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Veronika Vilgis

The modern history of emoji domain names began in 2001, when the first emoji domains—☮️.com, ♨️.com, and ♨️.net—were registered. These domains were made possible by the use of Punycode, which converts Unicode characters like emojis into ASCII, allowing them to function within the Domain Name System (DNS).

While these were just a novelty at first, emoji domain names gained real traction around 2015 as mobile internet usage soared and emojis became a more central part of everyday digital communication. Emoji domain names are managed by only a few registries, and the most frequently used are .ws (Western Samoa’s country code top-level domain), .to (the ccTLD is assigned to the Kingdom of Tonga) and .fm (the ccTLD of the Federated States of Micronesia).

Emoji domain names provide an opportunity for creative and memorable branding. Budweiser, for example, registered the domain 🍺.ws, cleverly aligning its product with the universally recognized beer mug emoji. Similarly, Coca-Cola previously launched an innovative marketing campaign by registering all variations of the happy face emoji: a creative example of how to use emoji domains as a fun tool for modern marketing.

But just how many emoji domains are out there? In our database, we detect 8,262 domains with an emoji in the main name—however, the vast majority have no active website associated. As of September 2024, only 423 emoji domains have a working website, and of these, 27% are websites that provide informational content and 5% are associated with a business or company (see Figure 1). The remaining websites are placeholders, parked domains of low content websites, which typically only have one page and little overall information. Close to 1,600 emoji domains are redirects, while the rest—a large majority—return no response when queried. These low numbers suggest that emoji domains are definitely not a trend (yet), but it also means that plenty of prime domains are still up for grabs and likely to be reasonably affordable. You can check the availability and prices of emoji domains with this handy tool at i❤️.ws.

Next, let's take a look at the top-level domains (TLDs) associated with emoji domains. Only three registries actively allow registering domains with any emoji: .fm, .to and .ws. Having said that, there are certain types of symbols that can be classified as emojis, such as © or ®, that are allowed as part of other TLD registration policies. Figure 2 shows the top 10 TLDs (by number of emoji domains) that feature at least one emoji in the domain name.

Indeed, ©, ® and ™ are the top 3 most frequently occurring when we look at emojis used in .com domains. Many of you might say these are not ‘real’ emojis, but don’t fret! We’ll give you the top 20 most frequently occurring real emojis across all TLDs in Figure 3.

Our favorite red emoji tops the ranks, which is both reassuring and perhaps a little surprising. If you’ve lost faith in humanity, it’s nice to know that the internet still has heart(s). Perhaps this would be more reassuring if the laptop emoji wasn’t ranked second—the machines are catching up. 

Some emojis listed in the top 20 make sense and are in agreement with observations reported elsewhere, such as the fire or rocket emoji, and the notorious eggplant emoji being popular is not unexpected. Less obvious are the bikini emoji or the bride with a veil, but perhaps these (and a few others) hint at a certain adult-themed trend among emoji domains.

Curiously, we didn’t find a single emoji face in the top 20: no 🙂, 😆, 😂, or even a 😡, which is contrary to what we’d expect given their frequent usage in short messages or social media posts.  

Digital creatives are already making use of emoji domains to push the boundaries of the ‘usual’ internet. Take full-stack developer Ben Stokes, for example: he decided that if emoji domains were possible, then emoji email domains should be possible too… After some tests and trials, Mailoji was born. Ben writes:

Since emoji domains transcend language barriers, providing a universally understood mode of communication, there’s a cultural impact to consider. This languageless-ness makes them particularly attractive for brands and initiatives aimed at diverse global audiences. The simplicity and directness of emojis can convey emotions and ideas more effectively than words in some cases, enhancing the appeal of emoji domains in a multicultural digital world. However, there maybe challenges across cultural and generational lines if groups interpret the same emojis differently: what looks like a friendly domain for eggplants to one person, could represent something else entirely to another. Similarly, not all emojis are displayed equally across devices and operating systems. And, the fact that emojis still need to be translated to text means they are often displayed as just a random selection of letters. For example, the domain name 🍺.ws mentioned above is converted to https://xn--xj8h.ws/—which looks a lot less appealing and trustworthy, defeating the purpose of recognizability.

Emoji domain names face certain limitations and challenges, despite their charm. For one, not all top-level domains (TLDs) support emojis, restricting their widespread adoption. Nevertheless, as technology continues to advance and internet usage becomes even more integrated into daily life, the demand for distinctive and memorable digital identities is likely to grow. It'll be interesting to see if more registries open emoji domain registrations in the future, and there's also the possibility of introducing emoji TLDs. We've written extensively about new generic TLDs: over the past years, more than 2000 new TLDs have been created, from .ninja to .dog and .yoga—there is now likely a TLD for your favorite hobby or industry. Is it just a matter of time until ICANN introduces the first emoji TLD? 

Ultimately, emoji domain names represent an intriguing intersection of technology, communication, and creativity. From their humble beginnings in the early 2000s to their current status as a novel branding tool, these domains are carving out a unique niche in the digital landscape. Emoji domains offer a playful and powerful way to stand out online, and while challenges remain, the future holds potential for further expansion and increased adoption. As emojis continue to permeate our digital interactions, the allure of emoji domain names is likely to grow and makes them an exciting area to watch in the world of internet domains.

Domains

In this ever-evolving landscape we call the internet, emoji domain names represent a quirky and captivating innovation. Combining the ubiquitous and expressive power of emoji characters with the functional utility of domain names, these digital novelties offer a unique blend of communication and technology. From their origins to their current status and future potential, let’s take a look at the fascinating world of emojis.

Emoji domains explained: a data-driven analysis

The domain extension .com is undoubtedly the largest and most well-known top-level domain (TLD) on the web. Operated by Verisign, the same company that runs .net, .com’s history dates back to the early days of the internet. It was one of the original TLDs established in 1985, along with .gov, .edu, .mil, .org, .net, and .arpa. It quickly became the most popular TLD due to its association with commerce and companies, most notably during the late 1990s, as businesses rushed to establish an online presence. Solidified by its namesake relation to the dot-com boom—and subsequent dot-com bubble burst as many internet-based companies collapsed in the early 2000s—.com has since become synonymous with the internet itself.

Currently, the .com TLD remains the most widely used and recognized domain extension globally. It continues to be the preferred TLD for many businesses, startups, and individuals seeking to establish a strong online presence. And, despite the introduction of numerous new gTLDs in recent years, it retains its dominance and prestige. 

But what can we learn about the internet from just this one TLD? As it turns out, plenty: the global prevalence of .com means it captures a rather interesting snapshot of the total web in comparison, giving us a glimpse into the hosting, management, technical, and content details of the online world. Time to dive in and explore what this means!

