g. in America.
As long nobody uses this keyword, you won't be able to generate any traffic with it.
Hence, your target should be to reach page one for frequently used keywords instead of place one for rarely used keywords.

Agreed! I am starting a new wave of keyword research in various tools: Google Trends, Google Suggest, regular Google KW Planner Tool, and some others. Hopefully I find some with current and/or growing monthly search volume (demand) and very little properly-optimized search engine competition (supply). Once I find those keywords with a favorable demand/supply balance then I will create content around those keywords, optimize, and then index + send referral traffic. Hopefully then I can get a "first mover's advantage" on competitors and also offer some really helpful content for the readers (or listeners/viewers if content in audio or video format).

I was hoping that keywords like "web3 NICHE" were starting to get traction in North America, but so far no search traffic volume as you indicated. Appreciate your thoughts and enjoy the rest of your weekend!

bullpen wrote:From the current SEO industry perspective there are tens of millions of dollars spent each year training current (and aspiring) SEO consultants. This ranges from products, courses, live training, software and services for topics ranging from link building & "tiered link building", press releases for SEO benefit, click-through-rate (CTR) manipulation software, Wordpress plugins for SEO, search engine result scraping & analysis software packages, and much more. I ask about web3 search engines as it is likely in the next 1-2 years there will be a demand from aspiring web3 marketers as well as local business owners for client services to help them get new customers/clients with web3. Also affiliate marketing will need a foothold in web3 as well, especially inside DAO's & NFT platforms.

I'm excited to see what happens when artificial intelligence takes over this work:

• Consumers will no longer be able to tell the difference between content generated by humans or by machines.
• When all publishers have access to artificial assistants, we will be bombarded with a lot of artificially generated information.
• The nature of marketers' work will change drastically. In the future, they will have to direct machines more than be creative themselves.

The AI will be interesting, but the question is if search engines will punish it (for not being original content) or reward it or a mixture? Regarding a "mixture" I mean that they will punish AI content if just copy/paste and posted on your website without some sort of editing; but they may reward it if used to generate auto-replies for FAQ inside a local business' Google Business (Maps) profile. The situation is still unfolding, but I wonder what AI content on web3 HTML websites will do for things like online affiliate marketing in the coming months.

Great points you brought up!