---
title: "The Past and Future of Private Domain Traffic"
description: "Private domain traffic, a concept that has recently gained prominence, refers to traffic owned by a single entity, as opposed to public domain traffic. Its rise is driven by the fragmentation of large private domains into smaller ones, down to the individual level, due to the internet's real-time connectivity, products as carriers, and fickle users. This shift is reshaping marketing strategies, urging businesses to use the internet as a tool for building user connections, retain and operate their own private traffic, and target precise private domains for conversions."
author: "艾永亮"
publisher: "New Distribution"
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published: "2019-06-21"
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# The Past and Future of Private Domain Traffic

> Private domain traffic, a concept that has recently gained prominence, refers to traffic owned by a single entity, as opposed to public domain traffic. Its rise is driven by the fragmentation of large private domains into smaller ones, down to the individual level, due to the internet's real-time connectivity, products as carriers, and fickle users. This shift is reshaping marketing strategies, urging businesses to use the internet as a tool for building user connections, retain and operate their own private traffic, and target precise private domains for conversions.

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Source: 艾老思 (ID: ALS111222333)
In the past six months, a new term "private domain traffic" has frequently entered our视野. It emerged alongside social e-commerce and micro-businesses, but it is not just a local concept; in fact, it has quietly changed the entire marketing landscape. On May 17, Baidu released its Q1 2019 financial report, showing its first loss in fourteen years, which is also a result of the impact of private domain traffic. Therefore, we need to re-examine the marketing landscape and private domain traffic on a larger scale.
**This article will answer four questions:**
  * What exactly is private domain traffic?
  * How is private domain traffic evolving?
  * What are the causes behind private domain traffic?
  * How will private domain traffic change corporate marketing decisions?
**What is private domain traffic?**
"Traffic" is a basic concept in the internet.
Here, "traffic" does not refer to mobile data plans from carriers; that traffic refers to the amount of communication data.
In the internet context, **traffic refers to the number of visits to a website.**
Common metrics used in the past were PV and UV.
PV (page view) refers to the number of page views; in a public account, it is the read count. However, there is a problem: a user might visit multiple pages, or open a page and close it without reading, which is hardly effective traffic.
So we use UV (unique visitor) more often, which refers to the number of unique visitors to a website, regardless of how many pages they open.
Simply put, **traffic is how many people come to your website, public account, app, or online store.**
If you step back, traffic has no direct relationship with the internet.
TV stations also have traffic. On New Year's Eve at 8 PM, people sit on small stools in front of the TV to watch the Spring Festival Gala, so the gala has the largest traffic in the world at that moment.
Pedestrian streets also have traffic. Whenever you go to Chongqing's Jiefangbei Pedestrian Street, it is crowded with people from all over the country.
**Traffic has existed for a long time**, but it was only with the rise of the internet that people recognized the term.
So who do these traffic belong to? Who can monetize them?
For websites, traffic belongs to the website owner. Taobao's traffic belongs to Alibaba, Baidu's search traffic belongs to Baidu.
For TV programs, traffic belongs to the TV station. The Spring Festival Gala's traffic belongs to CCTV.
For pedestrian streets, who does the traffic belong to? It belongs to the people; it is public.
When we step beyond the internet and define traffic on a larger scale, it is simple.
**Traffic refers to the number of visitors to a specific area, online or offline.**
We also find that pedestrian streets and TV stations have two different types of traffic, so we can divide traffic into two categories based on ownership: public domain traffic and private domain traffic.
**Public domain traffic refers to traffic that does not belong to a single individual but is shared by the collective.**
**Private domain traffic refers to traffic that belongs to a single individual.**
However, in reality, absolute public domain traffic does not exist; any area has a governing body. For example, pedestrian streets have a management committee, and you pay rent to the committee when you open a store. Even parks have management offices, and you pay rent to set up stalls.
**Public and private domain traffic are not absolute concepts but relative ones.**
A shopping mall on a pedestrian street: the mall's traffic is private relative to the street, while the street's traffic is public relative to the mall.
When you open Taobao from Baidu search results, Taobao's traffic is private relative to Baidu, while Baidu's traffic is public relative to Taobao.
Further analysis:
When you open an online store from Taobao, the store's traffic is private relative to Taobao, while Taobao's traffic is public relative to the store.
A public account's traffic is private relative to WeChat, while WeChat's traffic is public relative to the public account, but WeChat's traffic is private relative to Apple's iOS.