We love details, so let’s take a deeper look at the .com zone file—the text file that contains mappings between all currently registered domain names and their corresponding IP addresses. As of August 2024, there are just over 158 million registered domains in the .com zone file. In Figure 2, we see that active, available websites make up 50% of those registrations, and the remaining 50% are redirects, return an error response, or deny access to crawlers. 

Forty percent of these active websites are placeholders, 25% are business, and 6% are e-commerce websites, while the remainder comprises content pages, blogs, or framed websites. To put these numbers into context, we created a comparison set of 100,000 randomly selected active websites that are not .com. Can this comparison set show whether .com reflects overall web trends, given its global appeal and size? The random sample is made up of 65% country code TLDs, 19% generic TLDs, 16% new generic TLDs, and less than 1% sponsored TLDs. Our dataset here is made up of 32% of business and 6% e-commerce websites, though the number of placeholders is lower, at only 33%. The e-commerce trends are comparable, but .com is made up of overall more placeholders and fewer business websites. This is surprising since we think of .com as the commerce-focused TLD, but it seems like businesses overall prefer local (ccTLD) or themed new gTLDs.

The vast majority of .com domains are hosted in the USA, followed by Germany and Canada (see Figure 2). However, .com domains are hosted all over the world, from Zimbabwe to Monaco and Turkmenistan— basically every country hosts at least a few .com domains.

Those top three hosting countries are reflected in the global data, too: the US, Germany, and Canada host the most websites regardless of TLD, showing the broad appeal and impact of .com as it reflects global trends so closely. In our comparative sample, the US and Germany also rank at top two, with 41% and 14% percent respectively. Ranks 3, 4, and 5 go to France, the Netherlands, and Russia. These results aren’t unexpected, given the large proportion of ccTLDs in the comparison group.

Content management systems and social media

Next, let’s take a look at some website statistics: if we’re seeing that .com reflects overall web trends, then choice of content management system (CMS) is no exception. WordPress is the most commonly used CMS among .com websites, with 54% of them built with WordPress. WIX (12.6%) and Squarespace (10.7%) rank second and third among .com’s CMS providers. With some percentage point differences, these top three also dominate in our comparison sample, with WordPress at 66%, WIX at 7.4%, and Squarespace at 4.2%.

Tracking the popularity of social media platforms mentioned on .com sites, as seen in Figure 3, reveals that Facebook is still the dominant platform, followed closely by Instagram. X (Twitter), LinkedIn and YouTube come next, while TikTok ranks sixth with only 2.6% of .com websites mentioning the short-form content platform. As TikTok gains more traction as a business and marketing tool, we’re curious to see how these numbers change in the months and years ahead. The rest of the web has a very similar distribution of social media mentions on websites. Our comparative sample indicates that Facebook is also most common on the rest of the web, along with WhatsApp. X (Twitter) is more prevalent on .com websites than on the combination of other TLD websites. Not shown on the graph, but still noteworthy: Telegram made it into the top 10 globally with mentions on 2.2% of all websites, but did not rank in the top 10 for .com.

Average incoming links, pages, and word count

The majority of .com websites have no incoming links. For 82.5% of them, no other websites link to their address—this number aligns with the comparison sample, where 82.1% also show no incoming links. At the other extreme, 16,941 websites (less than 0.1%) have more than 1,000 incoming links, which means that over a thousand other websites link to that one (non-redirecting) website. A .com website has 18.2 pages and an overall word count of 248 words per page, on average, and these numbers include all types of websites, including placeholders. If looking only at .com websites classified as  ‘business,’ the average number of pages increases to 34 and word count to 558. In our global comparison sample, ‘business’ classified websites have 599 words and 36 pages on average, considerably more than on .com sites in general. 

How secure are .com domains: SSL coverage

Lastly, let’s take a peek at website security, specifically SSL coverage. Figure 4 shows that of all .com websites, 68.4% have a valid Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificate—in contrast to the 73.6% of websites globally—and the remaining 31.6% have either no or an invalid certificate attached to them. Of this remainder, the majority are Placeholders (64.5%) which means they don’t necessarily have content or visitors to secure. Nevertheless, the other 5.8 million content, business, and e-commerce .com sites are operating under reduced security conditions.

Dot-com domains remain a critical part of the global digital landscape and a good indicator of overall web trends. Due to its universal recognition and appeal, .com domains can be found in every country, and it's widespread hosting locations demonstrate its popularity around the world. The majority of hosting is concentrated in the USA, where even though the .us ccTLD exists, .com is the go-to TLD. Despite this global prominence, however, many .com websites remain relatively small in scope and lack significant external engagement. Companies like Amazon and WordPress dominate their field in the .com space, which reflects the state of the broader digital landscape. And, even though many .com domains have adopted SSL security, a considerable number still operate with insufficient protection—indicative of the ongoing struggle to keep the internet secure against malicious actors. 

Tracking the .com TLD helps us understand the online world just a little better: it highlights continuing challenges in securing the web, the global use of gTLDs versus ccTLDs, the performance of web tech and tech companies, and the various demands of the online world on our physical one. There is more data out there than could be combed through in a lifetime, but taking .com as a little snapshot of a vast digital picture makes understanding the internet just a little bit easier.

A brief overview of the .com top-level domain

Consider how websites needed to be built 20 years ago, with long lines of code and now you can use out of the box templates of AI and your website is built without you having to write a single line of code. In this blog post we’ll take a look at how things have changed over the past four years. Has there been a change in the popularity of certain top-level domains, the use of different content management tools, hosting providers and more?

For this post, we analyzed all websites that were added in the first week of March in 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024. We’ll look at which top-level domains were registered the most, what types of websites went online, who was hosting them, and what content management systems were chosen. We’ll also take a look at how social media profile mentions have changed over the years.

For top 5 TLDs not much has changed with .online, .org, .net and .xyz always appearing between rank 2 and 6. Unsurprisingly, .com ranks first in all four years. Its total market share in each year ranges from 47% (2024) to 62% (2022). The biggest winner according to this data is .shop, which climbed from position 45 to 2 in just four years. Interestingly, .store started on rank 9 in 2021 and has remained relatively stable, ranking 8 in 2024. .xyz and .info have slipped down a few ranks but remain among the top TLDs.

WordPress has been the top ranking CMS for years and our data shows a consistent share between 46% (2024) and 49% (2022). The second most popular CMS has been WIX which has lost a little every year, while GoDaddy Website Builder shows a steady growth. Squarespace has increased its market share from 4% to 11% from 2023 to 2024.

