Aussies Rejoice, .Au Domains Are Here

Good news, mates. You can now buy and manage .au domains right here at Hover.

.Au is the official country-code domain of Australia. Ever since they became available in 1986, .au domains have been the preferred choice for our friends Down Under. Today, there are over 2.7 million .au domains registered, and they continue to be the best way to both reach and represent Australians online.

.Au domains tell the world you’re Australian. The geographic connection is instantly recognizable to Australian residents, as well as viewers abroad. When Aussies come across your .au website, they’ll know they are connecting with a local company or individual. Plus, .au domains allow you to target traffic from Australia and rank higher in Australian search results.

What should I know about .au domains?

There are a couple unique requirements for .au domains that make them a little different from other TLDs.

Second-level domains

.Au domains cannot be registered at the first level. In an effort to avoid confusion, they have been structured with five different types of domains at the second-level instead. Each type of domain extension serves a different purpose to best represent your domain. These eligibility requirements help maintain the integrity of .au domains.

For commercial purposes, ‘com.au’ and ‘net.au’ are available for businesses registered and trading in Australia. Non-profit organizations and clubs incorporated in Australia can get ‘org.au’ and ‘asn.au.’ For personal use, Australian individuals can register ‘id.au’ domain names. The domain name you choose will need to be associated with your name, business or organization.

Transfers

There are no transfer fees for .au domains. That’s right! If you already have a .au domain name at another registrar, you can enjoy the convenience of managing all your domains in one place and transfer it to Hover – for free.

Registration period

A minimum registration period of two years applies to all .au domain extensions.

Renewals

.Au domain names can only be renewed within 90 days of expiration. That means you may not renew your domain prior to those final 90 days. Patience is a virtue.

Image credit: Travis_Simon, Flickr.