Information Centre

Domain names can contain up to 63 characters, enabling you to register domains that reflect your product names, campaigns, or slogans in most cases.

The valid characters for use in domains are:

• Any letters of the alphabet;  example: abcdefg.com.au
• Any numbers 0 to 9, example: 369.com.au
• You can also use a hyphen (-), example: domain-registration.com.au
• Domain names cannot begin or end with a hyphen
• You can use a combination of numbers, letters and hyphens, example: open24-7.com.au
• You can use multiple instances of hyphens, but not a double hyphen
• Domain names can begin and end in a number, example: 9-5.com.au
• Other forms of punctuation, symbols or accent characters cannot be used.
• The name's length must be between the range 3 and 63 characters

The easiest way to remember most of these rules for your future website address is to think "LDH"; which stands for Letters, Digits, Hyphens.

Domain names are not case sensitive. This means you can advertise your web name in upper or lower case or a combination of both. For example; domainregistration.com.au is the same name as both DomainRegistration.com.au and DOMAINREGISTRATION.COM.AU

While you are able to use 63 characters; bear in mind the longer a domain name is, the harder it may be to remember. Long domain names also increase the risk of the address being incorrectly typed into a browser. You might also find it more difficult to include your website address on stationery, such as business cards.It may also be difficult to find using a search engine.

For some further tips to consider when choosing a name and information about eligibility for registering different domain extensions, please read our domain name search guide.