Is It Time To Update Your Domain Name?

We’ve launched 56 new domain extensions and will be introducing many more over the next few months. With all these new options, it’s becoming a whole lot easier to get the domain name that best represents your online identity.

When you first searched for that perfect domain name, was it already taken? You’re not alone. In a world of 1.5 billion Internet users and over 250 million registered domains, it’s been incredibly difficult to find the domain name that best suits you or your idea.

That means a lot of people have had to settle for a domain that’s less than perfect – adding a dash, dropping a vowel, or including an ambiguous keyword, like “the” or “inc.” Le sigh. All those compromises make your domain harder to remember and a little less magical.

Good news. You now have better chances of getting the domain name you really want. Here’s why:

They’re descriptive

There are meaningful keywords built right into the new TLDs. A TLD (Top-Level Domain) is everything to the right of the last dot. The new TLDs include descriptive terms that are closely related to the nature or purpose of the websites, like .photography, .tips, and .today. They help communicate exactly what kind of content users will find at your domain name.

They’re shorter

The fact that the new domain extensions have relevant keywords in the TLD means that they can be shorter. When the TLD already speaks for itself, you don’t need to have that word repeated in your domain name.

You can also shorten up your domain by eliminating those unnecessary dashes and character combinations that make your domain name difficult to pronounce or spell. A great domain name is one that simply rolls off your tongue.

With the new TLDs, a domain like www.the-jamison-gallery-inc.com can be shortened and simplified to www.jamison.gallery.

They’re memorable

A short and catchy domain name is easy to remember. Getting rid of those ambiguous keywords and characters makes it easier for users to find you online again and again.

They’re searchable

You might be wondering how the new domain extensions will rank in search results. According to Matt Cutts of Google, the old and new TLDs can perform equally well in terms of search engine optimization.

“Google has a lot of experience in returning relevant web pages, regardless of the top-level domain (TLD). Google will attempt to rank new TLDs appropriately, but I don’t expect a new TLD to get any kind of initial preference over .com”

They’re distinct

Your domain name is the first thing people see and there are lots of other places online they can choose to go instead. The new TLDs stand out from what Internet users are used to seeing to the right of the dot. They naturally help make your website more recognizable, especially as an early adopter. And that’s just cool.

What we love most about the new TLDs is that they offer new possibilities to do awesome things on the Internet. Try typing a few keywords into the Hover search bar to help spark some ideas of your own.