Pest Control Services Going Green With Domains

Alvin Brown
Reading Time | 6 Minutes

I’m back with another domain spotting. This time I didn’t have to travel as far as we did for family pictures.

I decided to stay home one day this week to celebrate our daughter turning 1 and boy #2 turning 3 years old.

I was walking out of the front door of our home to take out the trash and spotted a service truck in front of my neighbors yard.

I really didn’t pay much attention to as I headed back into the house.

But then the the domain stood out to me when I noticed the gentleman walking the exterior of my neighbors home was a pest control technician.

Pest control companies always peek my interest because there are quite a number here in Austin, Texas.

Most Austin and surround city locals are quite familiar with the larger and some local brands such as ABC Home and Commercial, Bulwark, Research Pest Control, The Bug Master, White Knights, Andy Howard, and the list goes on.

Nevertheless, I took note of the domain on the side of the truck: GreenPestGuys.com.

GreenPestGuys.com seems like a decent domain to brand for a pest control company, especially knowing Austin is all about eco-friendly services.

Excited about this new find, it didn’t take me long to get in front a web browser to start searching.  I searched the web six ways from Sunday to see what I could learn about the company, and other brandable, keyword, and geo service domains.

Didn’t take long to find much either.  Based on searches and their website, Green Pest Guys offers pest control services in the Austin, Dallas/Fort Worth, and Houston markets.

In short, the website for GreenPestGuys.com is a responsive WordPress website, yet nothing to really write home about. There’s much to be desired in terms of layout, design, and user experience.

But truth be told, I’ve seen worse…much worse.

How does GreenPestGuys.com rank in search engines?

Speaking of improvements, Green Pest Guys could stand to improve their overall search ranking. I searched for the following phrases below with the following results in Google:

  • eco-friendly pest control: nowhere to be found
  • eco-friendly pest control services: nowhere to be found
  • green pest control: Position 9 on Page One
  • green pest control services: nowhere to be found
  • organic pest control: nowhere to be found
  • organic pest control services: nowhere to be found

Curious about their local SEO ranking, I searched the following phrases, excluding Dallas and Houston markets, with the following results in Google:

  • austin pest: nowhere to be found
  • austin pest services: nowhere to be found
  • austin pest control services: nowhere to be found
  • austin pest control solutions: nowhere to be found
  • austin eco-friendly pest control: Position 13 on Page Two
  • austin eco-friendly pest control services: Position 18 on Page Two
  • austin green pest control: Position 9 on Page One
  • austin green pest control services: Position 9 and 10 on Page One
  • austin organic pest control: nowhere to be found
  • austin organic pest control services: nowhere to be found

Of course, the above results barely scratch the surface in regards to search marketing and local SEO ranking. In fact, the above results don’t tell a clear or the entire story.

I strongly encourage executing the same searches using keywords specific to your company’s industry. It’s an eye opening experience to see how well you really rank versus how you think you rank.

Also, don’t forget to NOT be logged into to Google services when searching. 😉 Results are often skewed to use your search habits and location when logged in and searching via Google.

In short, quite a bit of work could be done to project search rankings for Green Pest Guys in the Austin market. I didn’t check Dallas or Houston markets, but would blindly assume the results are likely the same.

Are there other Pest Control domains Green Pest Guys should consider?

Of course after searching and searching web for rankings, the next stop I made got my juices following again: domain search.

Although I respect companies using brandable domains to represent their company, I have a greater love for companies that use brandable domains in combination with keyword and geo service domains.

So back on the grind with my search for available domains. The first search I wanted to explore was based around the combo of brand, keyword and geo service domains. And here is what the branding domain search returned:

ALL DOMAINS DENOTED * ARE AVAILABLE AS OF WRITING

As it pertains to keywords, here is what the generic keyword domain search returned:

In the Austin market, here is what the geo service domain search returned:

In Dallas and Houston markets, here is what the geo service domain search returned:

What about using new domain extensions?

And of course, no domain search is complete without including or making mention of the new gtlds.

Personally, I do own a handful of new gTLDs (less than 10) for defensive purchases, redirecting each to different .com websites.

Nevertheless, new gTLDs have caused quite a stir up in confusion for knowing what extension to the right of the dot is available.

Not only that, but most people typing in domains are quite accustomed to .com. So to not see .com appended to a domain is troublesome and confusion for many.

However, this doesn’t mean that ALL new extensions will FAIL. There are a few that will succeed due to their well-thought out and executed marketing strategy (e.g. review .club extension).

Using Donuts list of gTLDs, I estimate that the following gTLDs are ones that may lend themselves to pest control service offerings:

  • .company
  • .business
  • .coupons
  • .deals
  • .discount
  • .expert
  • .guru
  • .guide
  • .management
  • .services
  • .solutions
  • .tips

Knowing this I explored the following gTLDs as it pertains to Green Pest Guys:

In no way am I encouraging or recommending that Green Pest Guys or your company register new gTLDs.

Who knows what the future holds? From the looks of their 3 year existence, it appears that many gTLDs are losing a great number of registrations (see ntldstats.com) despite there being talk of greater search ranking opportunity.

But again, we’re comparing an infant (gTLDs) to a young adult (.com, etc), so it’s no surprise to see the infant struggle in all areas when compared to a young adult.

Things might change for the gTLDs, but I wouldn’t expect overnight success in days, weeks or months. It’s going to take YEARS or even decades for gTLDs to grab a firm share of the domain market tightly held by .com and secondary extensions.

It is possible for gTLDs to overcome, but it won’t be today or anytime soon. That’s why I’ve committed to holding and renewing gTLDs for a 10-year period at minimum.

Well, it’s time to conclude, seeing I’ve hit you with a lot of information today (more than I planned on sharing).

Study, research and have engaging conversations around whether or not any of the info mentioned is applicable to your company or brand.

I’ve got to run for now, but let me know if you have any questions or feel free to share your experience. Talk soon.

Alvin Brown
Alvin is a serial entrepreneur and digital strategist with an avid love for domain name consulting. As the Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of DNAdverts.com, his assignment is to ensure business and personal brands don't suffer the consequences of common domain name pitfalls.

As a domain investor and business consultant, Alvin actively participates in daily domain auctions. Outside of auctions, he passionately shares his views, opinions, and vision for how businesses should and should not use domain names to generate greater customer growth and revenue.
Alvin Brown

Alvin is a serial entrepreneur and digital strategist with an avid love for domain name consulting. As the Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of DNAdverts.com, his assignment is to ensure business and personal brands don't suffer the consequences of common domain name pitfalls. As a domain investor and business consultant, Alvin actively participates in daily domain auctions. Outside of auctions, he passionately shares his views, opinions, and vision for how businesses should and should not use domain names to generate greater customer growth and revenue.