Good URL Bad URL

EMAIL www.amvetspickup.com

noreply@blogger.com (Aaron Goldman) — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 03:28:00 +0000

And just how would one do that?

Your Other Warehouse.com

noreply@blogger.com (Aaron Goldman) — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 13:32:00 +0000

Saw this on the shelf at Home Depot but couldn't figure out how to get to my other Warehouse.com.

DANiELISLANDTechSavvyKIDSCLUB.com

noreply@blogger.com (Aaron Goldman) — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 14:55:00 +0000

Let's hope they're not teaching kids how to choose and display domain names. Whoever came up with this looooong URL sure was riding the short bus!

att.con

noreply@blogger.com (Aaron Goldman) — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 03:36:00 +0000

Whoever put the stickers on this truck should be con-victed!

DemocacyForAmerica.com, WeAre[Ohio].com

noreply@blogger.com (Aaron Goldman) — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 03:04:00 +0000

You may think the one on the right is a stumper, but if you live in Ohio you will recognize the bumper.

URL-Y RISER

noreply@blogger.com (Aaron Goldman) — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 14:05:00 +0000

The headline on this paper sitting atop a trash can caught my eye. You know the web is mainstream when the news media are pronouncing URLs like me... as in the Duke of.

www.agremodeling.com

noreply@blogger.com (Aaron Goldman) — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 19:06:00 +0000

Maybe it's because I had my eyes on the dash trying to figure out the name of the tune I was jamming to or maybe it's because I'm an URL-aholic but I read the back of this truck bottom up. So my first encounter was with the URL. "Hmmm... AgreModeling.com... sweet!" I thought as I turned my gaze up expecting to find a bunch of hot models sitting in the back of the truck. "DOH!"

www.funerals.pro

noreply@blogger.com (Aaron Goldman) — Sun, 12 Jun 2011 02:29:00 +0000

Sorry I've been slacking my fellow URLaholics. Please know that I am not yet cured, just busy with other obsessions. You know you're out of the loop when you see a TLD that you didn't know existing. Now I realize I'm no domaining .pro but who knew!?!

facebook.com/siriusxmjamon

noreply@blogger.com (Aaron Goldman) — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 17:56:00 +0000

Great station. Bad URL. Like an extended jam, this URL wraps to second line. Never liked the character limits on Sirius XM. Always cuts off artist or title. Didn't even know wrapping was possible until I saw this. There has to be a way they can play with fonts or allow you to click to see full names.

Back to this URL, alllowercasedoesn't do it any favors. Too many weird letters. This URL is obscure as some of the bands they play.

ThereAreWorseThingsThanCornSyrup.com

noreply@blogger.com (Aaron Goldman) — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 01:43:00 +0000

Peter Askew snagged this one off Saturday Night Live. Beyond being funny, the URL display is, well, sticky.

www.chick-fil-aleadercast.com/atlanta

noreply@blogger.com (Aaron Goldman) — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 04:21:00 +0000

Here's another SkewURL (for the uninitiated, those are URLs spotted by URL-aholic Peter Askew of Search Bound) from Chick-Fil-A . Peter seems to eat there a lot!

This one is a mess of mashed up alllowercase and an ill-advised /slash. As Peter points, out it should've been Chick-Fil-A.com/LeadercastAtlanta or dropped Atlanta altogether and had a drop-down on the landing page.

As it stands, this URL is not chic. It's not ful-fil-ling. And it grades an F not an A.

http://bit.ly/dn5n10

noreply@blogger.com (Aaron Goldman) — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 05:15:00 +0000

Here's a tip when using bit.ly or other URL shorteners in print. Customize them! Too tough to tell the difference between zero and letter O and one and letter L. And this one ends with both. Oy vey! Thanks again to Brian Leiberman for the spot and reminding us that a little bit of extra effort goes a long way.

Cheetos.com

noreply@blogger.com (Aaron Goldman) — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 05:03:00 +0000

Talk about bold. Cheetos dares to assume that its orange sticks that look like shriveled pretzels are so ubiquitous that they can be used interchangably with the brand name. Reminds me of NBC's ambiguous Peacock.com. Thanks to Brian Leiberman for sending this one in and making my hands feel sticky just looking at it.

LasikPlus2020.com

noreply@blogger.com (Aaron Goldman) — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 04:31:00 +0000

Here's a nice clean URL with Camel Case and a unique tracking code to measure conversions. You don't need lasik to read this one clearly!

www.EMBA.utk.edu

noreply@blogger.com (Aaron Goldman) — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 04:19:00 +0000

The URL-alert Alichia Keller spotted this one and offered up some pun gems like "Education needs an education" and "This school needs to be schooled." Indeed the mix of CAPS and lowercase is befuddling. And the dubs aren't necessary in an online ad. Methinks this URL does not make the grade.

