AtomRadar Domains 15% of Consumers Have Landed on a Competitor’s Site When Searching for a Brand’s .com: Traffic Leak to Exact-Match Domain Research

1.0AtomRadarhttps://www.atom.com/radarThom Davieshttps://www.atom.com/radar/author/tcgdavies/AtomRadar Domains 15% of Consumers Have Landed on a Competitor’s Site When Searching for a Brand’s .com: Traffic Leak to Exact-Match Domain Researchrich600338<blockquote class="wp-embedded-content" data-secret="xVMQiEdwtE"><a href="https://www.atom.com/radar/exact-match-traffic-leak/">15% of Consumers Have Landed on a Competitor’s Site When Searching for a Brand’s .com: Traffic Leak to Exact-Match Domain Research</a></blockquote><iframe sandbox="allow-scripts" security="restricted" src="https://www.atom.com/radar/exact-match-traffic-leak/embed/#?secret=xVMQiEdwtE" width="600" height="338" title="“15% of Consumers Have Landed on a Competitor’s Site When Searching for a Brand’s .com: Traffic Leak to Exact-Match Domain Research” — AtomRadar" data-secret="xVMQiEdwtE" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" class="wp-embedded-content"></iframe><script> /*! This file is auto-generated */ !function(d,l){"use strict";l.querySelector&&d.addEventListener&&"undefined"!=typeof URL&&(d.wp=d.wp||{},d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage||(d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage=function(e){var t=e.data;if((t||t.secret||t.message||t.value)&&!/[^a-zA-Z0-9]/.test(t.secret)){for(var s,r,n,a=l.querySelectorAll('iframe[data-secret="'+t.secret+'"]'),o=l.querySelectorAll('blockquote[data-secret="'+t.secret+'"]'),c=new RegExp("^https?:$","i"),i=0;i<o.length;i++)o[i].style.display="none";for(i=0;i<a.length;i++)s=a[i],e.source===s.contentWindow&&(s.removeAttribute("style"),"height"===t.message?(1e3<(r=parseInt(t.value,10))?r=1e3:~~r<200&&(r=200),s.height=r):"link"===t.message&&(r=new URL(s.getAttribute("src")),n=new URL(t.value),c.test(n.protocol))&&n.host===r.host&&l.activeElement===s&&(d.top.location.href=t.value))}},d.addEventListener("message",d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage,!1),l.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded",function(){for(var e,t,s=l.querySelectorAll("iframe.wp-embedded-content"),r=0;r<s.length;r++)(t=(e=s[r]).getAttribute("data-secret"))||(t=Math.random().toString(36).substring(2,12),e.src+="#?secret="+t,e.setAttribute("data-secret",t)),e.contentWindow.postMessage({message:"ready",secret:t},"*")},!1)))}(window,document); //# sourceURL=https://www.atom.com/radar/wp-includes/js/wp-embed.min.js </script> https://www.atom.com/radar/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/domains-1024x683.jpg1024683In the digital world, consumers are familiar with certain patterns and the exact-match domain plus .com template is the gold-standard for finding brands online. We sought to understand how often consumers encounter the wrong destination when using the common “[brand].com” navigation pattern, and to identify where they end up when an exact-match .com domain does not lead to the intended brand. This research explores the potential for domains to divert consumer traffic to competitors, unrelated businesses, and other destinations, and can guide new businesses in shortlisting, validating, and selecting the strongest possible domain to minimize traffic leak.