A .SEO new gTLD coming in 2026 ?

The first Round of the ICANN new gTLD program in 2012 brought many interesting surprises with new domain names dedicated to very specific professions, many of these are, or are not, related to the Internet. Ten years later, while potential applicants are wondering how to submit their new gTLD application and how to profit from it, this question turns out to be a very important one : how deep is a potential string connected to the use of the Internet and why should an applicant wonder about this? Let’s focus on the .SEO Top-Level Domain.

Read my full article here.

Why that Digital Magician chose a ".best"

Romain Lalire, French Digital Magician, explains his choice for a ".best" domain name in this video. Romain works mainly for luxury trademarks doing private shows. SEO is important and that is mainly the reason of his choice to use a domain name ending in ".best": Romain noticed that users search for "best magician" in search engines.

Watch all .BEST videos here.

The .BEST price drop

Not so many people are using domain names ending in “.best” yet. The reason for this is its price at the registrar: up to €112 per year at some registrars when a “.com” often costs below €10. The Registry recently changed hands and is adapting, offering a serious price drop.

Registration Price will be divided by 10
This promotion, effective 1st November for 3 months, is a good news: many users have been requesting the registrars to lower its price and this is just about to happen. The .Best registry, in its wish to go to the market, has decided to offer a promotion for “.best” domain names. The price will be:

1. Divided by 10 (wholesale registration price)
2. Lower than a “.com”
3. Available for multi year registrations: it means that it will be possible to register the domain name at this special price for up to 10 years at some registrars.

.BEST in SEO and SEM

At the moment, my Registrar wants to charge me €88 for a single year of registration but such price, even if already low compared to other registrars, is still too high for me and I want to register a “.best” domain name for the simple reason that “best” is a very strong keyword when it comes to promoting a business, and also because it benefits the SEO (Search Engine Optimization). Moreover, according to a study from GlobeRunner, .Best domains beats .com domains in SEM (Search Engine Marketing) having a Better CTR (Click-Through Rate) and a Lower CPC (Cost Per Click).

All .BEST Names are “still” available
What is great with this promotion is that .BEST has actually a low volume of domain names on the market (around 3,000 domains in total). This makes “.best” domain names a fantastic opportunity for Registrars, Trademarks and domain name investors. For example, many industries are covered with generic keywords available for registration: consulting.best, umbrella.best, perfumes.best, teeshirt.best, skirt.best, cards.best, sunglasses.best, expo.best, desk.best, equity.best, cryptocurrencies.best, homeloans.best … As a wine fan and producer, I will probably be looking for short names in that direction.

Note that such price will only be available during the promotion period starting 1st November of 2018 and ending in 31st January of 2019 (right after the Namescon 2019).

How do New Domains impact SEO: the report

The report

This is a report from India based multiple registry Radix on how new domains impact SEO. Questions covered are:

• New domains and SEO - What is the connection between the two?
• What do the users have to say about the impact of new domains on SEO?
• What do SEO experts have to say about the impact of new domains on SEO?
• Is Google using new domains?
• What are some known facts about new domains and their impact on SEO?
• What are the best practices for moving from one domain extension to another?
• Does the age of a domain name matter in SEO?

The report can be downloaded here.

Radix Registry

"Radix" is a multiple registry to have applied for several new domain name extensions such as .TECH - .PRESS - .SITE - .SPACE and .HOST. The full list of the TLDs it applied for is available on its website. It is the third largest new gTLD operator with 2,533,086 domain name registrations (July 2018) for a total of nine extensions.

A complete guide to SEO and new gTLDs

I tend to download most guides dealing with new gTLDs that I find on Internet but I admit that I never read them all completely. The reason for this is that there is nothing new and the guides are often used as promotion tools. This one, from English backend registry Nominet, is 8 pages and I made the effort to read it until the end.

These are the topics covered:

• What TLDs are and why organisations are using them;
• Different types of TLD and how they can be used;
• Benefits of TLDs including: improved brand recognition, better online security and more;
• How Google and other search engines treat new gTLDs;
• Explanation of ‘DotBrand’ – a particularly powerful type of gTLD for global organisations;
• How organisations are embracing new TLDs for greater SEO benefit.