Previously, many articles defined private domain traffic from the perspective of e-commerce or self-media, relative to Taobao or WeChat. For example:
Private domain traffic is traffic that merchants can control themselves, which we have been emphasizing in the past year, such as traffic from channels like Weitao, live streaming, group chats, etc., collectively called private domain traffic, with Weitao being a very important entry point.
The definition of private domain is traffic that a brand or individual owns, can freely control, is free, and can be used multiple times. Private domains usually take the form of personal WeChat accounts, WeChat groups, mini-programs, or self-owned apps.
Private domain traffic refers to vertical domain traffic that is more precise and has higher conversion rates, obtained through accumulation and retention. Main examples include users who add WeChat from public account content, users who join groups from WeChat Moments shares, and Taobao live streaming fans.
**The Fragmentation of Private Domain Traffic**
After reading the above, you may have noticed that private domain traffic is not a new concept; it has existed for a long time. But why is it being brought up now and receiving so much attention?
The reason is that **the private domains of private domain traffic are fragmenting layer by layer, and the smaller private domains after fragmentation have reached the individual dimension.** So we suddenly feel its existence strongly.
**Top-level private domains are being divided**
In the past, the top private domain traffic owner—CCTV—could reach almost every Chinese person. Singing a song on CCTV could make you a national star, and advertising on CCTV could make you a nationally known brand.
In those days, countless companies spent all their funds and even took on debt to compete for CCTV's "bid king" title, because it was a sure-win gamble.
(The man in red is Shi Yuzhu)
Numerous brands became famous overnight thanks to CCTV's powerful private domain traffic. The most representative examples are probably Qinchijiu and Aido VCD.
In 1995, Qinchijiu, a small state-owned enterprise in Linqu County, Shandong, won the "crown" with 66.66 million yuan, and the next year its revenue reached 980 million yuan.
In 1997, 28-year-old Hu Zhibiao of Aido VCD won the "bid king" title with 210 million yuan, achieving 1.6 billion yuan in revenue that year.
However, products blown up by traffic could not withstand the test; lacking product strength, the bid kings quickly ended in failure.
On November 18, 2013, the 20th CCTV bidding conference was still held at the Media Center, but this time there were no inflatable arches, no balloons, no banners; everyone could feel the coldness and depression. It was also the first time CCTV did not publicly announce bidding data, because the data was really not good.
This was a turning point for CCTV's traffic model, with the fundamental reason being the decline of traffic. Now, CCTV's advertising revenue has fallen out of the top three, even lower than JD.com's advertising revenue.
Where did CCTV's traffic go?
It was divided by new private domain traffic owners: Baidu, Taobao, WeChat, JD.com, Douyin, iQiyi...
Although they are far less powerful than CCTV's traffic in the past, they have become public domain traffic within their respective private domains.
Private domains like Baidu, Taobao, and WeChat are **so large relative to the small private domains on their platforms that they feel like public domains.** Just as China is so large that it feels like a public domain, but relative to the Earth, it is clearly a private domain, and relative to the universe, it is an extremely small private domain.
But like CCTV, they are also being further divided in the process of private domain fragmentation.
**Internet private domains are being further divided**
Since the rise of mobile internet and smartphones, the powerful private domain Baidu has also declined.
In the PC internet era, the entry point for everyone online was Baidu. Too lazy to remember URLs, people searched on Baidu. All websites, including Alibaba and Tencent, had to be friendly to Baidu.
At that time, a popular term was "SEO"—Search Engine Optimization. What to optimize? Optimize your website so that Baidu can better index (find) it.
When users search for relevant keywords, your website has a higher chance of being displayed, and then they open it, becoming your traffic.
To gain an advantage, companies even spent big money to buy Baidu's top VIP positions, giving rise to another term "SEM"—Search Engine Marketing, ensuring that when users search for keywords, they see your website at the top of the first page.
Although it costs money, it is much faster than SEO, so Putian hospitals liked to use this method for promotion, which also created Baidu's core business "bid ranking."
But in the mobile internet era, people rarely open browsers to view content, so they naturally rarely use Baidu search, because what you want to see is in individual apps; you just click the icon to open them directly, and the experience is far better than web pages.
For example, if you want to chat, you open WeChat directly; if you want to watch videos, you open iQiyi; if you want news, you open Toutiao; if you want to shop, you open Taobao. There is no need to open a browser, search on Baidu, and then click to open.
