Back in 2014, in response to the growing demand for URLs, ICANN (the Internet Corporation of Assigned Names and Numbers, the organisation that oversees the administration of domain names) released a range new generic TLDs such as .coffee, .bike, and .design. Since then, demand has only continued to grow, with the list of generic TLDs recently hitting 1000 different available extensions. According to Aliesha Ellington at Umbrellar Domains ‘these niche domains present a number of unique SEO and online marketing opportunities and we’re now really starting to see the beginning of a trend towards these less traditional options”.

pixabay

While the internet revolution of the late 90’s may have crowned .com the king of the internet, he is very much in danger of losing his crown, with over 9 million generic TLD domains registered. Many new startups and online businesses often find that their ideal .com domain is already taken, or perhaps is owned by a domain broker who’s looking to make a tidy profit off it. As more and more .com domains became unavailable, entrepreneurs are looking for alternative options when setting up their online presence – and so begins, what may well be, the decline of .com.

Why choose a generic TLD?

If your dream .com domain is taken, an obvious alternative is a more specific country code TLD, such as .nz, or .co.uk. These are great for local businesses who want to target their efforts on their home turf, but with the internet making the world a smaller place, online businesses often want to reach out further afield. Generic TLDs span far and wide, from industry specific examples like .design or .rentals to community or campaign themed extensions such as .club, .promo or .foundation. It can require some careful consideration, but choosing the right generic TLD will really help to tell the story of your brand or business, right there in your domain name.

pixabay

Leaving .com behind isn’t just for new startups or small businesses either. For instance, The Hunger Games franchise changed their primary domain for the release of their penultimate film to TheHungerGames.movie, whilst Lady Gaga opted for BornThisWay.foundation as the primary domain for her organisation and Paris Fashion Week chose a .buzz extension for their major event.

Creating new branding opportunities

A creative and unique domain name will be memorable in the minds of your customers long after they’ve interacted with your site. You may have a .com domain name that works great for your business - but the opportunities that generic TLDs present aren’t limited to your primary domain. Say your company has a loyalty program or VIP membership of some sort. Have you considered a separate domain for those people such as your companyname.club? There are a huge number of options for using a generic TLD for promotional and marketing activity. Specials or promotions could be given a dedicated .sale or .promo domain. Consider a .win for contests and .event or .buzz to generate excitement about specific upcoming conferences or activities.

pixabay

Using these unique TLDs strategically mean that you can create a very marketable domain, and with some effort, it can be a valuable tool when it comes to customer engagement and driving visitors further into your own primary site.

But will a generic TLD affect my SEO?

There are still of lot of studies looking at how using a non-traditional domain affects your sites SEO, but the consensus is that it won’t hurt your rankings. Despite a few exampless floating around of sites with a generic TLD outperforming .com in search rankings, Google has spelled out, more than once, that a TLD will make no difference to your search ranking. A blog on their Webmaster Central blog states “Keywords in a TLD do not give any advantage OR disadvantage in a search”. Businesses are free to choose a domain to best suit their brand, and not worry about their SEO efforts.

However, an interesting study in the Search Engine Journal found that using a keyword rich TLD may deliver some benefit when it comes to AdWords campaigns. They ran two identical AdWords campaign s- one for .com, and one for .diamonds. After some time, they found that the cost per click was cheaper on the .diamonds campaign and those clicks also converted better than .com. Of course, always be sure to run your own testing, but securing a generic TLD may be a consideration for your next AdWords campaign.

So what about .com?

.com domains are still around, and whilst their growth may not be as strong as it once was, the extension won’t be disappearing any time soon. A .com domain has, and still does carry a lot of credibility behind it, and even businesses that have ventured down the path of generic TLDs will still often have a .com presence as well.

Brand protection should also be a consideration when choosing your domain name. If it is feasible, registering a number of domain extensions for your company, including .com and any relevant generic extensions, is best practise to prevent cybersquatting, the act of securing ‘brand’ domain names to sell back to a company for a profit. Use domain forwarding or redirection to your advantage!

Ultimately, it will depend on your business, brand and goals as to what is the right domain for you. A traditional and dependable .com may suit your place in the market, or your brand may simply demand a more modern domain. For the creative owner or marketer, there is a wealth of opportunity out there in the domain space.