How to Choose a Domain Extension?

Every online business starts with a domain. Apart from choosing a name for our project, we will have to pick one of the available extensions. At the beginning of the adventure with the blog, we may sometimes wonder – is the domain really necessary?

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The content of your website can be displayed without a web domain. However, such a solution is very impractical, because to visit our blog someone must know the IP address of our server.

The IP address is represented by several digits separated by dots. Remembering so many digits is rather difficult and it will certainly discourage anyone who wants to visit our site. Therefore, the choice and registration of a domain are even obvious.

So it is worth choosing a domain with an appropriate ending, which will certainly speed up the development and success of our business.

How To Choose a Domain Extension?

Original Top-Level Domain Names

Many people ask themselves what domain extension will be most suitable for their website? The choice of endings is increasing, but in reality, several of them are the most common.

The following domains are available for selection:

• TLD – original top-level domain names,
• gTLD – generic top-level domains,
• nTLD – new generic top-level domain names,
• ccTLD – country code top-level domains,
• sTLD – sponsored top-level domains,
• IDN – internationalized domain names

As you can see, there are many options. When choosing a specific domain extension we should take into account:

– what is our target market?
– what nature of the business do we intend to do?

For example, domestic extensions are very good in home markets and are often typed intuitively by users living in a given part of the world.

Whereas new generic domains provide Internet users with some information about our business. However, it is always the domain name that is remembered first, not the extension itself.

You can learn more about choosing an Internet domain from the post: “How to choose a blog name”.

It is always worth choosing short and easy-to-remember addresses containing keywords. So all generic domains will be perfect.

The principle is that the simpler the name, the faster our website will be found on the Internet. And as you know, the more users our blog attracts, the great chance that in the future they will become our customers.

A good domain is like the location of a shop in the center of a big city – the better the place, the better the visibility and more customers. So, a domain is a kind of investment in our brand, on which we will certainly not lose. You can read more about investing in domain names here.

Domain Extension and SEO

We can promote information and content that we regularly post on our blog in many ways. From social media, through thematic forums, portals such as Quora, or using the second largest search engine – YouTube.

Another proven way to get traffic is through paid advertising.

However, in my opinion, the best traffic that will provide us with the most interested audience is “organic search”. Organic search traffic is natural, and its biggest advantage is that it is completely free.

To be high on Google, you need to create content as SEO-compatible as possible. Therefore, when registering a new address, you can ask yourself: what effect does a domain extension have on your position in search engines?

Does Your Domain Name Affect Your SEO?

A domain is one of many factors influencing SEO. When starting an online business, you should choose an extension that best suits your area of activity.

If you want to act globally, the best choice will be to register one of the gTLDs. As you know, the most popular extension is dotcom. This extension was created for commercial companies. Currently, it is often used by all other entities.

The domain with the .com extension will allow you to build a brand recognized around the world. It will have a global reach, without having to register multiple national domains (these extensions are shown in the country-code Top-Level Domains extension list table).

If our target group lives in Europe, we will want to reach as many audiences as possible on this continent. Addresses with the .eu extension will work perfectly here.

Domain Names and Google Ranking

In 2015, Google confirmed that neither original nor alternative TLDs directly affect the search engine ranking.

The extension of the domain can influence the perception of the brand by the users. A wrongly selected extension will affect the click rate and cause lower positions in the search engine.

In my opinion, much more important than the extension is what’s on the page. If our blog is updated frequently and contains a lot of unique and useful information – it is very likely that such a page will be high in search positions.

Unique and valuable content written in a reader-friendly way will always be well seen by Google.
No matter what extension the domain of the site has.

Domain Extension for Blog

Top-Level Domain Extension List

TLDs are top-level domains. Above them, there are no other domains in the DNS system.

These domains are created and managed by:

• IANA (Internet Assigned Numbers Authority) and 
• ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers). 

TLDs were created at the beginning of Internet development.

Below is a domain extension list for the oldest TLDs:

• .com (commercial) – a domain of commercial companies,
• .edu (education) – a domain related to education,
• .org (organization) – the domain of organizations and associations,
• .gov (government) – domains related to government and government institutions,
• .biz (business) – domains dedicated to business, like the .com domain,
• .info (information) – domains for information pages,
• .net (network) – domains dedicated to companies providing Internet access services,
• .mil (military) – military domains,
• .mobi (mobile) – a domain for mobile website.

Over 1000 top-level domains are currently in use. Most of them are country domains managed by designated institutions.