Websites need to be hosted somewhere and in a previous blog post, we showed how much the hosting industry has changed over the past years. Therefore, it’s no surprise that we see quite some movement with Amazon entering strong in 2022 and taking over a quarter of the hosting market. Cloudflare is also gradually gaining as is Hostinger International, while Namecheap has been losing to the competition. Google grew its share between 2021 and 2022 but has since remained relatively stable.

Lastly, we’ll have a look at how many of the websites we discovered in the first week of March of each year, which mention a social media profile associated with Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or LinkedIn. Each year the proportion of websites that mention these social media platforms decreases. 

Between 2021 and 2024 the share of websites that mention Facebook nearly halved, in comparison LinkedIn has maintained a relatively stable share across those four years, even though its overall share is relatively low ranging from 1.7% (2023) to 2.3% (2021).

Here, we took a snapshot of websites that were created in the first week of March in four consecutive years. The dominance of .com as the TLD of choice remains unchallenged, while the rise of .shop is noteworthy. WordPress maintains its position as the leading CMS, but there is movement among the smaller CMS providers. In the hosting sector, Amazon has emerged as a major player, while the mention of traditional social media platforms on websites has seen a steady decline, with LinkedIn being the most stable. These trends underscore the dynamic nature of the web, where some aspects remain constant, others evolve gradually, and some undergo rapid transformation.

The web is in constant change marked by new domains being registered or existing ones being discontinued as well as new websites being launched and others going offline. This persistent flux of websites means the web is actually not growing that much, rather the overall size is relatively stable. However, the way websites are created, who is hosting them, and the tools website owners use to create their sites are changing.

Web trends: a data snapshot spanning 4 years

Dataprovider.com

However, in an industry that thrives on cutting-edge innovation and fierce competition, the significance of online identity cannot be overstated. For tech firms and start-ups, a domain name is not merely a digital address but a strategic asset that is crucial for brand recognition, cybersecurity and market positioning.

Drawing on key findings from the Global Domain Report 2024, for which Dataprovider.com served as one of the primary sources, we’ll unravel how the tech industry navigates the usage of TLDs. We shed light on the strategic schemes that underpin successful online identities in the tech industry, highlighted in the Global Domain Report 2024 released by InterNetX and Sedo.

How do you analyze the tech sector's use of TLDs?

As we zoomed in on the domain strategies employed by tech firms, we focused on a curated selection that exemplifies industry leadership and influence. The Forbes Top 10 Tech Companies of 2023 provided a focused lens through which we could examine the biggest tech companies worldwide.

We followed a rigorous, data-centric methodology to assess how these tech giants use TLDs. Data experts at Dataprovider.com began by identifying each company's primary domain. We then employed an advanced tool from Dataprovider.com, the Ownership feature, which reliably verifies domain ownership. It takes into account various indicators, such as WHOIS data, DNS records, contact information and company registration details on websites. After compiling this information, a probability score is calculated that reflects the likelihood of a domain being owned by the same company.

The effectiveness of this score depends in part on the consistent accuracy of the data provided by tech companies. Therefore, companies should maintain consistent records across all digital properties, ensuring that domain registration and business operations data are kept up to date.

Despite the expansive selection of TLDs, the biggest tech companies still prefer using the well-known generic top-level domains (gTLDs). With a chunky 65.6% share, these gTLDs dominate the domain market in the tech industry, with the .com domain extension being the most popular. According to the Global Domain Report 2024, .com asserts its dominance with an impressive 159.6 million registered domains, albeit with a modest 0.6% year-over-year (YoY) contraction. This prompts intriguing speculation regarding the potential decline of .com's stronghold after two decades of domination.

In the tech industry, ccTLDs currently hold a 23.8% market share. This indicates a smaller representation than the overall domain market, where ccTLDs typically hold a 30-40% share. Leading tech firms mostly operate in different countries and regions, so they secure domains under ccTLDs to target specific regions and offer a localized presence and multilingual websites. Using a mix of traditional TLDs, ccTLDs for a localized presence, and targeted new gTLDs, the tech industry is creating its online presence and reaching customers in different areas.

In the vibrant landscape of the tech industry, it’s no surprise that the .com TLD continues to reign supreme, dominating the market with its universal appeal and recognition factor. The legacy TLDs .org and .net follow. The list expands to include ccTLDs from the world's largest economies across Europe and Asia, reflecting the global nature of the tech industry.

Notably, the American ccTLD .us makes a surprising appearance despite its low profile in the broader domain market. With 2 million registered domains in 2024 and a 3.9% YoY growth, .us showcases a quietly growing interest within tech circles, hinting at a nuanced shift in domain registration trends. And the popular ccTLD .io also takes a place among the top 20 TLDs due to its connotation with input/output.

The strategic adoption of new gTLDs by leading tech firms

The acceptance of new gTLDs has increased in the past few years. In particular, tech-related new gTLDs have gained traction among the globe's most prominent tech firms. These include TLDs like .dev, .app, .xyz, and .support. The leader of the pack over recent years has been .xyz, known for its tech-centric appeal and versatility. This new gTLD recently made headway by engaging with burgeoning communities such as blockchain, Web3 and crypto. As per the Global Domain Report 2024, around 3.8 million .xyz domain names have been registered.

This diverse spectrum of new gTLDs presents several strategic advantages for tech companies. It enables them to bolster their brand protection strategies, forge a broader online identity and mitigate the threat of cybersquatting. Additionally, new gTLDs facilitate the alignment of different brands or products within the same organization and amplify the efficacy of targeting specific regional markets.

Navigating the domain industry one TLD at a time

In the ever-evolving world of technology, in which innovation leads and the market follows, understanding the intricacies between tech companies and their domain strategies delivers a number of insights. As we've delved into the strategic utilization of TLDs by leading tech firms, it becomes apparent that the choices made in this area carry weight in branding, cybersecurity and market dominance.

Despite the plethora of options available, the tech industry's choice of legacy gTLDs speaks to a nuanced strategy of balancing innovation with the recognized trust-building power of established TLDs. Meanwhile, the growing adoption of new gTLDs highlights a forward-thinking approach, leveraging these domains for brand protection, identity expansion, and market-specific targeting.

The Global Domain Report 2024, enriched with data from InterNetX and Sedo, provides additional information for those seeking to further understand the strategies and their implications in the broader tech industry landscape. You can download the full report here: Global Domain Report 2024

This blog post was written by Simone Catania, who currently serves InterNetX as Global Content and Communications Manager. He is responsible for the content across InterNetX's blog and other channels and helps users understand the underpinning mechanisms behind the internet. Simone is an ICANN fellow and a member of EURALO and UASG.

The tech industry continues to drive global innovation and economic growth in 2024. This sector, comprising companies that innovate, produce, and distribute various technology-based goods and services, shape the current digital landscape. It extends across a wide range, encompassing software development, hardware manufacturing, electronics, internet utilities, artificial intelligence, and more. The impact of this sector on the gross domestic product (GDP) and broader economy of several nations is substantial.