And this is what you will find inside:

1. Introduction
2. A beginner's guide to Top Level Domains
3. The introduction of new gTLDs
4. What is a .BRAND ?
5. How do search engine treat new gTLDs
6. Interesting: SEO tips effectively utilizing a .BRAND

The last point on SEO tips utilizing .BRAND domain name extensions is one that I found interesting: it is short but it is a must read for applicants with the intention to use their extension. Such section should be read before creating the first ".brand" domain name.

Missing

It is always interesting to read what one provider can add to such guides but I found that the new URL redirection strategy used by some .BRANDs was not covered.

A dotBrand Top-Level Domain is a powerful tool for branding mixed with SEO, not SEO only: a trademark will be able to do SEO without its own extension using other domain names that will probably cost a lot less money.

Download the guide

The guide can be downloaded on the Nominet website. Nominet is a backend registry service provider for 37 new gTLDs. It offers service to extensions such as the .VIP registry with more than 800,000 domain names registered, .BLOG - .LONDON - .BEER and .BENTLEY

How to index a redirection in Google?

I just hit "site:.sncf" to try to find out which are the two new domain names ending in ".sncf" which were just created and I found nothing new but www.wifi.sncf. The picture below is what appears, indexed in Google:

I clicked on it and noticed (again) that it is a redirection.

Question to Bill Hartzer (@bhartzer) : how do you index a redirection in Google?

Don't know what to do with your .BRAND new gTLD?

This article, written by Andrew Allemann, explains how the Major League of Baseball (the .MLB new gTLD) uses its own domain names ending in ".mlb" as redirections for search engine optimization.

The actual known problem with .BRAND new gTLDs is that they still have no idea what to do with their personalized domain name extension.

If the solution offered in this article also relies on Google's mood, it remains a concrete answer to the number one question asked by existing and future .BRAND new gTLD applicants: what is the benefit of spending so much money in my personalized domain name extension? This article ads one good answer to the question.

Read the article

Is the ".com" old gTLD losing appeal?

This week, the GENERIC new gTLD report - a report focusing on challengers of the ".com" domain name extension, shows that there are less ".com" registrations than the week before: it also means that the ".com" Registry is losing registrations. Is the increasing volume of new domain name registered the reason of this?

New:

1. 12 Reasons Why Chinese TLDs Are Good For Brands and Businesses;
2. Article - Following ".republicans" and ".democrats" everywhere!
3. $0.99 for ".club" domains until the end of July;
4. Six new gTLDS were just delegated:
1. The ".GODADDY" domain name extension;
2. .XFINITY
3. .COMCAST
4. .GODADDY
5. .MITSUBISHI
6. .FUJITSU
5. HOT - GENERIC new gTLDs registration volumes;
   (for the first time".com" domain name registration volumes are in the red)
6. Registration volumes:
1. New gTLDs related to HEALTH;
2. New gTLDs related to CARS.
   (a new dotBRAND new gTLD has entered the report)
7. Do you even need keywords on the page to rank anymore?
8. The World's Most Abused TLDs;
9. I Owned 17 Single Letter/Number .TUBE Domains Today Until The Registry Took Them Back;
10. More coming.

Most recent Trademark Clearinghouse Sunrise Period announcements

The new gTLD info for Monday the 29th

There is more and more content related to SEO and new gTLDs. I recently noticed that the new gTLD Club (this website) is listed on page one of Google's results when I enter "new gtld club" (without quotes). When I get rid of the word "club", another website appears if I enter "new gtld" (without quotes). Isn't this the proof that the TLD has a strong impact in SERP? Try it in Goolge: "new gtld club" ;-)

1. Looking for a job in the new gTLD business?
2. Launching of the .MOM new gTLD: Surprise!
3. One Sunrise Period starting on tomorrow;
4. One Sunrise Period ending on tomorrow;
5. Results of the SEO contest with .ALSACE (in French);
6. HOT: Listen to new MindsAndMachines' CEO (podcast);
7. New gTLDs related to Companies;
8. The weekly "cities" new gTLD report by Jean Guillon;
9. New gTLDs related to Photography;
10. New gTLDs related to Catering;
11. More coming in our Newsletter by the end of the day.