You might think, why doesn't Baidu continue to index WeChat, iQiyi, Toutiao, and Taobao content on mobile? That way, people would still open Baidu first.
Because they don't want to!
WeChat, iQiyi, Toutiao, and Taobao found that users no longer go through Baidu but directly reach their apps, so there is no need to be friendly to Baidu, at least on mobile. So even if Baidu wants to index their content, they don't let Baidu index it.
This put Baidu in an awkward position, so it was forced to start doing information feeds. It spent 1 billion yuan on the 2019 Spring Festival Gala to promote its app, and spent a lot of money on Baijiahao and Xiongzhanghao, hoping to build its strong products and content system on mobile.
Baidu was intercepted; users stopped going to Baidu, Baidu's private domain traffic decreased, and companies' marketing investment in Baidu also decreased.
Since 2015, Baidu's revenue growth has slowed significantly, and in the past two years, its advertising revenue share has continuously declined. In Q1 2019, it reported its first loss since its listing in 2005.
**In the mobile internet era, content is king,** because content attracts users, not search convenience.
And **behind content is product,** because the content of WeChat, Taobao, and Douyin is generated by strong products.
**The Rise of Micro Private Domains**
As the slogan of WeChat public accounts says, "Every individual has its own brand."
With the rise of WeChat public accounts, WeChat's private domain traffic was further split into tens of millions of public accounts. Each public account is a small private domain traffic. Because fans follow them, each push reaches users directly, completing an exposure.
But it doesn't end there.
Starting with personal overseas shopping, people found that everyone can become a merchant. Then with the rise of micro-businesses and the boost from Pinduoduo, we discovered that each individual's Moments is a micro private domain traffic pool.
So WeChat's traffic was further split into private domain traffic for hundreds of millions of users.
Weibo, Xiaohongshu, and Douyin are the same; their private domain traffic is divided by countless KOCs (key opinion consumers), influencers, and your friends.
This is the rise of micro private domains.
It is precisely because of the transformation of our friends that we become aware of the existence of private domain traffic. Micro private domain traffic, because it has reached the smallest dimension, is very close, small, and specific, no longer feeling like public domain traffic like super large private domains.
**Although micro private domain traffic is small, it is highly efficient.**
On January 16, 2018, NetEase Cloud Classroom launched the "New Year Operations Course."
Priced at only 39 yuan, with a model of 60% commission for first-level distribution and 30% for second-level, it mobilized a large number of WeChat users to monetize their private domain traffic. From 8 PM on the 16th, within less than 16 hours, it sold over 130,000 copies.
An ordinary user earned over 700 yuan in one night by distributing through their Moments private domain traffic.
Don't interpret this as the rise of knowledge payment; it has little to do with knowledge payment. The course here just served as a conversion tool.
So now more and more companies choose to invest in personal private domain traffic. Although it is more troublesome than directly investing in WeChat, the effect is much better because you buy not only their traffic but also their endorsement.
In the past 20 years, private domain traffic has continuously fragmented and sunk, and this trend will continue; more and more large private domains will be dismantled by micro private domains.
**Causes of Private Domain Fragmentation**
Who is behind private domain traffic? What causes the continuous fragmentation?
**Through all surface phenomena, there are three core factors causing private domain fragmentation:**
  * Infrastructure—Internet
  * Traffic carrier—Products
  * Changeable object—Users
**Infrastructure—Internet**
Compared to the past, the biggest change in today's internet is **real-time connectivity.**
Therefore, I call today's internet "Internet+" and the past internet "traditional internet."
The typical feature of traditional internet is "going online." Turn on the computer, connect to the network, and start surfing.
The typical feature of Internet+ is "real-time online," where all people and devices, even stores, are in a permanent connection state, and we can connect to each node at any time.
This gives companies the ability to reach users at any time. There are so many ways and means: QR codes, mini-programs, live streaming, groups, Moments, stores, public accounts, programs, communities, articles, even smart cars, subways, WiFi, and payments can help companies reach target users.
Companies no longer need to rely on the entry points of the internet—browsers, search engines, navigation sites, portal sites—nor do they need to rely on traditional media or offline stores.
You can establish connections with users at any time; the connection with each user is a self-controlled traffic pool, not traffic allocated by public domains.
Thus, the internet provides the underlying infrastructure for private domain traffic.
