Tool to refine domain searches with more information — GoDaddy adds

Tool gets more search data from user to suggest available domain names.

A big challenge for domain name registrars is understanding what a domain searcher is looking for based on just a keyword or two.

GoDaddy has added a feature that collects more information to provide customized domain name choices and hopefully chip away at this problem.

The feature is available when a domain you search for is unavailable. It’s right now being tested with a modest number of clients. You’ll see a “refine” button on the notice that the domain is taken:

This takes you to a form asking for more information that can be used to create domain suggestions. The form asks for keywords, the business category, your location (suggesting a city name or zip code) and your name. The business category is a fixed list, but it’s big.

I originally searched for Hockey.com and then clicked the refine button. Here’s the info I added:

Here are the results:

While I like the idea, it’s clear that the refine tool could use a bit of refining. I chose the hockey category and put hockey as a keyword, yet some of the results are for football. I also think it ought to take the zip code and include the corresponding city name.

For another example, following searching for juice.land, I submitted the following refinement data:

This returned no results. I went back and deleted “bar” as a keyword and got results. This is puzzling since the category is “juice bar”.

The list included a lot of domains ending in .land, so it’s clear that the refinement tool also includes data from the original search.

It’s worth noting that the refine tool returns mostly available domain names but also includes the occasional premium domain from AfternicDLS.

Bottom line: good idea but needs work.