Statistics on the registration numbers of nTLDs show that the new domain extensions managed to move in on the market. But also ccTLDs are still very popular. The introduction of new domain extensions, know as top-level domains (in short: TLDs) in 2013 has added a colorful diversity to the World Wide Web. Three years later it became evident that the new gTLDs (in short: nTLDs) managed to secure a foothold in the domain market. At the same time, ccTLDs are still very popular – although geoTLDs could represent an attractive alternative.
The top 5 nTLDs
With 6,65 million registrations and a market share of 24,10% the domain extension .XYZ leads the top 5 of all nTLDs. Second scores .TOP with 4,77 million domains and a market share of 17,31%. The bronze medal goes to .WIN with a 4,56% market share and 1,25 million registrations. .WANG just failed to step on the medalists' podium with 972.917 registrations and a market share of 3,53%, closely followed by fifth-place winner .CLUB. With a small difference of just 57.137 registrations the way to the fourth place is not far away.
The top 5 ccTLDs
Front-runner in the ccTLD ranking is China. 19,36 million registered domains are ending with the extension .CN. In second place comes – population wise totally outnumbered in comparison to China – Germany. Remarkable 16,13 million domains with the country code of the German Republic .DE are currently on the market – mainly a result of the liberal registration policies of the German registry DENIC. 10,76 million domains bear the royal domain extension .UK. The United Kingdom made it in third place. With 5,64 and 5,25 million domains the places 4 and 5 lie very close together: David competing Goliath – The Netherlands (.NL) relegate the Russian Federation (.RU) to fifth place.
The top 5 geoTLDs
Since 2013, the ccTLDs are supplemented with so called geoTLDs: Way ahead of all geoTLDs lies .KIWI with 187.239 registered domains. Second scores the Big Apple with 72.575 registered domains under .NYC. .BERLIN with 57.565 registrations and .LONDON with 55.292 registrations rank third and forth. The Japanese megacity Tokyo made
Conclusion
A close look on the top 5 nTLDs shows that the places on the medalists' podium are all taken by nTLDs including three characters. Short, well-known domain extensions are obviously preferred by Internet users and this explains why especially ccTLDs are still very popular. Each country has its own two-character country code according to ISO 3166. In fact, the huge popularity of the ccTLDs made the introduction of new gTLDs even necessary. The geoTLDs are a genuine alternative to the ccTLDs. Apart from patriotic feelings to one’s own region or city the usage of new geoTLDs provides SEO-relevant advantages. If the domain is used in a regional context, a geoTLD in fact scores points in search engines. According to a study by searchmetrics from 2014, domains under geoTLDs give a ranking advantage of 1,18 positions. Additionally, sought-after short, meaningful domains are still available under the new geoTLDs. Such domains are easier to remember and therefore can help to generate more clicks.