NameCheap Overtakes Go Daddy In Google

http://www.elliotsblog.com/namecheap-overtakes-go-daddy-0675

by tnd • 14 years ago

300 97 14 years ago

elliotsblog.com

abuark• 14 years ago

I am looking for alternatives to "Go Daddy". What choices do I have other than "NameCheap" ?

Thanks!

gst• 14 years ago

There are dozens of choices - just don't follow the Lemmings that think they need to get the "largest" provider.

rb2k_• 14 years ago

I personally use https://www.inwx.de/en They have an API, provide nameservers, are comparatively cheap (at least for the TLDs I own) and have a nice minimalistic interface targeted at professional users

pooyak• 14 years ago

Just a few days ago, I was about to move to namecheap but then I find out their interface was a little too simple. It was missing more advanced features that even godaddy has like import/export zones. Looking for other suggestions too.

noahc2• 14 years ago

Is there a reason you don't want to go with NameCheap? All around they seem to be quality. I've used them for 2 or 3 years now and they are great.

chaz• 14 years ago

I like Gandi.net. A bit more expensive at $15.50 for a .com, but it includes DNS, SSL, web redirection, and email (nice for setting up forwarding addresses).

didip• 14 years ago

Is SSL free at Gandi.net?

iamwil• 14 years ago

I second Gandi.net. Their interface is much nicer and much more intuitive. $15 per domain though.

donatzsky• 14 years ago

Not to mention WHOIS privacy.

molsongolden• 14 years ago

I've registered a couple of domains with Name.com and it's been pretty painless and easy to do what I need.

mbesto• 14 years ago

I migrated all of my domains over to NameCheap

1. Easy to use interface. Very straightforward. So much better than GoDaddy's mess.

2. Prices are negligible.

3. What else do I need from a registrar?

Bonus - Their CEO doesn't kill elephants.

Highly recommend!

Teapot• 14 years ago

Even those without domains to move can also do something useful, Convert any links to GoDaddy that you may have to plaintext. This also boosts your remaining links :D

While at it, convert all links you may have to crummy places to plaintext.

jaredsohn• 14 years ago

This topic has come up a few times:

Four months ago: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3383817

Nine months ago: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2753471

A year and a half ago: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1766439

jjcm• 14 years ago

Name.com is my personal favorite. Simple, clear, and not a lot of handholding.

djbender• 14 years ago

hover.com is incredible. They aren't cheap but their interface and support is worth it to me.

ZanderEarth32• 14 years ago

I just transferred all my domains from GoDaddy a few weeks ago and Hover made it simple, got it all done within a few hours. Had some trouble with a subdomain and a custom landing page and Hover's support was very helpful in helping me rectify the issue.

cowholio4• 14 years ago

I am a big fan of http://www.nearlyfreespeech.net

corford• 14 years ago

I've been using www.dyn.com for years and would happily recommend them. Not the cheapest but they are a lovely company to deal with (and are probably one of the most hardcore DNS providers in the world - Twitter offloads their DNS to them for example).

dude_abides• 14 years ago

I have been using nearlyfreespeech.net for several years now, and it has been just about perfect for my needs. If your site will have low traffic, or if you want just registration and DNS, then I would highly recommend NearlyFreeSpeech

garrett_smith• 14 years ago

I predict the SEO circle jerk will out them soon for begging, borrowing and or buying links. Way to blow up their spot.

chrisguitarguy2• 14 years ago

It's not going to matter. Godaddy already has about 100x the external links that NameCheap does (according to SEOmoz[1] and Majestic SEO[2]). If NameCheap moved up, it was for reasons other than external links.

1. http://www.opensiteexplorer.org/comparisons?site=www.godaddy...

2. https://www.majesticseo.com/reports/compare-domain-backlink-...

Osiris• 14 years ago

GoDaddy also has north of 50 million domains registered versus 3 million for Namecheap. If I understand correctly, GoDaddy doesn't make any (or very little) of domain sales, it's the other services like hosting, email, etc that generate the revenue.

chrisguitarguy2• 14 years ago

NameCheap overtook Go Daddy for the author. Search results change based on location, your preferences, search patterns, and just about everything else. One search does not a ranking change make.

joelrunyon3• 14 years ago

If you log out or search in Incognito Mode (basically stripping out that personalization data), NameCheap does show up first for the term "domain name."

streptomycin• 14 years ago

I tried that, and Wikipedia was #1 for me, which is probably a better result than any particular registrar.

tjoff• 14 years ago

Again, depends. For me NameCheap comes up at 7th place in incognito mode. GoDaddy isn't on the first page but are on top for the advertised results.

EDIT: I'm in Sweden (Europe)

chimeracoder• 14 years ago

> (basically stripping out that personalization data),

Except for your IP address, along with all of the information sent along in your user agent string (browser, operating system, etc....)

