May 14, 2018
A new report from CENTR shows the Australian domain space still going strong.
The latest CENTRstats reports the global TLD market grew 1.4% year over year at the end of first quarter of this year, bringing total recorded domains to an estimated 333 million.
With regard to country code Top Level Domains (ccTLDs), these grew a combined 3.5% year over year with the most net growth within the European region, which added some 2.5 million domains.
Australia's .au was no slouch either, growing several percent. The latest figures (May 12) from auDA indicate there are 3,152,796 Australian domain names registered. That works out to be approximately one name for every 13 Australians.
CENTRstats states generic TLDs only grew a total of 0.2% overall year over year.
The .com extension still rules the roost, accounting for 71% of the global gTLD market, followed by other legacy gTLDs (e.g. .net, .org, .info) at 18% and new gTLDs at 11%. Domain names ending in .com grew at just over 4% since April last year.
The .info space was a standout performer, up 18% year over year as at April 2018. Perhaps .info has finally shaken its reputation for spammy websites and is becoming more trusted. There used to be a rumour that .info domains had more troubles ranking, but all other things being equal, the reputation is certainly unfounded these days.
One gTLD to see significant contraction was .net, with current registrations down 5% over April last year, and .org also saw a contraction of a couple of percent.
Overall, 44% of domain names globally are ccTLDs and 56% are gTLDs. These figures haven't changed much in the last couple of years, even though a flurry of new gTLD have arrived on the scene.
Median growth among geographic gTLDs (aka GeoTLDs - e.g. .asia) was 1.9% year over year. While a small segment of the overall TLD landscape, it is well-utilised in that the group has some of the lowest rates of domain parking among all new gTLDs.
The CENTRstats Global TLD Report Q1/2018 can be downloaded here (PDF). CENTR notes some calculations in its report exclude TLDs with limited or unreliable data.
CENTR is the association of European ccTLD registries.
Have a web site or blog? Get our free domain news widget.
How to register a name: Enter your choice in the search tool and click 'GO'. If after the check the domain names search results show your choice is available, you will then have the option to proceed to purchase registration; which is a very quick and easy process - start a search and find your ideal website address now.
AUSTRALIAN OWNED AND OPERATED SINCE 1996
1300 863 436