Some of the Top-Level Domains are only available to specific users, e.g. the .aero domain is dedicated to the aviation industry, the .ngo domain to non-governmental non-profit organizations. Domains .gov and .mil for government agencies and the United States military.

The .eu extension domains, which are also Top-Level Domains, are only available to European Union residents, Iceland, Liechtenstein, or Norway and to companies established in this area.

What Are the Most Popular Top-Level Domains?

As various reports show, the .com extension is the most popular in the world. Domains with this suffix are also among the most remembered. Despite the appearance of many other extensions in recent times, it is .com that is still most associated with the Internet.

Domains of this type are also very valuable. A list of the most expensive sold domains with the .com extension you can find here.

Most frequently registered TLDs in 2019:

• .com
• .tk
• .cn
• .de
• .net
• .uk
• .org
• .tw
• .nl
• .ru

Country-code Top-Level Domain Names

ccTLD – the country code top-level domain is a domain that can be recognized by the country-code extension.
The ccTLDs are usually managed by national operators, who are responsible for creating new and technical maintenance of existing national domains.

Examples of ccTLD domains:

• http://www.exampledomain.pl (Poland)
• http://www.exampledomain.co.uk (United Kingdom)
• http://exampledomain.com.de (Germany)

ccTLD addresses allow the search engine to identify the region or country to which the site is related. Thanks to this, the content of the page is displayed in the most appropriate geographical area.

However, please note that ccTLDs do not specify the language in which the website content is described.
Sometimes a generic gTLD can be created by combining a domain name with the appropriate country code.
This type of solution is not recommended because the website may be targeted at a given country and its position in global search rankings will be lowered.

At the moment we can choose from over 200 ccTLD extensions available for different countries.

Country-code Top-Level Domain (ccTLD) – extensions list

Sponsored Top-Level Domains Extension List

An interesting category of domains are sponsored addresses – sTLDs. They belong to the top-level domains. Each of them has a sponsor for specific purposes. Individual sponsors belong to different communities, professional groups or are connected by a given geographical area. The purpose of sponsorship is to maintain the best interest of the sponsored community.

Below is a list and purpose of selected sTLDs:

• .aero – for members of the air transport industry
• .asia – Companies, organizations, and individuals in the Asia-Pacific region
• .cat – Reserved for the Catalan linguistic and cultural community
• .coop – Cooperative associations
• .edu – US Institutions of higher education
• .gov – Reserved for the United States Government
• .int – international treaty-based organisations
• .jobs – Reserved for human resource managers
• .mil – US Military entities
• .mobi – for consumers and providers of mobile products and services
• .museum – for Museums
• .tel – for businesses and individuals to publish contact data
• .travel – Travel agents, airlines, hoteliers, tourism bureaus, etc

New Generic Top-Level Domain Names

Looking for the right domain, we can get discouraged very quickly. Most of the best names are already registered a long time ago.

The most popular .com extension has been in use for almost 30 years. So it is natural that the most valuable domains are simply not reachable. This situation has been frustrating for a long time for people and companies taking their first steps on the Internet. At some point, you could even conclude that there are no more available domains!

The introduction of new gTLDs has given you the opportunity to register your dream name. Moreover, additional extensions can perfectly inform about the place and nature of the business. Thanks to this, the newly created addresses are easy to remember and perfectly match the profile of a particular website.

For example, if you run a coffee shop or website related to coffee, a domain with a .coffee extension is ideal. If you are setting up an online fitness store, the .fitness extension will be natural. Such a domain will surely distinguish us from the crowd.

Additionally, the new gTLDs are available in many different languages. This makes it much easier for local citizens to promote their products and services on the Internet.

Benefits of Registering New gTLDs

The most important benefits of registering new gTLDs:

• availability of many names,
• registering shorter addresses,
• the location of our business in the relevant sector,
• a better position in search engines, 
• increased brand recognition on the Internet.

New Generic Top-Level Domain Extension List

Register Your Dream Domain Today!

In recent years there has been a very fast development of the Internet and related services. Domains with the .com extension are still the most popular domains in the world. However, thanks to the appearance of new extensions, each of us can choose a name perfectly suited to a particular niche. Everyone can start the adventure of making money on the Internet today.

When registering a domain, let’s use a proven company that will provide us with services at the highest level. Bluehost currently operates more than 2 million websites worldwide and is the most popular hosting provider for blogs based on the WordPress platform.

You can also register your address in Bluehost by selecting one of the many available extensions.

Get Started!

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Michael

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