**Traffic Carrier—Products**
Now even a small restaurant knows to establish contact with users, operating past diners through public accounts or WeChat friends for long-term engagement. So the product is no longer a single dish, but the restaurant itself, the store.
Such a product is not just a simple commodity for transaction (the dish); the product's lifecycle is extended, extending to the usage process after purchase, and even beyond when you no longer use it.
**Once we shift from selling commodities to operating products, traffic naturally arises and attaches to the product.**
Products carry their own traffic; the more you operate, the more traffic you get.
From here, we can see a common mistake among many companies. Almost all companies open public accounts for their products or companies for publicity and marketing, but if the public account is contracted to the marketing department for independent operation, separate from the product department's work, that is wrong!
A public account is not just a marketing window; its more important role is to establish long-term contact with users, and maintaining contact relies on continuously providing value to users, especially added value during the user's product usage. So the public account and the product are one, together forming a product that provides continuous value to users.
Thus, products provide the carrier for private domain traffic.
**Changeable Object—Users**
Now materials are extremely abundant, and there is a severe surplus of similar products to choose from.
This makes it difficult for users to stick to one brand or product, and random consumption becomes more frequent. The long tail within a category becomes longer and thicker, and every small brand may have its own user base.
This means every product has the opportunity to gain traffic, rather than all users being captured by one super large private domain for a long time.
The convenience of the internet also makes user switching costs almost zero.
With a flick of a finger, you can switch from one platform to another, from one store to another, from one product to another.
This further increases user flow between various private domains. So the threshold for small private domains to gain traffic is lowered.
Thus, the user side is also actively contributing to the formation of private domain traffic pools.
Three elements of private domain traffic construction
Continuous changes in the three elements have jointly shaped today's private domain traffic landscape.
**Future Marketing Dominated by Private Domain Traffic**
The above three elements provide ideas for planning future marketing.
First, do not treat the internet as a marketing destination, but **use the internet as a tool for building user connections.**
What does that mean?
In the past, people treated the internet as media, investing in online ads like TV ads, which is treating the internet as another marketing window.
But today's internet is no longer a user terminal; it is a tool for building various connections, hence "Internet+".
For example, if you spend 200,000 yuan on a Moments ad, if you treat it as a destination, you will ask users to directly convert and purchase. If you treat it as a connection tool, you will combine other tools, such as public accounts, groups, or even distribution, to establish weak connections with users, and gradually convert purchases and repurchases during long-term user operation.
At that point, the purchase is definitely based on your understanding of the user and the most suitable product for them, not the lure of low prices.
**The more you understand users, the stronger your private domain traffic, the closer the relationship with users, the lower the marketing cost, and the higher the marketing efficiency.**
Second, do not waste the private domain traffic in your hands; retain it and operate it.
The saddest thing for a company is that users are using your product, but you cannot reach them, because you never considered establishing a private connection with them.
Many companies have good products but only have a one-time encounter with users, so they always worry about acquiring customers and forever spend money to buy traffic.
In fact, with a little thought, it is easy to retain users; you just never thought of doing it.
Some have thought about it but did it extremely poorly.
As soon as a user buys your product, you ask them to follow your public account, and then you start continuous advertising bombardment.
Isn't that annoying? You ask me to follow just to make me buy, buy, buy?
Please be thoughtful, figure out who are potential users and who are existing users, and tailor operation plans for them so they feel your operation is valuable, not being repeatedly harvested like leeks.
Third, stop wasting money on big platforms; find precise private domain traffic.
There is a famous Goldbach conjecture in marketing: "I know half of my advertising budget is wasted, but I don't know which half." I think half is an understatement; how many ads have conversion rates below 1%?
I often see such inexplicable ads. A name I've never seen, a company I've never seen, a product I've never seen. I don't know the purpose, how to buy, or the product's value. The effect of such ads is predictable.
Before investing in marketing, think clearly about the purpose, and choose the right traffic channel based on the purpose.
I believe: **Public domain traffic is suitable for branding, private domain traffic for conversion.**
Finally, I must emphasize that private domain traffic is not a trend. No matter how many people you see talking about it this year, please stay calm.
Private domain traffic has been happening for a long time and will continue to fragment. What you need to do is recognize this trend and choose a marketing method that suits you.
Don't get excited and start building your own private domain traffic. Before building, think clearly about the following three questions:
  * Do you really need to build your own private domain traffic?
  * Do you have the ability to build your own private domain traffic?
  * Have you thought clearly about the three elements of building private domain traffic?


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