The strategic use of TLDs by leading tech firms

Hylke van der Veen

Before this improvement, we simply determined whether a website had an SSL certificate or not. But we can now distinguish between three possible values for the SSL certificate: valid, invalid, and none. The introduction of these new values has resulted in a distinction being made between websites that possess an invalid certificate and those that do not possess one at all, whereas previously, these websites were grouped under the designation 'No.' 

Despite there being no difference between visiting a website with an invalid SSL certificate or no certificate at all, this information is relevant for certificate issuer organizations or hosting services looking to get more insights into their customers' security.

SSL certificates for inaccessible websites

We can now also detect certificates for websites that redirect to other websites or cannot be accessed by our spider. Despite the inability to access such websites in a browser, just attempting to go to the website can unknowingly establish a connection with the server. That is why it is always important to know whether the connection is secure.

The first figure shows that out of the 142 million websites analyzed, 63% of them had a valid certificate. Although this number is down from September 2022, when 65% of sites displayed a valid certificate, we should keep in mind that we've further enhanced our capabilities and now detect certificates on a broader range of sites. 

To make a fair comparison between September 2022 and November 2023, we only look at available websites in both graphs. We see an 8% increase from September 2022, with over 73% of available websites now being protected by a certificate. 

Figure 2 also shows that websites that our spiders cannot access are significantly less likely to be protected by a valid SSL certificate than websites that return an available response or redirect. 

This extended SSL information can be used in a wide range of cases. For example, if we compare the use of SSL certificates of generic Top Level Domains (gTLDs) to that of new generic Top Level Domains (new gTLDs), some interesting statistics emerge. 

In Figure 3, we see significantly more websites with a gTLD have a valid SSL certificate compared to websites with a new gTLD, 62% vs. 48%. But although the difference is clear, this does not offer an explanation as to where this difference comes from. To find out why gTLDs are using SSL certificates more often than new gTLDs, we need to dive deeper and look at individual TLDs. 

Figure 4 illustrates the use of SSL certificates for the 33 largest TLDs among generic (shown on top) and new generic ones. There are massive differences in the usage of SSL certificates between these TLDs; coverage ranges from 13.1% for .icu domains to 95.5% for .bond domains. This difference can largely be explained by the types of websites associated with each TLD.

For example, .bond is aimed at the financial world. It is marketed as a premium TLD for financial professionals who want to make a trustworthy impression on their clients. According to our data, business websites are already among the most protected websites, with 86.5% having a valid SSL certificate. Considering that financial businesses rely on an image of security and trustworthiness, it makes sense that so many .bond websites are protected by SSL.

At the bottom of the chart, we find the TLD .icu, which is Internet slang for “I see you”. Interestingly, both .icu and .bond are owned by the same registry, ShortDot. Our data shows over 70% of available .icu websites are low-content or placeholder websites, which could explain the low percentage of websites with a valid certificate. On the other hand, TLDs like .today and .blog, which have a high rate of SSL certificates, cater to types of websites with frequent updates and much interaction from their visitors, thus incentivizing security. 

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the original gTLDs are more in the center of the certificate distributions, with anywhere between 45% and 62% with valid certificates. These TLDs are well-established and popular, and are therefore less prone to large outliers. The reason then that original gTLDs are seemingly more secure is because the gTLD with the most valid SSL certificates is .com. By far the largest TLD, .com covers nearly half of all domains worldwide and more than 80% of all domains with a gTLD, therefore heavily influencing the number of valid SSL certificates in its group.

While general trends point towards an increase in SSL certificate adoption, the real story lies in the noticeable contrasts between domains. Certain TLDs, like .bond, demonstrate a strong commitment to security, reflecting the industry's need for trustworthiness. 

In contrast, other domains such as .icu show less inclination towards SSL certificates, often hosting content-light or placeholder sites. This exploration not only highlights the critical role of SSL certificates in web trust and security, but also vividly illustrates how the nature of a TLD can significantly shape its security profile. Established domains like .com are still at the forefront of digital trust.

Tech

In a previous blog, we discussed the basics of the TLS protocol, also known as SSL. Since then, Dataprovider.com has released an entire new product, the SSL Catalog, which adds searchable structured SSL certificate data to our database. Additionally, the SSL certificate detection methods have improved, creating even more accurate results. In this blog, we show you how SSL data can help create a more profound understanding of how secure the web is.

SSL trends: New findings on web security and SSL certificate usage

A ccTLD is a two-letter domain extension that signifies a specific country or territory on the internet. These extensions, such as ".es" for Spain or ".uk" for the United Kingdom, play a role in identifying websites and online resources associated with particular nations. 

The process to grant a ccTLD to a geographical region is overseen by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) together with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). When a country or territory wishes to establish its own ccTLD, it must submit a detailed request to ICANN. This application needs to showcase how the desired domain extension aligns with the country's identity and why it's needed.

ICANN and IANA review this request using specific eligibility criteria. Key factors considered include:

the region's unique national or territorial identity

the region's capacity to manage and maintain it efficiently

Once a request gets the green light, ICANN and IANA work closely with the requesting region's designated authority to finalize terms and responsibilities. After establishing an agreement, the ccTLD is integrated into the global domain system. The designated local authority then assumes the role of managing and ensuring the domain's smooth and secure operations.

National or territorial organizations known as ccTLD registries are responsible for managing and issuing the domain extension. Their tasks include maintaining domain names and offering registration services within their designated countries or territories. They also set the  criteria for registering.

Requirements can differ considerably from one registry to another. For example .ca - Canada has very strict rules, the registrant must meet Canadian presence requirements, which typically means being a Canadian citizen, permanent resident, or a legally recognized Canadian organization or corporation. Registering a .no - Norway domain also comes with conditions, only Norwegian entities or individuals can register, and there's a limit to the number of domains one can register.

In contrast, some examples of ccTLDs that can be registered by anyone are .co (Colombia), .cc - Cocos (Keeling) Islands, .io - British Indian Ocean Territory, .me - Montenegro, .tv - Tuvalu or .ws - Western Samoa, all of these have minimal restrictions and are available to global registrants.

According to this very nice map over at Nominet (the ccTLD registry for .uk), the largest ccTLDs by registrations are .tk, .cn, .de, .uk and .nl. The ccTLD .tk tends to top the list because it’s free to register a domain name. But these are only registration numbers - which don't mean all these ccTLDs are active websites. Based on our data, the top five ccTLDs with the largest amount of active domains are .de, .uk, .ru, .nl and .br. You can explore the numbers by world region in Figure 1. Among the smallest ccTLDs are .ss (South Sudan), .nr (Nauru), .kp (North Korea), .er (Eritrea) and .mh (Marshall Islands).