GRAMMYINTHESCHOOLS.COM

noreply@blogger.com (Aaron Goldman) — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 05:14:00 +0000

I've been a little delinquent in checking the Good URL Bad URL mailbag but Brian Leiberman has been consistently loading it up. I still have a bunch to get to but wanted to post this one he potted tonight on the Grammys. Despite the ALLCAPS and Spacing Issues, this URL is relatively easy to read. *Channeling Joan Rivers and the URL Fashion Police* This URL is a best-dressed nominee!

alllowercase.google.urls/CamelCaseHere

noreply@blogger.com (Aaron Goldman) — Sun, 30 Jan 2011 20:42:00 +0000

Google recently announced that all domains in search ad display URLs would appear in alllowercase. "For example, if your display URL is Subdomain.Example.com/Subdirectory, it will appear as subdomain.example.com/Subdirectory."

Fellow URL-aholics know this is not a best practice for making your domain easy to decipher. Yet, Google says, "Recently, we found that by standardizing the look of the URLs on the page, we were able to improve many of our user metrics, including ad clickthrough rates." Maybe that's because of all the accidental clicks resulting from people not being able to easily recognize the domain they're clicking on!

What does this mean for all the Google advertisers out there? Wherever possible, use Subdirectories for your search ad landing pages as opposed to Subdomains. On a crowded Google results page, if you want to stand out from the clutter and pre-qualify your clicks, use Camel Case Subdirectories to let searchers know what they should expect to find on your site.

RIM.jobs

noreply@blogger.com (Aaron Goldman) — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 22:23:00 +0000

Want to work at RIM? Beware the back door dealings.

adultstudies.trnty.edu

noreply@blogger.com (Aaron Goldman) — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 02:20:00 +0000

And a few vowels could change your URL!

www.exercisetv.tv./fitness360

noreply@blogger.com (Aaron Goldman) — Sat, 09 Oct 2010 03:27:00 +0000

What is it with Ex-er-cise-tv-dot-tv? Not only is it a Bad URL but it has no concept of how to display itself. Not what you'd expect from a franchise devoted to improving one's appearance. Here, they not only present a mess of alllowercase preceded by Dubs and followed by a slash but theres an extra dot thrown in for good measure that makes this not even a functioning URL. Dot's not very nice.

AFFILIATEDOTCOM.com

noreply@blogger.com (Aaron Goldman) — Sat, 25 Sep 2010 18:16:00 +0000

Sorry for being AWOL these past couple months. Don't worry, I haven't been cured of my URL-aholism. Was just busy promoting my Google book via blog tour and settling into my new role at Kenshoo. More on why I took the gig on the now defunct Connectual blog.

Thankfully, my fellow URL-aholics have been busy URL-spotting in my absence. Here's one from the URLy bird himself, Peter Askew of SkewURL fame (this is his 43rd submission, mind you).

As Peter observed, "at first I thought the site was Affiliate.com... until I looked a little closer..."

Bottom line, Affiliate dot com dot com dot bombs.

officedeskandchairexperts.com

noreply@blogger.com (Aaron Goldman) — Sat, 25 Sep 2010 18:11:00 +0000

Here's one from our good friend and Duke of URL, Aaron Bynum. In his words...

"Attached here is a screenshot from a local (Champaign, IL) TV commercial by a furniture business.

I'm a bit stumped as to why they plaster the URL 'officedeskandchairexperts.com' in the TV commercial, when the URL is just a redirect to 'IllniSupply.com'... it seems like a wasted effort."

As I mentioned in my reply to Aaron, while this URL is great for SEO purposes, it doesn't quite roll off the tongue... or casters.

And the alllowercase is doing them no favors. Anytime I see a lower case URL with experts in it, I always think of expertsexchange.com.

When promoting their website, this URL should be desk-arded.

KeepDelMarClean.org

noreply@blogger.com (Aaron Goldman) — Sat, 25 Sep 2010 18:02:00 +0000

Mr. Askew checks in with #44 here. He spotted this at Think Tank conference. While I don't love the Spacing Issues staggering the URL across 3 lines, the Leading Caps (which I just learned is technically called Camel Case) and Alternating Fonts more than make up for it. I also love the slogan here. In it's effort to keep it clean, Del Mar is definitely keeping it real.

www.mayo-clinic-jobs.com

noreply@blogger.com (Aaron Goldman) — Sat, 25 Sep 2010 17:56:00 +0000

Alichia Keller was on-the-spot with this bad banner ad. 3 dashes does not exactly make this URL dashing.

www.FreshSeafood.com

noreply@blogger.com (Aaron Goldman) — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 03:07:00 +0000

Peter Askew sent this one in from Seattle. Love how they use "Smoke" like it's a verb rather than an adjective. At least the URL is sea-worthy, as in worthy of being seen.