I don't know how Google takes advantage of any of that, but I wouldn't be surprised if there's no real way to get a 'canonical' unfiltered search at all... and even if you can, it makes this kind of statement 'X overtakes Y' rather meaningless if most searches have the potential to be so heavily filtered/bubbled.

tnd• 14 years ago

chrisguitarguy

As I mentioned, I used a different computer to see non-personalized results. You can check it out on a proxy search tool like NewIPNow.com to see unpersonalized results.

Incidentally, I have 100+ names at Godaddy and bid on their auctions, while I do not have an account at NameCheap.

yaix2• 14 years ago

Add "gl=us&" to the query (after the "#" or after the "?") to see results for US geolocation.

And search from an Incognito Window, so your Google Cookie is not sent along with the search request.

bizodo• 14 years ago

Now some of the aggregators need to send traffic to them also I.e. leandomainsearch.com and domaintyper.com which I love promote godaddy.

jorgem3• 14 years ago

I send traffic to Godaddy too, even though I use NameCheap.

The reason? If you're trying to make a commission for referrals, then Godaddy still whoops NameCheap. Far more domain buyers will use Godaddy, so more chance for commission.

tocomment• 14 years ago

You should stop doing that because they supported SOPA. Don't sell out.

nextparadigms• 14 years ago

I figured this will affect GoDaddy in the long term much more than it did in the short term, when people said "after all the fuss, it seems GoDaddy didn't lose that many users".

The point was that people wrote a ton of negative articles about GoDaddy then, and since that day forward virtually no one will recommend GoDaddy anymore, and instead will (probably) recommend NameCheap or someone else. I would expect the GoDaddy exodus to continue in the next few years.

vaksel2• 14 years ago

yes...but all those stories would have boosted GoDaddy by quite a bit in rankings in Google

My guess is that this change is temporary and that someone at GoDaddy is calling their Google rep...and we'll see a fix shortly.

GoDaddy actually uses Adwords(and they rank #1...so they spend the most)...NameCheap doesn't appear to be(at least for the domain name search term). And they have a valid claim for being the biggest domain registrar...so Google loses nothing by playing the game and getting them to rank higher

OstiaAntica2• 14 years ago

Google is not permitted to allow the AdWord spend influence their search results.

Kiro• 14 years ago

Go Daddy is on 8th place for me.

ashconnor• 14 years ago

2nd for me even though Matt Cutts (I follow on Google+) shared GoDaddy on Blogger.

OzzyB• 14 years ago

1,019 people +1'd this

That's what I see under the NameCheap listing, which is number 2, Wikipedia is #1, with GoDaddy at #3.

The GoDaddy listing doesn't seem to have any +1s under it.

Could this be the effect of Google using G+ data to influence its search results? Thus, by giving more weight to G+, plus, GoDaddy's sinking popularity "socially", equals, a drop in its rank.

gabaix• 14 years ago

"name" is also in the URL of namecheap. It is very hard to counter legit sites with the exact keyword match in their URL, even if you have many more quality links going to you.

Try "hosting" and you'll see what I am talking about.

nfriedly2• 14 years ago

Not knocking your point, but https://www.google.com/search?q=domain+registration&pws=... also shows NameCheap above Go Daddy

yrral• 14 years ago

Google has a "verbatim" mode that does not do this. http://www.google.com/search?sugexp=chrome,mod=11&source... Still, namecheap is above godaddy

RegEx• 14 years ago

To verify search results with no personal settings, append &pws=0:

https://www.google.com/search?q=domain+name&pws=0

ccbean2• 14 years ago

Go Daddy was catching some flack[0] when it was discovered that they were appending their link to the bottom of web pages built with their web page builder tool called Website Tonight. I wouldn't be surprised if Google caught on and devalued a lot of their links with similar anchor text.

[0] http://yoast.com/godaddy-link-building/

trevin2• 14 years ago

Google has been testing some pretty major algorithm changes in the last 5 or so days. Everything has been extremely volatile and major SERPs are changing every few hours.

Several prominent, white hat companies have even went missing in the Google's rankings for their [brand name] this week: https://plus.google.com/111294201325870406922/posts/NhssnKgf...

Not buying this as a long lasting rankings change until it sticks around for several weeks.

ollerac2• 14 years ago

Do you have some kind of article or source to back up your first comment? I'm interested in reading it.

trevin2• 14 years ago

Distilled, one of the more well-known and reputable SEO agencies have a good post on what they've been seeing: http://www.distilled.net/blog/seo/google-updates-april-2012/

I also work with a larger number of sites and have seen all kinds of crazy things in a number of different industries the last few weeks. Fllow SEOs at other agencies are seeing the same fluctuations.

noahc2• 14 years ago

I can confirm that this is happening. Usually I'll get a couple search terms on the first page that go up or down any given week. Most of the search terms I monitor have had lots of flux in the last few weeks.

jwarzech• 14 years ago

I actually was just in the middle of buying a domain name, decided that while I'd like to get away from GoDaddy I can't really afford to transfer all of my domain names right now and would like them all with the same register.