The inception of gTLDs dates back to the early days of the internet. In the 1980s the DNS was established to replace the ARPANET's host.txt system. At that time, the initial gTLDs, such as .com, .org, .net, .edu, and .gov, were introduced. They categorized domains based on the nature and purpose of the entities they represented. For instance, .com was primarily intended for commercial entities, while .edu was designated for educational institutions.

The responsibility of administering and overseeing these domains was initially vested in the U.S. Department of Defense. Today however gTLDs, like ccTLDs, are overlooked by IANA and ICANN. The .com TLD is no doubt the most popular, well-established and well-known TLD in the world. Due to its lack of geographical specification, it is often favored by large international corporations that have a global presence. The popularity of .com domains is also reflected in its pricing, as you are typically more likely to pay more for a .com domain than for a respective ccTLD (although not always).

In Figure 1, we compared ccTLDs to each other, based on the total number of active websites. In Figure 2, we look at select countries and compare the share of .com websites to the country’s share of websites with that ccTLD extension. Who wins in which country? 

Perhaps not surprising, due to the liberal registration policies in Colombia and Montenegro, these ccTLDs win over .com in their respective countries. But as we discussed above, these are ccTLDs open to global registrations and are therefore different from most other countries. When we take these two out of the equation, the top three countries with the highest share of active domains using the ccTLD are Chile, Russia and Brazil. On the opposite side of the graph, countries with a much larger share of active .com domains are Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Thailand and Canada. Like the US, Canadians may ride the .com train to create an overall wider appeal. It may also reflect strong trade ties with the US. Both .ca and .sa have strict registration policies, so it makes sense that the proportion of ccTLD domains is low. Right in the middle we see the Philippines, Lithuania and Ireland. The ratio of .com to ccTLD domains in these countries is about 1:1.

Of course we did not look at other TLDs that might be popular in these countries. The numbers may shift once you include other TLDs. Nevertheless, it is interesting to see how the distribution changes from one country to another. What might be the reasons for such a large variety? Could national pride be linked to whether a ccTLD or the .com domain is more popular in a given country? 

To test this hypothesis, we correlated reported percentages of national pride with the percentage of domains using the ccTLD extension. In Figure 3 you can see that the two variables are poorly linked, so national pride is not a good indicator whether a ccTLD is popular in that country or not. Obviously, there are many other reasons that could play a role, most likely the ccTLD popularity may just be a reflection of the different registration and pricing policies of the respective registry.

ccTLDs can establish localized trust, creating instant recognition with local customers. They signal that the business or website has a physical presence or caters to a specific country. This effect extends to search engine optimization (SEO), where local search results often favor websites with ccTLDs. ccTLDs are also useful when a business or website needs to comply with regional rules and regulations, especially in critical industries like finance and healthcare, where adherence to local laws is paramount. Lastly, they can help in forming a cultural connection with the target audience. By using a country-specific domain, it implies that the content might be tailored to the local language and cultural norms, thus enhancing the user's experience and engagement.

On the other hand, gTLDs provide a sense of universal recognition and international appeal. Globally acknowledged extensions like .com transcend geographic boundaries, allowing businesses to reach a broader market without being confined to a specific area. gTLDs offer wide availability and diverse applications. Their global nature typically gives more options when choosing a domain name. And the nature of specific extensions like .org or .edu can align with an organization's mission. gTLDs can also assist in uniform branding across different regions, building recognition and reliability.

Choosing between a ccTLD and a gTLD isn't just a technical decision but a strategic one. If you want to focus on local presence, cultural connections, or compliance with regional regulations, a ccTLD may be the perfect fit. But if your vision is global, with an ambition for an expansive reach and flexible branding, a gTLD like .com might be the preferred option. In the vast digital landscape, your choice is a statement about your identity, whether embracing local roots or building a global brand.

Your web address is your unique identifier, and the top-level domain (TLD) plays a crucial role in shaping that identity. TLDs can be categorized into country-code top-level domains (ccTLDs), representing specific countries or territories, or generic top-level domains (gTLDs) like .com or .org. When people register a new domain, they have to decide under which TLD they want to register. In the case that both are still available, which one should you choose? And what are other organizations in your country using? Below we’ll take a look at which ccTLDs dominate the web and we dive deeper into the numbers when we take a look at the proportions of websites per country that utilize the respective ccTLD versus the .com generic TLD.

ccTLDs vs. gTLDs: Who wins and where?

Yigit Cem Ozturk

It all has to do with the country code top-level domain (ccTLD) of the Cocos Islands: .cc. A ccTLD is unique for each country or autonomous region. Most of these extensions are subject to geographical restrictions. Often you can only get a website with that ccTLD if you have a business or offer services in that country or region. But sometimes they can also be issued to third parties operating outside the corresponding territory. Opening up their unique ccTLD for outsiders can sometimes return a healthy profit for a small nation. Territories like Palau (.pw), Tuvalu (.tv) and Montenegro (.me) were able to earn quite some money from their ccTLD. The same goes for the .cc ccTLD of the Cocos Islands.

In 2021, there were 544 people living on the islands and 414 internet users. Disproportionately, we currently track nearly two million domains with the .cc extension. Of those, 404,590 are active, meaning there is a website behind the domain or the domain redirects to another domain. Lacking any geographical restrictions, .cc is used all around the world.

The popularity of .cc lies in its use as an acronym. CC can stand for a flotilla of things; Christian Church, Catholic Church, community college, call centers, country clubs, cycling couture, creative commons and many others. In addition, .cc is not far off from .com or .co. It is used as an alternative for companies whose preferred domain name ending with .com is already taken. The .cc ccTLD is currently owned by a sub-company of the US tech giant Verisign. They are also responsible for the .com and .net TLDs, making them a technologically reliable partner to get a domain from.

In contrast to this reliability, there are issues surrounding .cc. In 2021, Australian authorities were urged to take control over the domain to thwart scammers and child abuse sites which had set up shop on the .cc ccTLD. Similar issues led to the complete removal of all .co.cc domains from Google’s search engine in 2011. At that time, the extension was heavily used by scammers and phishers. Despite stricter regulations implemented regarding the domain, Dataprovider.com’s Trust Grade shows that there is still work to be done to make .cc more credible.

Our proprietary Trust Grade gives an indication of how trustworthy a website is. It is based on parameters such as the presence or lack of an SSL certificate, contact information, number of changes made on the website as well as other indicators. 

