Background

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has announced the future release of what they term generic top level domains (gTLDs). Adding to the current crop of top level domains such as .com, .org and .edu will be a potentially unlimited variety of new ones – think .coke, .samsung, or even more generically .insurance.

Applications for these new gTLDs will open on January 12, 2012, and will remain open for only four months, with applications closing on April 12, 2012. It’s a lengthy application process with a significant cost attached – each application, irrespective of whether it is approved or not, will cost $185,000 USD with a further annual fee of $25,000 USD.

If approved, you can expect your shiny new domain to be available by late 2013.

Our point of view

One of the key considerations will be what value it can add to a brand. With such a considerable investment required, would you be better served spending that budget elsewhere across your business? Other than protecting brand identity and increasing brand prominence, the change does not allow you to do much more than you already can in the world of .com.

The change may actually negatively impact a brand’s ability to be found. A consumer can currently reasonably expect to find a brand website by typing [yourbrandname].com, but with an unlimited mix of domains to choose from, it may be harder to guarantee a brand is discovered.

We expect multinational brands like Coca Cola to apply, and Canon have already stated they will apply for .canon but it is by no means a rule that brands should secure their own brand domain. Two dangers that brands may wish to consider when deciding whether to apply are the issues of cyber-squatting and phishing. In relation to the former, we expect the high application cost, plus the annual fee, combined with the lack of guarantee in securing a gTLD to deter potential cyber-squatters.

In the case where they do apply, we anticipate the vetting process to reject these types of applications. We do not yet know what ICANN’s dispute resolution around brand names will be if applications of this nature are accepted, and await further guidance.

The second area mentioned above is phishing. There is a risk that brand names may be secured as gTLDs by online scammers and used as another way of garnering trust in phishing cases. Here we would expect brands who are currently subject to phishing practices to increase their communications specifically concerning this area with their customers, much as they do now around the use of email addresses for example.

If there is an opportunity here, it may lie in the more generic gTLDs that might be bought, such as the .insurance example above, or .bank. In much the same way you can currently apply for a .com address through a myriad of suppliers, it is expected that these generic industry gTLDs will be bought up, potentially by trade bodies, and then resold back to the relevant verticals. Hopefully the approval process that ICANN will operate will protect brands from one specific competitor buying .shop for example and monopolising particular gTLDs.

Finally, there is likely to be a large impact on search, with both Google and other search engines altering their algorithms to address the changes and also natural search efforts optimising rankings will need to take this into consideration, albeit with the exact impacts unknown until the domains actually go live. Adding your brand to your domain name as a gTLD is unlikely to have a significant impact on results on brand searches as all brands should have top rankings in both paid and natural search. The effect of adding a keyword as the gTLD such as .insurance is less certain. Early this year Google said they would continue to downgrade keyword rich domains (such as cheapinsurance. co.uk) and logically this would apply to the new gTLDs as well.

From a paid search perspective, we expect gTLDs to have an impact on CTR, which will have a knock-on effect on quality scores and therefore costs. Relevancy will still be the main factor in determining ads’ quality and strategic selection of the new gTLDs will enhance a brand’s paid search presence. We foresee established brands making sure they have their new gTLDs covered; securing a generic .insurance or .shop domain may represent a significant competitive advantage in search results. For up and coming brands who don’t have an established brand equity in a specific vertical, getting hold of a generic domain could be as important for their future success as a catchy and wellresearched brand name.

Similar concerns around phishing as laid out above do apply to paid search results, with the new domain potentially allowing rogue sites more opportunities to attract clicks from searchers confused by a seemingly official domain. It has been shown by several studies and Google’s internal research that display URLs on paid ads are the second most important reason – after the title – users click on an ad. Because of this, monitoring by regulatory bodies will be of the utmost importance to protect users from scams.

As practitioners in this area we will keep abreast of developments and communicate with clients as we understand more about how this may affect brands in the natural search space.

What is the FlightBox?

In early June this year, Google officially launched the FlightBox; Google’s own ‘flights search’ feature in the organic results on the Search Engine Results Page (SERP).

