KEYWORDS; SIMPLE WORDS WILL REPLACE THE COMPUTER LANGUAGE USED IN INTERNET SEARCHES.

Byline: Jason Z. Cohen Staff Writer

As marketable as they are, catchy domain names with those ``dot com'' suffixes might soon be only one way to attract 'Net surfers to your site.

RealNames, a San Carlos-based company, is working on an initiative to incorporate Internet keywords into browsers and search engines, and the big players such as Microsoft and Alta Vista already are on board.

The company earlier this month filed paperwork with the Securities and Exchange Commission to go public with the company so it can raise money for its effort to create a new standard for the way Internet sites are identified.

The basic idea is to replace the computer language used by Internet search engines - the ``http://www.so-and-so.com'' - with a concise keyword.

The keywords system allows users to simply type a word or two into their browser's address window and be directed to the site corresponding with the word.

For example, a user could type ``ford explorer'' and not only be taken to Ford Motor Co.'s Web site, but also to the specific page assigned to the Explorer model.

Internet keywords won't eliminate catchy domain names such as Amazon.com or drugs.com that people know well, experts say. But the keywords probably will cut into the significance and commercial potential of domain names, experts say.

Bill Washburn, chief policy officer for RealNames, said the effort to establish a new standard is challenging.

``Basically, what we're doing is we're taking on one of Murphy's Laws. We're trying to plow ground in the world of exercising good judgment. In the long run, it's in everyone's best interest to do it that way.''

Although the companies embracing RealNames' keyword initiative are many - in addition to Ford, they include bicycle manufacturer Specialized, Barnes & Noble's online alter-ego and the music site MP3.com - the dot-coms are unlikely to go away.

Jeff Tinsley, chief executive officer of GreatDomains.com, the Chatsworth-based online marketer of domain names, said domain names are so firmly a part of Internet culture it will be difficult to change the way consumers use them.

``Obviously, domain names are not going to go away. These companies have spent millions on advertising and marketing and branding of their domain name,'' Tinsley said. ``They've made their dot-com name so important that they're not going to go away.''

Branding is essential, said Tinsley, whose company recently auctioned off the domain name Drugs.com for $823,456.

Internet keywords are not meant to replace the Internet addresses - known as Uniform Resource Locators, or URLs - but to enhance them, Washburn said.

``URLs are machine addresses and as such they have a great deal of value,'' Washburn said. ``It's clear that we benefit from hiding that machine communication from the eyes of you and me.''

Keywords are more human-friendly, Washburn said. But Internet commerce has made the domain name a popular means of attracting users to a Web site, and that's not likely to change soon.

``There's definitely a place for the URL. The domain name is essential in terms of e-mail,'' Washburn said. ``It was only after the domain name system had been created that commercial use of the Internet emerged. Now that the commerce is what the Web is driven by, we really do need a system that makes sense.''

However, Tinsley said, demand will be heavy for certain words, such as those that identify a generic category.

Washburn said keywords will be assigned using a set of guidelines that still is under development.

RealNames is positioning itself to be the primary source to register - for a fee - a keyword, in much the same way as Network Solutions is the main source for registering domain names.

Factors in the decision of who gets a keyword include relevancy - the recipient must have some viable use for the name - and whether it violates a trademark.

Tinsley said he envisions there will be a market for keywords just as there is for domain names.

To the consumer, the only real difference between the two is the lack of a suffix at the end, Tinsley said. That means there are fewer available.

``Those (keywords) might become even more valuable,'' Tinsley said. ``We're just going to sell all of them.''