Trust Grades are given by the letters A, B, C, D, E and F; A being the highest grade and F being the lowest. In Figure 1 you can see that 56.7% of .cc domains have a Trust Grade below C, suggesting many of these domains are still lacking basic security measures or authentic content. To put this into context, the distribution of Trust Grades for .com or .co domains is quite different; only 28.7% of .com domains have a Trust Grade of D or lower and for .co the percentage is 28.8%.

Repurposing a ccTLD and removing geo-restrictions can benefit a small nation. But it also makes them an easy target for malicious repurposing. In this scenario, .cc has become the target of these attempts due to its similarity to .co and .com. Scammers can easily bulk purchase these domains, making it hard to track their activities. Similar to many disputes in international relations and international law, supranational legal structures have limited jurisdiction. And the balance between freedom and security makes it hard to make decisions on the non-territorial sphere of the internet, let alone implementing measures.

Cocos (Keeling) Islands is an Australian autonomous territory, located in the east of the Indian Ocean, far off the Jakarta coast and more than 1,000 kilometers away from the mainland. The just over 500 people living on the Cocos Islands are predominantly Muslim (66%). But yet they appear to have a genuine connection to the Christian Church. And there also appear to be a very large number of country clubs affiliated with these islands, without there being a single country club located there. How can a remote group of islands, with just a few hundred, mostly Muslim, inhabitants be interesting to the Catholic Church? And why are country clubs interested in the islands, despite a total lack of country clubs on their territory?

The curious case of Cocos Islands’ ccTLD

The .io top-level domain is commonly associated with tech startups and companies in the tech industry. There are many reasons why tech companies opt for the .io domain, seven of which have been stated in the blog post by InterNetX. However, there is an ongoing controversy surrounding the use of this domain. 

The .io domain is actually the country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT), a small group of islands in the Indian Ocean. BIOT’s political existence is in question, which brings up a couple of questions about the future of the corresponding .io domain.

The extension is used by many tech companies as I/O stands for input/output. Among the 1,223 TLDs we identify in our data, .io ranks 49th with 221,191 domains that have an active website. Over the past years, .io has seen slow but steady growth. .io has largely been adopted by US domain owners; in fact, we can trace 58% of the active .io domains to the US. The country with the second largest share of .io domains is India (11%). The remaining 31% are globally distributed.

BIOT is a British Overseas Territory consisting of a set of islands in the Indian Ocean known as the Chagos Archipelago. The Mauritian government claimed its sovereignty over the islands, leading to a decision by the United Nations in May 2019 that the islands should be ceded to Mauritius by the United Kingdom. This decision could mean the de jure end of the BIOT.  

But what does this mean for the .io domain? If the territory it represents comes to an end, does .io cease to exist? The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) oversees these issues, and according to their standardization ISO-3166, the .io extension might cease to exist, much like .cs which was discontinued following the end of Czechoslovakia and was gradually phased out over the course of two years from 1993 to 1995. A more contemporary example would be the fate of the .eu domain in the United Kingdom.

It is possible to see a steady decline from 2021 onwards, as .eu re-registries in the UK were not allowed. This represents an example of how political decisions have an impact on the web. A similar trend could be on the horizon for the .io domains if the decision taken by the UN is implemented. 

But what does this mean for the website owners? The potential disappearance of the domain name could mean that many businesses might be forced to find an alternative TLD. This could cost them customers as they might not find a TLD that has the same level of recognition. Website owners could take preemptive measures to ensure a smooth transition, such as investing in 301 redirects and leading the traffic to the new domain.

But there should be no urgency as the fate of the .io is nowhere near to being settled. If the islands are returned by the United Kingdom, there are still many parties that will have a say in the domain’s future, such as the Mauritians, the Chagossians, ICANN and the internet community itself. For example, the .su domain, representing the Soviet Union, still exists today due to the demands of the Russian internet community in the 90’s and despite the removal efforts of ICANN. According to our data, there are currently 34,401 active websites under the .su TLD. 

Depending on the course of action taken by the British and the Mauritian governments, .io has an uncertain future. Alongside the domain issue and serious geopolitical and international legal issues surrounding the BIOT and .io dispute, there is also a financial one: what will happen to the revenue generated by the .io domain sales?

The .io top-level domain is commonly associated with tech startups and companies in the tech industry. However, there is an ongoing controversy surrounding the use of this domain.

When TLDs cease to exist: the uncertain future of .io

With its roots as a blogging platform, WordPress dominates the .blog top-level domain (TLD): 84% of .blog domains are created with WordPress. But, due to its versatility, including a range of themes, plugins and an ever-growing community of developers, WordPress has a wide appeal to all kinds of website creators. Nowadays, WordPress-powered websites have a large share among all TLDs. In Figure 1, you can see the percentage of domains by TLD that were created with WordPress. Among .nl, 43% of domains are WordPress built, .br has 35%, and nearly a third of all .com domains also use WordPress.

In today's digital age, having a website is crucial for any business. WordPress is especially attractive for small businesses due to its affordability and versatility. With thousands of free and premium themes and plugins available, businesses can easily create a website that reflects their unique brand and meets their specific needs. WordPress also allows for easy integration with third-party tools and services, such as social media platforms and email marketing tools. In Figure 2, you can see that among business websites, WordPress is clearly the go-to CMS: 64% of business websites worldwide use WordPress. Wix and Squarespace, which rank 2nd and 3rd respectively, only have a combined 15% share of the market.

One of the biggest advantages of Squarespace and Wix is that they allow the user to  create and customize their website without any coding knowledge. Additionally, both platforms offer 24/7 customer support, which can be crucial for users who encounter technical difficulties or have questions about their website. WordPress users, on the other hand, must rely on forums and community support to troubleshoot any issues they may encounter. As a WordPress website owner you also are responsible for keeping your website up-to-date to the latest version. 

Due to its popularity, WordPress frequently attracts attention from cybercriminals. WordPress websites can be vulnerable to various attacks, such as brute force attacks, SQL injections and cross-site scripting. These attacks can occur due to outdated versions of WordPress, plugins and themes. Older versions are more susceptible to security risks because they lack the necessary security patches and updates. Hackers can exploit these vulnerabilities and gain access to the website's data and files. 

According to our data a whopping 1.3 million websites globally have a WordPress version older than 5.0. That’s 7.9% of all WordPress websites identified in our data. These versions no longer receive any active security support and are vulnerable to attacks. Table 1 below gives an overview of the number of domains by WordPress version. 7.6 million (45%) websites run on the latest version (6.2.2), which was released earlier this month (May 2023). That leaves 3.8 million websites running on a version of WordPress 5. These versions still receive security support but will eventually have to be updated when WordPress decides to no longer release security updates.

