What is the Most Searched Keyword on Snapnames?

You might be surprised by this month’s leading keyword on Snapnames’ most searched keyword list. It is “xn--”, which is used as the beginning of any punycode equivalent of an IDN. For instance мрамор.com (Marble.com in Russian) has a punycode equivalent of xn--80axbihd.com. Either the IDN (мрамор.com) or the punycode (xn--80axbihd.com) will navigate to the same site.

If someone is searching for IDNs that are in auction, it is remarkably efficient to go to Snapnames under Advanced Search and to search for domains containing “xn--”. This will restrict the search to IDNs only, and an interested IDN buyer can then further limit his/her search by sorting the names by active bids.

This is yet another sign of increased IDN buying activity. As Snapnames sales are not typically recorded in the weekly DNJournal sales summary — and high priced IDNs are typically sold on Snapnames rather than in public end-user sales (given the early-stage nature of IDNs and the lack of end-user awareness) — it is critical to be aware of the increased competitiveness in aftermarket bidding. As a personal anecdote, I witnessed this increased interest firsthand as I bid on (and won) an IDN this month in the $xx,xxx range after a protracted bidding war against several highly motivated bidders.

Returning to the lede, and in case you were curious, following “xn--” in Snapnames’ most searched keywords list are the usual suspects, which include “hotel”, realestate” and “3d”.

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