MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA -For anyone who wants to add an element of silliness to their website address, Google Registry is giving them the opportunity to do so with the release of the new top-level domain “.meme.” While a meme is classically defined as “an idea, behavior, style, or usage that spreads from person to person within a culture,” in recent years popular culture has put a slightly different spin on the phrase, using it more to identify an amusing or interesting … [Read more...]
Q3 Domain Report: Slight “.COM” Reg Decline, New GTLDs Enjoy 10% Increase
RESTON, VA - Verisign, the company that is the authoritative registry for the .com, .net, and .name generic top-level domains (TLDs) and the .cc country-code top-level domain, released their 3rd quarter 2023 Domain Name Industry Brief (DNIB) this week that reveals by the end of the latest quarter, total domain registrations across all TLDs worldwide have reached 359.3 million. That number represents a 2.4 percent increase year over year, amounting to an … [Read more...]
Report: Domain Squatting, Brand Hijacking Presenting Increased Threat Across Internet
PALM BEACH, FL - “Domain squatting” – AKA cybersquatting – and “brand hijacking” are two internet-based threats that present unique dangers to both businesses and end users, opening up some to cybersecurity threats and brand/trademark damage including potential phishing and malware attacks. Domain squatting is registering or using a domain name to profit from a trademark belonging to a well-known brand, typically by registering a misspelled version of their URL to … [Read more...]
80% Of Top 10 “.Net” Domain Name Sales of All Time Going to Waste, Not Being Used
PALM BEACH, FL - .net domains, what probably should be the number two domain name extension right after .org for organizations, seem not too attractive these days. Being the -owner of a couple of good .net domains, I like to check in on them occasionally and see what people are doing with them. Unfortunately, Estibot appraisals on .net domains have not seemed to change over the last five or so years; I'm still seeing the same numbers. I also wanted to look at the top … [Read more...]
FEDs Seize 17 Domains Suspected of Being Used for Fraud in U.S. by North Korea
WASHINGTON, D.C. - On Wednesday, the United States Justice Department announced it has seized 17 website domains utilized by North Korean information technology (IT) workers to purportedly evade government sanctions, conduct cyberattacks and defraud U.S. businesses, with the millions of dollars in illicit proceeds generated from such activities being used to fund North Korea's weapon development program. The Justice Department confirmed in a statement that the … [Read more...]
Domain History As Google Ranking Factor Highlighted Again in Search Engine Journal
BOCA RATON, FL - The history of domain name can have a decisively significant factor in terms of its Google ranking. If a user owns a domain that is new and has never been used before then they essentially have a clean slate, but if the domain name was previously owned and has changed hands – perhaps even more than once – how it was utilized by its previous owner and/or owners could absolutely have an impact on your ranking going forward. Most people don't pay much … [Read more...]
Early Access to Google’s New Domain Will Require Overwhelm “.ing” Investment
Later this month, Google will be launching a new top level domain name that is sure to attract attention. Known as a “domain hack,” the new “.ing” domain name can be used to spell out clever takes of common phrases to create memorable website names; examples include “Fish.ing,” “Out.ing,” “Engineer.ing,” and “Breed.ing,” among countless others. As with many new gTLDs, there will be A) a sunrise period for trademark holders and then B) an auction-style initial … [Read more...]
Google Ceases Selling New Domains as Transition to Squarespace Continues
SAN FRANCISCO, CA – Back in July of this year, Google abruptly announced that it would be ending its Google Domains service after nearly 10 years and would be selling the business and all of its assets to Squarespace, a New York-based website building and hosting company. This month, as the transition from one company to another continues, the soon-to-be-shuttered Google Domains quietly revealed that it has ceased the sale of any new domains going … [Read more...]
Seven Years Later, New gTLD “.Cars” Still Driving Long & Winding Road to Nowhere
WEST PALM BEACH, FL – I recently wanted to see what was going on with the “. Cars” domain name, so I tried visiting a site I thought would probably be one of the best names; “used.cars”…. Not much is going on there; the page just fails to load. Same thing with “used.car”, “new.car” and “new.cars”. A “.cars” domain name costs $2,499 per year to register, renew, or transfer at Dynadot, one of the largest domain name registrars in the world. Same thing with ".Car" which was … [Read more...]
VeriSign Says “.COM” Registrations Up, “NGTLDS” Up, Legacy “.NET” Down
RESTON, VA - VeriSign Inc., a global provider of domain name registry services and internet infrastructure, announced that their total number of Top-Level Domain (TLD) registrations worldwide have reached 356.6 million as of the end of the second quarter of 2023, as per the company’s latest quarterly Domain Name Industry Brief (DNIB). Verisign, based out of Reston, Virginia, operates a diverse array of network infrastructure, including two of the Internet's thirteen … [Read more...]
GEO Domain Names, Newspaper & Media Companies, Sales Prices, and Usage
PALM BEACH, FL - The purchase of big city, state and/or regional domain names have always been a strategic move for media companies to control their presence and brand in a particular market. For example, The Boston Globe acquired the domain name “Boston.com” in 1995, The Philadelphia Inquirer acquired the domain name “Philly.com” in 2004, and the McClatchy newspaper chain acquired the domain name "Miami.com" in 2005. Additionally, the Tallahassee Democrat, the only … [Read more...]
Domain Registrar Namecheap Gives Away Half a Million Free .me Domains to Students
PHOENIX, AZ - Namecheap, the Phoenix, Arizona-based domain name registrar and web hosting company originally founded in 2000, recently announced that they have given away a total of 500,000 free .me domain names to students in conjunction with their Namecheap for Education program. The company originally started the program in 2014, which provides students, teachers, and others involved in academia who are located in North America, the United Kingdom, and … [Read more...]
WordPress Offering 100-Year Domain Registration, Hosting Plan for $38,000
SAN FRANCISCO, CA – WordPress – which recently made headlines when they offered up to one million Google Domains customers free transfers to their service after the company's assets were acquired by Squarespace – announced this week a new plan where they will be selling domains with a registration length of 100 years for a one-time payment of $38,000. Known primarily for its content management system that allows users to create simple and easy-to-use … [Read more...]
44,000 Domains Have Taken Up WordPress’ Free Transfer Offer from Google Domains
SAN FRANCISCO, CA - After previously announcing on August 1st that they would be offering free domain transfers for current Google Domains clients following the sale of the company's assets to Squarespace for $180 million, WordPress creator Matt Mullenweg announced that 44,000 customers have taken him up on his offer so far, with many more expected to cross over as well in the near future. Customers of Google Domains – which sold off its assets in June, including … [Read more...]
WordPress Offering 1 Million Google Users Opportunity to Transfer Domains Free
SAN FRANCISCO, CA - One month after Squarespace entered into a deal to purchase Google Domains – which encompasses all of it’s assets, including approximately 10 million domains that are owned by millions of customers – web content management company WordPress has announced they would be offering former Google users free domain transfers for the first million domains that choose to move to their platform for a limited time. Currently, Google Domains customers … [Read more...]