Did you mean...Were you looking for...

It was too good to be true. DigitURL's 'were you looking for' wordnumber translator is not anything like Google Number Search and it appears that DigitURL's webmaster is using a manually created database. We assume they downloaded a list of the most popular 1 million or so websites accessed in Australia (which includes many non-Australian web destinations too). Then they parsed out and translated the SLDs (second level domain; the brand name before the .com or ccTLD) into wordnumbers, sorted the wordnumber-domain pairs, and put the database up on its server. So, when you search using wordnumbers consisting of 2 or more digits via DigitURL, the wordnumber in your search query is being matched against the wordnumber translations for the brands of the top 1 million or so ranked websites based on Australian usage.

How is this not Google Number Search? GNS, first of all, operates in conjunction with a search engine not a database (and it helps that Google operates the top ranked search engine). Second, whereas DigitURL provides shortcuts to a finite number of web destinations, GNS provides the ability to use wordnumbers to substitute for any search term, including phrases and names and so forth, to 'Google' all pages on the internet. There is an infinite number of combinations of wordnumber search terms that will generate meaningful results. GNS accomplishes this with a very high success rate of wordnumber translations. In a nutshell, GNS is Google search but via an 'invented' shorthand for typing search queries. There still is no comparable webservice out there. The only caveat is that GNS is still linked to an outdated lexicon (from about the year 2000).

Creating such a database that DigitURL has put together may be simple enough. Website ranking companies provide free and not-free lists of the top 100k or million most popular sites. The not-free companies also provide ranked lists by geography (country).

The problem with DigitURL's 'were you looking for' script is that it is a limited search tool. By having a database of wordnumber translations for a static - or even updated - ranked list of the top 1 million or so websites, then websites for smaller, upcoming, tech startups will nearly always be inaccessible by DigitURL during their infancy. If one thinks of the target audience of DigitURL, it would make more sense to get a ranked list of top websites for the Y generation or tech sites or of Web 2.0 properties, etc... Many of these web destinations will not be accessible until they reach some threshold of popularity. Many mobile phone users want to be 'better than that.' They want to be on the crest of the wave. Not watching the wave from the beach.