Shorter Is Sweeter: New .UK Domain Names Are Here

You can now register and manage .uk domain names right here at Hover.

If you thought the United Kingdom already had dedicated domains, you’d be correct. “Second-level” .uk domains have been around for awhile for different purposes, like as co.uk and org.uk for businesses, or me.uk for personal websites.

The new .uk domain is a shorter, simpler option for registrants in the United Kingdom.

The rules for registering .uk domains are largely the same as the existing second-level .uk domains. But there are a few guidelines that make it a little different.

What you need to know:

If you already have a second-level .uk domain, don’t worry. You will automatically get the first dibs on your exact-match .uk domain name. Only domain names that do not have a corresponding second-level .uk domain registered are available.

There is a reservation period to claim the corresponding .uk domain name for any of your second level domains (.co.uk, .org.uk, .me.uk, .net.uk, .ltd.uk or plc.uk). The .uk equivalent will be reserved for five years – that’s up until June 10, 2019 as long as your domain name is still registered.

To claim your corresponding .uk domain name, you need to make sure that the owner contact information for your new .uk domain is exactly the same as the owner contact information on your second-level .uk domain. So, if you already have myawesomewebsite.me.uk, the contact information for your new myawesomewebsite.uk domain needs to be identical.

To check if you have the rights to the new .uk domain, you can use the rights lookup tool.