One solution to address security risks is to use managed WordPress hosting services. Managed WordPress hosting is a specific type of web hosting service optimized for WordPress websites. With this service, all technical aspects of running a WordPress site are managed by the hosting provider. This includes not only security management but also aspects such as website loading speed and performance, control updates and back-ups as well as general support. Over the years, numerous Managed WordPress hosting providers have entered the market. In Figure 3 below, you can see the monthly number of WordPress websites maintained by three companies that offer managed WordPress services: WP-Engine, Kinsta and Siteground. All three companies show growth in the number of managed websites ranging from 25% (WP-Engine) to 69% (Kinsta) over the past two years.

WordPress has become a true internet giant over the past two decades, growing from a humble blogging platform to a CMS that powers a quarter of the entire web. However, its popularity also puts websites at risk of cyber-attacks. Older versions of WordPress, plugins and themes are particularly vulnerable to security risks. A whole industry has emerged that supports website owners in the maintenance of their WordPress sites. At the same time, the rise of headless CMSs and competition from website builders that require minimal technical knowledge may prove to be real competition for WordPress in the long term. Only time will tell whether WordPress will maintain its dominance or give way to newer and more innovative platforms.

WordPress is one of the most widely used content management systems (CMS) by web developers, bloggers and businesses. Celebrating its 20 year anniversary this year, WordPress began as a simple open-source user led project in 2003 but has since grown into the largest CMS on the web. According to our data, 28.3 million active websites worldwide are powered by WordPress, which accounts for roughly a quarter of the entire web.

Breaking down the numbers: WordPress' dominance on the web

When the internet was first conceptualized, the only top-level domain (TLD) available was .arpa. However, as the internet began to gain popularity and the number of websites grew rapidly, the need for more TLDs arose. In 1985, five TLDs were introduced, namely .com, .edu, .gov, .mil, and .org. These so-called legacy TLDs became the foundation for today's domain name system (DNS). However, with the explosion of the internet and digitalization, there has been a growing demand for more TLDs to accommodate the ever-increasing number of websites and online services. In 2012, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) launched the first new generic top-level domain program. As a result, hundreds of new gTLDs have been added in recent years. A program for a second round of new gTLDs has already been announced and is set to increase the opportunities in the namespace even further.

New gTLDs have been around for a few years, becoming an increasingly popular option for website owners who want to stand out. What are the most popular new gTLDs today? The answer can be found in the Global Domain Report 2023, a comprehensive study of the domain industry conducted by InterNetX and Sedo supported by Dataprovider.com.

New generic top-level domains (new gTLDs) are extensions in the domain name system (DNS). They were introduced in 2014 to address the growing need for more domain name options, as the traditional ones like .com, .net, and .org were becoming increasingly saturated. With the launch of new gTLDs, businesses and individuals could start registering domain names that are more relevant, descriptive and memorable, enabling better online branding and differentiation. For example, if you run a pizza business, you can choose a domain name under the .pizza extension. Similarly, if you are in the fashion industry, you can choose a domain extension such as .fashion or .cfd or .style. If your business is located in the German capital, you could select a domain under .berlin, while .nyc is perfect as a city brand for New York. Such domain extensions help your website stand out from the crowd and indicate what your website is about or where it operates.

In summary, new gTLDs offer greater flexibility, creativity and branding opportunities for businesses and individuals to create a successful online presence. They are an exciting development in the domain name system that can help businesses and individuals stand out in a crowded online world.

In the ever-evolving landscape of the internet, new gTLDs emerged as a groundbreaking development that aimed to expand the DNS and offer more choice and flexibility for domain names. However, as with any novel concept, it took time for them to gain recognition and establish themselves as viable options in the online world. Today, digital-native brands are increasingly using their entire domain name as their brand name, including the extension. New gTLDs have been adopted, particularly in specific niche markets or innovative sectors, since they allow businesses to create meaningful connections with consumers through their visual identity. This is something that is otherwise not easily achieved due to the saturation of "traditional" TLDs. Despite the potential benefits, the general public's awareness of new gTLDs still needs to be enhanced. This can be attributed to several factors, such as the sheer number of new gTLDs introduced, the lack of mainstream adoption by high-profile businesses and the continued dominance of the more established domain extensions in popular culture and general discussions.

The new gTLDs category is in the process of carving out its place in the digital landscape. While niche markets and innovative brands have embraced these new extensions as their brand name or for targeted campaigns and creative marketing endeavors, major brands continue to depend on the tried-and-true legacy gTLDs and ccTLDs for their primary online presence, demonstrating that new gTLDs have yet to fully establish themselves as a mainstream choice.

The Global Domain Report, produced annually by InterNetX and Sedo, is an in-depth assessment of the domain industry. In its fourth edition, this year's report provides insights into the world of new gTLDs. Among the many exciting facts, it sheds light on the top 10 new gTLDs based on the number of domain registrations in 2023.

The new gTLD scene is broad and manifold. In 2022, the new gTLDs .icu and .cyou showed the highest growth year-over-year (yoy), while registrations under .vip dropped significantly. Among them all, there is one extension that has managed to create a significant market share for itself over the years, namely the TLD .xyz. The extension got its first boost in 2015 when Google registered abc.xyz for its holding company Alphabet Inc., bringing new gTLDs to the general public's attention. Today, the registry collaborates with blockchain, crypto and NFT players to establish itself as a leading TLD in the Web3 sector. This is well illustrated in the research "Crypto & NFT: an analysis of two trending keywords in domain names." The data shows a vigorous increase in domain names containing these keywords, with.xyz being the first new gTLD for this kind of domain name. It’s not surprising to see the extension .xyz gaining popularity among domain investors in the aftermarket and being the most frequently traded new extension on the aftermarket. This TLD greatly outperformed .online in the past years and made it into the top 10 of the most frequently sold TLDs for the first time this year.

Where are most websites under new gTLDs located?

Dataprovider.com delivers a dataset of almost 121 million  domains under new gTLDs (as of March 2023). An analysis of the geographic distribution of websites under this TLD category reveals an interesting fact. The Asian continent is leading the way for new gTLDs: 56.2% of all websites under this extension type can be allocated to this region. North America is second, with 30.4% of the websites, followed by Europe with 11.5%.

Zooming in, we can see in which countries new gTLDs are most popular. China accounts for 43.0% of all websites under new gTLDs. The United States is the second largest country by volume of websites under new gTLDs, accounting for 27.9%.

What is the state of development for websites under new gTLDs?

According to the available data regarding website response, 82.5% of new gTLDs result in a "host not found" response, meaning no record can be found in the DNS. Only 8% return an “available” response and 2.8% redirect to other TLDs, of which 56.9% redirect to a .com website.

Additionally, 58% of websites that use new gTLDs have yet to develop any content or are not developed at all. On the other hand, 42% of websites under new gTLDs are developed and display content.