Well at checkout for some reason the PayPal button was missing and I didn't feel like typing in my CC (I know thats pretty lazy) so I decided to check and see NameCheap's price and with private registration (which was free) it was going to be $8 cheaper than GoDaddy. Needless to say I'm going to start moving my domains over.

kijin2• 14 years ago

Coupon code when transferring: SWITCH2NC

IIRC you get 2 years of private registration for free when you transfer to NameCheap, but it won't stay free after that period. When your privacy service runs out, renewal costs around $2 per domain per year. But then again, you can use the WGSPECIAL coupon to make that 99 cents. Those two coupons always work.

ComputerGuru• 14 years ago

Does NameCheap let you do (I forget what it's called) your own nameserver on your own domain for free?

i.e. having registered example.com with NC, can you set up ns1.example.com to be the nameserver for example.com free of charge? Many registrars charge a fee for this (when they really shouldn't)

EDIT

Seriously? Downvotes? It's just a question. There WAS a company that does that, it was mentioned here on HN during the great GoDaddy exodus, but I cannot recall which.

evoxed• 14 years ago

I've never seen a registrar that does this, and I have five domains on Namecheap currently.

ccbean2• 14 years ago

They refer to it as 'private nameservers', and it should be free.

http://www.namecheap.com/support/knowledgebase/article.aspx/...

srhngpr2• 14 years ago

yes, they offer this ONLY if you have "a Reseller, VPS or Dedicated server" service with them. In other words, if you just use them for domain names, then chances are you don't get this.

Name.com offers this service for free to domain registrations: http://www.name.com/faq/create-my-own-name-servers

EDIT: I stand corrected, please see: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3869727

web_chops• 14 years ago

You can specify it in the domain settings. I haven't used it but the option is available (with out showing any upgrade button)

naish• 14 years ago

I do this for all of my domains with no trouble and no additional cost.

srhngpr2• 14 years ago

Name.com offers this service free of charge. I use it on my domains.

Terretta• 14 years ago

NameCheap offers full DNS hosting for free. In fact, you can use their DNS hosting without being a customer.

They also support all record types.

ghshephard• 14 years ago

I didn't downvote you, but, on the surface, your question is nonsensical. A registrar provides only one useful service - "Identify what the DNS servers for this domain are." That's what you pay your annual fee for, so, to ask "does name cheap let you do your own name server on your own domain for free" doesn't make sense to most people.

Indeed, it's the _inverse_ that is somewhat rarer, which is providing DNS services for a domain for free. Not all registrars provide free DNS services in addition to being a registrar.

sad_panda• 14 years ago

This is pretty core behavior for domain owning power users. Locating your namserver at same facility as your webhost will theoretically reduce your points of failure.

davux• 14 years ago

I believe this may be referred to as a glue record.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domain_Name_System#Circular_dep...

smackfu2• 14 years ago

GoDaddy still wins for "domain names" when I'm signed out or in.

smackfu2• 14 years ago

Of course Go Daddy still has the actual top result... the first sponsored result in the peach box. Along with Network Solutions and 1&1.

mistercow2• 14 years ago

Not on verbatim search with personalization off. This is one of the reasons I really dislike personalized search; it makes searches irreproducible.

endtime• 14 years ago

Why is that an important property of searches?

TazeTSchnitzel2• 14 years ago

Because people like easier SEO optimisation :P

mistercow2• 14 years ago

Sometimes I like to search for things to see what kind of buzz there is about them. Other than that, there's just something unsettling and vaguely frustrating about a system that doesn't work the same way for me as it does for someone else. I can't give any examples of where there's a crucial need for short term reproducibility of searches; it's more that there are lots and lots of petty cases where it is slightly annoying.

LyleK• 14 years ago

Crud. There goes my hipster cred. Been using NameCheap for years, now they are too mainstream.

ollerac2• 14 years ago

Don't worry: you salvaged some of it with that comment ;)

Tim-Boss• 14 years ago

I'm very happy to report that in the UK GoDaddy don't even appear on the first page of results!

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=domain+name&pws=0

moe• 14 years ago

Between their recent multi-day nameserver outage and their lack of auto-pay and their clumsy interface I'm growing increasingly tired of namecheap...

edzme• 14 years ago

Whatever it is I'm for it. F u daddy.

detay• 14 years ago

Namecheap does not seize your expired domain and does not try to sell it back to you overpriced. Namecheap does not have a bloated disfunctional website. Namecheap does not have hidden costs. Namecheap is developer friendly, has an API and a sandbox. Namecheap does not fuck the consumer.

arunoda• 14 years ago

OH! What is SOPA has done to Go Daddy. Oh my

yaix2• 14 years ago

I tried a Google search for "domain name" (in Chromium Incognito Window, to avoid any "social" stuff) on my Netbook.

I don't see Wikipedia or NameCheap. I don't see any search results at all.

What I see above the fold is exclusively advertisements. In the center column are huge AdWord ads including deep links. And in the right column is another stack of 160px Adword ads.

Then there are some internal Google links (sign in, Why these ads?, +You, etc).

That's it! Well done, Google.

NameCheap Overtakes Go Daddy In Google

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