SEO math: When buying a $20,000 domain makes sense

Cyndy Aleo-Carreira — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 14:00:10 -0700

Search Engine Watch breaks down the potential value to a company of choosing to acquire a domain rather than build one up from scratch. When confronted with a $20,000 price tag for a domain acquisition, most clients would balk. However, Mark Jackson notes that based on a $2.50 cost per click (CPC) and a 10% click-thru rate for a keyword that generates 180,000 hits, AdWords for that same keyword phrase as the domain would cost a company $45,000.

Search engine optimization (SEO) is still scoffed at in many circles, but virtually every blog, media, and retailing Web site knows that a great deal of traffic comes from search engines. As the marketplace grows more crowded, a company's positioning in search engine results can make the difference between success and failure. However, domain squatters realize that domain acquisition may be cheaper for a company than an AdWords campaign, so the cost of acquiring domains from them may rise as well.

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SEO math: When buying a $20,000 domain makes sense

Cyndy Aleo-Carreira — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 14:00:10 -0700

More news, commentary, and predictions from The Industry Standard:

Analysis: Do journalism practices need to change for digital media?
News: Disqus version 2 addresses concerns and improves capabilities
News: Black-hat SEO: Google's Insights for Search "very valuable"