Johnson and Johnson has been recalling a lot of its very popular brands lately. These come in the form of Benadryl®, Tylenol®, Motrin®, Rolaids®, St. Joseph® and Zyrtec®.

From a domain name aspect, I thought it would be interesting to do a little digging and see how the company is handling this problem and attacking it with powerful keyword domain names! To put it lightly, the company is failing but holds some bright spots.

The thing to understand from the very start is keywords! The keywords are the terms that most people would refer to the recall. If the product happens to be Tylenol, people associate the Tylenol recall as just that: Tylenol Recall. Those two terms become the important Keyword(s)! Many people simply visit those matching terms by entering them into the web address in their web browser as www.TylenolRecall.com . If somebody were to do that, they end up on a dead page and the domain name doesn’t resolve.

The sad thing… Johnson and Johnson OWN that domain name but simply do nothing with it! Shame on you J&J. At least forward those visitors to the recall page so they can be informed!

So, since J&J own TylenolRecall.com, and they are recalling many other brands they own.. one may assume they own all their products name + recall? NOPE

• BenadrylRecall.com (currently available)
• MotrinRecall.com (parked, owned by intrust domains)
• RolaidsRecall.com (currently available)
• ZyrtecRecall.com (currently available)
• StJosephRecall.com (currently available)

All of these domain names could greatly help consumers looking for recall information but J&J must not see the need! Using Google.com and with its "suggest", nearly every brand name you type in, the matching terms above appear as a search term including the exact match keywords. Benadryl Recall, Motrin Recall etc.

Minisites on each of these domain names would make it easier for consumers looking for information to find it easily! The domain names would make perfect sense and they are clear and to the point. The cost to do this is low and it can be used if or when a future recall is needed for the brand. It also prevents somebody from registering the domain name and using it for who knows what. It would also prevent future legal issues if they wished to use the domains.

From a domain name aspect, J&J isn’t handling the recall all that well.

On another positive note for J&J, the vast majority of searches at a search engine for related recall terms do display company information above the fold about the recall(s). The brands are also using Google Adwords for the recall(s) but I personally think this isn’t needed if they used the above domain names with minisites informing consumers as they would rank well and make sense to users searching for the matching keywords.

Another thing that ticks me off a bit, is the site the company is using for the recall. McNeilProductRecall.com . McNeil? I had no idea who "McNeil" was. Well, McNeil Consumer Healthcare is a subsidiary of Johnson and Johnson and makes the product!

Johnson and Johnson owns around 250 subsidiaries but people are mainly aware of the brands and not who owns or makes them. They are also more likely to be aware of Johnson and Johnson than McNeil IMO. Although one location is important for a recall of products owned by the same company, I think J&J could do a better job helping its consumers find the information needed by using the brand names of the recalled products.

If you are looking for information on the recalled products, McNeilProductRecall.com is the central site with the information needed. I would also advise NOT to register the above mentioned available domain names. I know many of us could provide the help and information many people are looking for, but they also contain trademarked terms of the brands.

It would be nice to see J&J buy and put the recall domain names to use, because it simply makes sense!