With regard to content and purpose, 40.3% of new gTLD websites are placeholders, which means they are websites without content provided by a registrar. 30.5% show developed content, 11.7% are parked domains for sale, reserved or just showing ads. And 10% follow a business or commercial purpose.

What is the outlook for new gTLDs in 2023?

In 2012, the domain industry experienced an unprecedented opportunity when the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) launched the first round of the new generic top-level domain (gTLD) program, introducing over 1,000 new domain extensions. This groundbreaking decision enhanced competition, innovation and consumer choice in the digital landscape.

Fast forward to 2023, the prospects for new gTLDs are more promising than ever. As documented in the Global Domain Report 2023, this is evidenced by the consistent growth in domain registrations and aftermarket transactions. Various industries and niche markets are increasingly adopting new gTLDs, signaling their growing popularity and potential for even greater expansion. This surge in adoption can be attributed to factors such as easier access to meaningful domain names and the ability to create a stronger online brand presence. Asia and China, in particular, have emerged as two key contributors to this growth, with their booming digital economies and rapidly increasing volume of internet users. As the domain industry continues to evolve, the new gTLD program can further revolutionize how businesses and individuals establish their online presence, paving the way for a more diverse and competitive digital landscape in the years to come.

This article was written by Simone Catania, who currently serves InterNetX as Global Content and Communications Manager. He is responsible for the content across InterNetX's blog and other channels and helps users understand the underpinning mechanisms behind the internet. Simone is an ICANN fellow and a member of EURALO and UASG.

Which are the most registered new gTLDs worldwide? Who uses them? And where are websites under this TLD category located? Let's look at the current situation in 2023.

Who, where, how: the 10 most frequently registered new gTLDs

Our web crawler currently recognizes 107 languages and 25 scripts (like Latin, Hebrew, Han Chinese and Arabic). The list also includes some minority languages like Welsh or Catalan. Today we look at languages on the web: What are the dominant languages? How many websites make use of lesser-known languages? And how are specific languages used on certain geo TLDs?

What’s the primary language on the web?

Half of all websites globally are in English (51%), which is a very high share compared to other languages. The second most common language on the web is Chinese (ZH). Roughly 10% of websites provide their content in Chinese, followed by German (7%), Spanish (4%) and Japanese (4%). But this is perhaps not that surprising, so let’s look at the other end: what are the languages that occur least frequently on the web?

What are the least common languages on the web?

In Figure 2 you can see the 30 least common languages on the web. Yiddish, Pashto, Laothian, Amharic and Punjabi are among the rarest. Together, these five languages occur on nearly 4,600 websites. Despite the low overall share of these 30 languages, it’s nice to see that websites using less common languages and even languages at risk of becoming extinct still exist. 

According to the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), Frisian and Basque are classified as ‘vulnerable’, meaning most children still speak the language, but it may be restricted to certain domains (e.g., at home), and Yiddish has been classified as ‘definitely endangered’ indicating that children no longer learn the language as their mother tongue at home. Creating internet pages in these languages may help in the preservation of those languages and make them more accessible to younger generations. However, it may not always be easy to find these sites.

Do geoTLDs provide a home for less common languages?

In order to carve out a specific space on the web to promote a certain cultural or linguistic community, geoTLDs were introduced in 2012. While these primarily focus on geographical regions (other than countries), they more generally aim at providing domains for local digital identities; examples include .cymru or .wales for Wales or .cat for Catalonia. In Figure 3, we show the language distribution for a few select geoTLDs that could also be related to a specific language. 

GeoTLDs .cymru and .cat are good examples of making use of the local language. The share of websites for these two geoTLDS written in the respective language is 61%. This is in contrast to .scot, where only a meagre 0.05% use (Scottish) Gaelic. We also included the .eus geoTLD for the Basque Country. The language distribution here is 45% Basque, 42% Spanish and 8% English (5% are in other languages). Altogether this shows that the new geoTLDs can provide a good home for websites in local languages.

English is by far the most used language on the web. But what’s also interesting to see on the other end of the spectrum is the use of minority languages, where the web can be a great outlet in helping preserve not only a unique language but also important cultural knowledge and practices. When a minority language is lost, it can also have serious consequences for the individuals speaking it. It can lead to a lack of access to educational and economic opportunities, as well as a sense of marginalization and exclusion from the wider society. Websites are an important contributor in helping protect minority languages. Even better, websites hosted on dedicated geoTLDs can be found more easily and provide the perfect home for local languages.

According to Ethnologue.com, there are 7,151 languages in the world. This isn't a final number, as new languages are 'discovered' regularly. Additionally, languages are constantly evolving and transforming as they are spoken and used by communities that are part of a globalized world. The main reason 40% of languages are at risk of disappearing is because they have less than 1,000 speakers. On the other side of the spectrum, only 23 languages are spoken by more than half of the global population. 

What languages does the web speak?

Gijs Barends

As most people know, .com is - by far - the most used top-level domain (TLD). There are just over 160 million registered domains. Second is .cn, the TLD for China, with only 18 million domain names (Verisign, December 2022).

In 2012, new generic TLDs (ngTLDs) were launched with the result that there are now more than 1,200 new TLDs to choose from. There are many different kinds, examples include, .restaurant, .shop or .luxury. 

But if you look at the numbers, registrants are conservative and stick mostly with .com. This probably has to do with trust and authority that .com has established, but it could also be that registrants don’t know about the existence of ngTLDs.

Let’s look at a few examples where a ngTLD could make a domain name shorter, more memorable or just catchier. For example, www.dynastie-restaurant.de/ could be transformed to www.dynastie.restaurant, equally, www.oceanflowyoga.co.uk/ could be renamed to www.oceanflow.yoga and the dog food company Pedigree may strengthen their brand identity by using www.pedigree.dog. If your business name is linked to a common word, you can distinguish yourself with the type of business, e.g. johnsmith.dentist, or by location: johnsmith.nyc. 

We believe in the power of ngTLDs. They make the internet more diverse and easier to understand: a .restaurant website is a place where you can eat and a .shop is an online store. 

Therefore, the data science team at Dataprovider.com has created TLD suggestions. It is a suggestion tool that looks at the most important keywords on a website and compares these with the keywords that are used the most on a specific ngTLD. If that’s the case, that TLD will be recommended. Apart from that, we look at other characteristics we know of a website, including geography. For example: if it’s an online store, then the suggestions will be .shop or .store.

Let’s take a look at the nearly 161 million domains listed in the .com zone file and analyze what ngTLDs are suitable alternatives based on the content of the website. 

Our results show that around 4% of all .com domains could be using .shop, .store or .shopping. These top three are followed by .site, .ing, .services, .page, .art, .sale and .design. Figure 1 shows several more of the top ngTLD alternatives for .com

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