If a user were to search for “flights to London”, for example, they will now see a box (below) showing a selection of flights, times and airlines, relevant to their destination, topping the natural search results.

On a generic search as this, the FlightBox provides suggestions around origins, flight durations and airlines, however, there is no detailed quote information around price or specific dates. As such, it does not currently have the same functionality as specific flight comparison sites (eg cheapflights.co.uk) but instead offers basic information at a glance to help guide a user on their search. By searching for both origin and destination (eg “flights from Madrid to London”), a more detailed schedule is provided but still no price data.

Where does the FlightBox data come from?

Data fuelling FlightBox results originates from ‘Innovata’; a company specialising in electronic timetable and route networking solutions. This may, however, be a temporary solution as Google has expressed an interest in creating a more sophisticated solution to contend with flight comparison sites, and in so doing, become a leader in the online flight comparison sector.

Data can be submitted to Innovata . The factors for the order of airlines listed within FlightBox appear to be ranked by departure time, which would suggest that Airlines providing early morning flights have a higher chance of being featured.

Impact of the FlightBox

The introduction of FlightBox will add a further flight research aid into an already-cluttered market. Given the limited nature of the information within the search box, it is unlikely to replace any current technology at this stage, as a user is not able to get an idea around airfare or seat availability. Instead it provides links to the airlines’ websites, where the user can proceed to compare prices and availability and make their purchase.

As the FlightBox provides links directly to airlines’ websites and appears at the top of organic results, certain flight comparison sites may suffer a drop in traffic as Google effectively cuts out the middle man. This may lead to increased brand-related searches, and SEO traffic coming from brand terms, rather than generic terms.

Potential positives:

• The FlightBox gives an advertiser/airline the potential to own more retail space on the SERP, as well as potentially increase the Click Through Rate (CTR) on organic terms.
• Airlines with poorer presence in the natural search space may see a positive impact as they will now appear at the top of organic listings for a large number of high volume destination and route queries, regardless of their natural rank for these terms.
• The FlightBox will also expose a wider range of routes that the searcher may not relate with a certain airline, thus improving the brand identity of the airlines featured.
• Ultimately, the FlightBox should result in an uplift of (free) traffic to the featured airlines’ websites.

Potential negatives:

• For travel companies/flight comparison sites not featured in the box, their natural results could be pushed below the fold (especially those with a low rank) which could mean fewer site visits, and increase the importance of effect paid search campaigns.
• Competitors are listed alongside each other with little control, so while some airlines may offer a better deal than others, this may not be apparent in the FlightBox and they may lose out on traffic to the site.
• FlightBox will always receive priority placement on the page over all other travel booking products and this prominent position is likely to take traffic from the proceeding ranking sites.

A final thought

We expect that Google will refine this flight comparison product over time to make the results more relevant, e.g. take into account user location, reviews, CTRs etc. By offering an enhanced user experience to searchers looking for flight-related information, Google will likely become a leader in the travel comparison market. If this becomes a popular trend among search engines, the importance of an integrated search approach becomes increasingly vital. Capturing more of the search engine real-estate though improved SEO techniques and smarter PPC bidding will be required to maintain existing traffic and visibility levels.

Recommendations:

1. FlightBox closed (default ) – Both SEO and PPC need to optimise for top positions around generic and route-specific terms. Increasing visibility in both paid and natural ranking, by appearing in premium positions on the SERP, can increase brand awareness. This, when combined with a strong call-to-action within the creative, may draw the user’s attention away from the flight box.

2. Flight Box expanded – If user clicks to expand the FlightBox, it will push SEO results further down the SERP. In this instance, Paid Search becomes more important (as the positioning of paid ads is not affected by this) – especially for those companies not featured in the box. As a user is unlikely to scroll down the page, they are likely to either choose an airline from the FlightBox or click on a paid search ad. Apart from importance of being visible in a premium position, as an extra tip we would recommend incorporating ‘book directly’ within targeted terms or a similar strong call to action, as FlightBox currently doesn’t offer this option. It is also important to prioritise top routes and aim for 100% Impression share where ever possible.