What's the difference between .uk and .co.uk domain names?

[tombuckland]

What's the difference between .uk and .co.uk domain names?

.uk have loads free which kind of worries me in a way. Most domains are free with the .uk extension, which seems odd?

Is .uk new or just unpopular? Or does it have some sort of negitive effect???

Thanks
Tom.

 

[ryedale]

.uk was only launched in June so it will take a while to become more main stream but it stands a better chance of doing so than a lot of the novelty extensions that have also launched this year,

Existing owners of .co.uk domains have till 2019 to claim the same name in .uk format

 

[lynxus]

Technically , nothing.

.uk is however, like been mentioned simply "newer"

It will in my eyes slowly get grip and people will start to move to it.
However, in the mean time. Most people will stick to .co.uk ( as its what we are used to )

If you have a .co.uk website, Its best to grab both domains anyway.

 

[MatthewRJones]

Better go buy a .uk now then

 

[lynxus]

Better go buy a .uk now then

When I buy a serious domain, I get :
.co.uk.
.com.
.uk.
.eu.

With UK and EU essentially there just encase suddenly they become " the next in thing! "

 

[fallschirmjaeger]

I did not know about .uk this is a great bit of info, need to buy some .uk domains I guess!

 

[cristinabarkerjones]

I would recommend you to stick with .co.uk for the moment. It's a good idea to buy the .uk domain of your website and to use it when the right moment comes. But 2019 is very far and many things might happen till then. Google might stop working, for instance

 

[spunko2010]

Just an FYI, if this is your thing .wtf launched today

 

[MASSEY]

Even without taking google into consideration, i would be hard pressed to want to spend money advertising one of these new domain extensions.

Mostly seems like registrars will cash in and domainers will add another 100 or so domains to their already vastly poor and overpriced portfolios full of domains worth their reg fee if that.

.uk will be good when it's had more exposure. It will certainly help when you penalise a brand .co.uk from an seo perspective, provided google give them the same level of recognition.

 

[pickaweb]

.co.uk domain names are the standard for UK domain names. .UK domains have recently been released.
If you have a .co.uk domain name Nominet has reserved the .uk equivalent in your name already. It will stay reserved in your name as long as your .co.uk domain stays active until 10 June 2019.

You can double check who owns the rights to the .uk domain by going to this website and searching with the new .uk extension. http://www.dotuklaunch.co.uk/im-existing-customer
You can go here for more information. http://www.dotuklaunch.co.uk/ and here: http://www.dotuklaunch.co.uk/rights-lookup-tool

 

[mkgreenfield]

I prefer .co.uk - it's more established so more recognisable. If you have customers that aren't that internet-savvy, they might think a web address with just .uk is wrong and add in the .co!

 

[giorgosk]

Sorry to post on an old thread but I have a very related question and can't find info anywhere else

following from @pickaweb answer what if I register lets say DOMAIN.uk and there is already DOMAIN.co.uk, I can actually lose it if the owner of DOMAIN.co.uk decides to claim it ?

What if this happens after 2 years and I have already established a business on that DOMAIN.uk ?

I am not clear from the website (dotuklaunch uk) what happens in this case

 

[Dan_HiHosting]

Hi @giorgosk welcome to the forums.

You won't be able to register any .uk domain that a .co.uk owner has rights to, so this won't be a problem.

If you can register a .uk now, then that means nobody else can claim it, and it's yours as long as you renew it.

The rights to the .uk extension for a domain ended on 8am 10th June 2014:
http://www.dotuklaunch.uk/dates-and-definitions

So any .co.uk domain registered since then doesn't have any right to the .uk

For domains registered before the 10th June 2014, if they don't claim the .uk, the rights expire on 10th June 2019. However you can't register a domain that has rights/a reservation before then, so there's nothing to worry about.

I hope that makes sense.

If you have any other questions or need any help with hosting in general then feel free to get in touch.

All the best,

Dan

 

[giorgosk]

@Dan_HiHosting thanks for the info
I have actually found a DOMAIN.uk and my register has it available for registration (I did not go through the process of registering it though) but if I look at the official dotuklaunch uk domain and look for rights to register it says "Right of registration:" DOMAIN.co.uk

but from your words it seems if I am actually able to register it (and have it approved by the official .uk registry) it is mine too keep with noone bothering me down the line ...

 

[Dan_HiHosting]

No problem.

No I was saying that working on the assumption that they wouldn't let you register it if it has a rights reservation attached.

If they let you register it, Nominet wouldn't let the registration go through, unless you proved you own the .co.uk which you don't.

So go by what dotuklaunch / Nominet say regarding the domain, not your registrar.

So that domain isn't available to you I'm afraid.

Best of luck,

Dan