Is '.com' the best web domain to have?

[Lucan Unlordly]

A global sporting body have just announced the name of a new competition to be launched next year.

I've just purchased the dot com address?

The UK body use a dot org address as the .co.uk one was taken

They could do the same again but is there a noteworthy globally accepted alternative to 'dot com'?

 

[MOIC]

If it's a non-profit organisation and represents a global group/body, then .org is the preferred choice.

.com, .co.uk etc etc are ideally suited to e-commerce sites.

Just my opinion.

 

[Lucan Unlordly]

I've got b

If it's a non-profit organisation and represents a global group/body, then .org is the preferred choice.

.com, .co.uk etc etc are ideally suited to e-commerce sites.

Just my opinion.

I've got .org as well

 

[MOIC]

The UK body use a dot org address

They have it, or you have it . . .?

 

[Lucan Unlordly]

They have it, or you have it . . .?

The UK body uses .org, I held .co.uk way before they changed name.

The world body uses .com for their main website. I hold .org and .com for the new competition.

 

[antropy]

I hold .org and .com for the new competition.

They might be able to force you to give it to them these days.

Domain squatting isn't what it used to be.

"Since 1999, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has provided an administrative process wherein a trademark holder can attempt to claim a squatted site.

Trademark owners in 2021 filed a record 5,128 cases under the Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy (UDRP) with World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)'s Arbitration and Mediation Center, eclipsing the 2020 level by 22%. The surge pushed WIPO cybersquatting cases to almost 56,000 and the total number of domain names covered past the 100,000 mark.[4] As a matter of comparison, in 2006, there were 1823 complaints filed with WIPO, which was a 25% increase over the 2005 rate.[5]"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cybersquatting

Paul.

 

[Lucan Unlordly]

They might be able to force you to give it to them these days.

Domain squatting isn't what it used to be.

"Since 1999, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has provided an administrative process wherein a trademark holder can attempt to claim a squatted site.

Trademark owners in 2021 filed a record 5,128 cases under the Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy (UDRP) with World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)'s Arbitration and Mediation Center, eclipsing the 2020 level by 22%. The surge pushed WIPO cybersquatting cases to almost 56,000 and the total number of domain names covered past the 100,000 mark.[4] As a matter of comparison, in 2006, there were 1823 complaints filed with WIPO, which was a 25% increase over the 2005 rate.[5]"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cybersquatting

Paul.

The organisation doesn't have a registered trade mark and has already come under fire for their names similarity to other like minded organisations.

To be honest I'm only mischievously adding a tiny layer to a 'political' battle where historical incompetence rules. Announcing something mega, only to realise they haven't got the trademark, the web address, the rights is par for the course. On this occasion the competitors might want to send a few $$$$$$ my way?

 

[Gyumri]

I wouldn't reveal your hand to ask for money unless asked, otherwise that would be proof of domain squatting.

Best thing is to sit back and keep quiet. If they are interested then they'll start making noises.

Having once registered Barclays-Bank when the internet was firing up it was an amusing diversion but not one which earned me any money.

 

[Nick@Daydot]

These days organisations aren't constrained to the old top-level domains. There are a lot more to choose from and they might just go with one of those.

 

[Lucan Unlordly]

These days organisations aren't constrained to the old top-level domains. There are a lot more to choose from and they might just go with one of those.

They could do, or tweak the name of the competition and buy another domain. On the other hand they may come begging and I can double my investment and walk way with £28 in my pocket.

 

[ctrlbrk]

A global sporting body have just announced the name of a new competition to be launched next year.

I've just purchased the dot com address?

The UK body use a dot org address as the .co.uk one was taken

They could do the same again but is there a noteworthy globally accepted alternative to 'dot com'?

A guy I know has had a .com site (global audience) since 2009 and he believes - despite the proliferation of other TLDs - that .com is still what people recognise best.

He changed his .com site into .io in 2016 and claims that he lost his Google rankings because of that (I think there may have been other reasons at play).

Since this year he's rebranded it, back to a .com site.


I think it depends also on your audience. If it's UK based only .com may not be necessarily the best choice, but if the target market is global then it should be.

 

[PickandMix.com]

We started out using a .co domain and then once established, we bought .com. As a previous commenter said, most businesses will just use any TLD and build their marketing around the web address. They will probably just add a hyphen or buy an alternative domain name...

 

[Strikemoon]

We started out using a .co domain and then once established, we bought .com. As a previous commenter said, most businesses will just use any TLD and build their marketing around the web address. They will probably just add a hyphen or buy an alternative domain name...

Pretty much this.

Google on record themselves have said that the TLD of the website isn't a ranking factor for SEO and is less relevant than it was say 10 or 20 years ago.

Having solid marketing is. Thanks for mentioning this @PickandMix.com

 

[klaviasnape]

It depends what you are optimising for.

If it's google ranking, it shouldn't make a difference.

 

[14Steve14]

When I started many years ago I purchased the .com for the business name as the .co.uk was not available. The .co.uk was never used by the owner and when it became available I purchased it. Now I have the .com website that does really well and a .co.uk that I have no idea what to do with.

 

[ctrlbrk]

When I started many years ago I purchased the .com for the business name as the .co.uk was not available. The .co.uk was never used by the owner and when it became available I purchased it. Now I have the .com website that does really well and a .co.uk that I have no idea what to do with.

Since you purchased the .co.uk too why don't you redirect it to your .com

 

[Noke]

A global sporting body have just announced the name of a new competition to be launched next year.

I've just purchased the dot com address?

The UK body use a dot org address as the .co.uk one was taken

They could do the same again but is there a noteworthy globally accepted alternative to 'dot com'?

I've heard that the .com is the preferred one, but they also tend to cost the most

 

[fisicx]

I've heard that the .com is the preferred one, but they also tend to cost the most

Not sure where you get your info but some TLDS are way more expensive than .com.

 

[TCH]

well I dunno about dotcom domain-names, there's no geographic filtering

if our search-string includes

site:.de

then we will be offered German websites

and Google's Advanced Search page has a text-box called 'site or domain'

 

[14Steve14]

Since you purchased the .co.uk too why don't you redirect it to your .com

Thats what we have done now. No idea why I never did it before.

 

[EnterprisePro]

My take on the topic of domains has always been, if you're serious about your brand positioning, secure the `.com` and `.co.uk` and `.uk`. Have you tried the `.uk`?

If you are going global, you could always have your sites and apps multilingual, and have routes such as `mycorp.com/en-gb`, `mycorp.com/en-us`, `mycorp.com/de-de` etc.