The "long tail" and domain names

Does the concept of the long tail apply?

[Webwork]

Yep.

Perfectly.

In a large number world the right domain name is the perfect example of the long tail.

Despite all other avenues for search, on any given day X number of people will find their way to your website simply by typing in your domain name.

IF you have chosen the right domain name.

Geez, I now have another phrase to explain direct navigation.

Direct navigation is an example of the long tail of web search behavior. Just like some people search Ask.com, others type in Hotels.com.

Alrighty then.

Now that I've added to your domain acumen, or at least your domain lexicon, what can you add to mine? :-P

[edited by: Webwork at 12:49 am (utc) on Aug. 4, 2006]

[HarleyGuy]

Webwork
Do you know of any stats for what % of searches are type in?

[Webwork]

I know of no official report of the volume or percentage of total search activity accounted for by direct navigation.

If memory serves me there was once an unofficial statement, attributed to a rep/employee of a search engine, that put the number as high at 15%. That seemed a bit high to me.

[opifex]

mine tends to be less than 1%. guess it depends on several factors, but i see an awful lot of 2 & 3 KW strings ... more the norm these days. people tend to be more exact in what they are actually looking for or maybe do the " search within results" more often because the get so much junk with a one term search

[gpmgroup]

I've seen studies reporting between 4% and 19% depending on the words involved.

It will be interesting to see how IE 7 changes things. Given its going to be rolled out with windows auto update its going to mean within a few months a lot more people will have a search box and an address bar at the top of every browser window. This may siginifcantly impact on type ins.

[trader]

IMO, direct navigation numbers are much greater than indicated in this thread, depending of course on the keyword(s) targeting in the url.