The Nameshield Group: Registry, Corporate and Retail Registrar

Most recent Trademark Clearinghouse Sunrise Period announcements

The new gTLD info of the day (Tuesday)

Today, there is new gTLD information about Google's position on new gTLDs, domains endingin .BUZZ, a great infographic, an author who wrote a book about the Trademark Clearinghouse, search engine positioning and new gTLDs, new domain registration volumes and more added during the day. Please subscribe to gTLD.club to receive the info n your email.

1. Google's latest position on new TLDs;
2. .BUZZ: New Top Level Domains Trending at Conference;
3. Do you know all domain endings? From .com to .whatever;
4. Someone wrote a book about the trademark Clearinghouse;
5. SEO History Helps to Understand the Brand TLD Future;
6. This week’s new TLDs;
7. New gTLD Registry decides to layoff employees;
8. More coming during the day.

Subscribe to receive the Newsletter with links directly in your email.

The Nameshield Group: Registry, Corporate and Retail Registrar

Most recent Trademark Clearinghouse Sunrise Period announcements

UPDATE: the new gTLD info of the day (Friday)

Porn firm wins .cam after years of objections

The controversial new gTLD .cam has been won at auction by Dutch porn site operator AC Webconnecting, putting an end to over two years of back-and-forth objections.
http://domainincite.com/19723-porn-firm-wins-cam-after-years-of-objections

Verisign IDNs: Landrush details and Premium Domains
Verisign is getting ready to launch its first internationalized domain name, a Japanese transliteration of .com .コム.
http://domainnamewire.com/2015/12/18/verisign-idns-landrush-details-and-premium-domains/

Cheers! Registries and Registrars Doing the Right Thing by Patients
The good news? There are many registrars out there who take action and hold registrants accountable. The behavior of Rebel as discussed in the 2015 Notorious Market List is the exception, not the rule, at least when it comes to registry and registrar action against illegitimate online drug sellers. The majority of registries and registrars are doing the right thing by patients.
http://www.circleid.com/posts/20151218_cheers_registries_and_registrars_doing_the_right_thing_by_patients/

.MUSIC new gTLD
Imogen Heap wrote to ICANN
There are no other applicants willing to support and nurture our music community in the way DotMusic are bound to do so, should they win.https://www.icann.org/en/system/files/correspondence/heap-to-icann-eiu-16dec15-en.pdf

.feedback and .sucks: podcast
Invited to expand on their offerings, Top Level Spectrum CEO Jay Westerdal and Vox Populi CEO John Berard both joined us on the latest episode of the World Trademark Review podcast.
http://www.worldtrademarkreview.com/Blog/detail.aspx?g=7787177a-40c5-4d20-babb-adbddaf7baa2

Domain Name Industry Brief
The third quarter of 2015 closed with a base of approximately 299 million domain name registrations across all top-level domains (TLDs), an increase of 3.1 million domain names, or 1.1 percent over the second quarter of 2015. Registrations have grown by 14.8 million, or 5.2 percent, year over year.1
https://www.verisign.com/en_US/innovation/dnib/index.xhtml

Google confirms: Yes, you can switch to a new .melbourne domain without penalty
In the past, Google has been notoriously tight-lipped about the search performance of new TLDs, stating only that they will “not be treated any differently” than legacy TLDs such as .com and .net. This is despite independent research that has demonstrated some search benefits of new extensions and reports from businesses which have seen an increase in customers because of their new domain name.
http://live.melbourne/media-release/google-confirms-yes-you-can-switch-to-a-new-melbourne-domain-without-penalty/

What is a URL?
Is a URL the same as a domain name? Surprisingly to many, the answer is no. But the terms are used so interchangeably, it’s understandable why people confuse one for the other. But there is a difference.

https://www.verisign.com/en_US/domain-names/online/what-is-a-url/index.xhtml

How I just registered Twitter.sucks for free in just five clicks
This morning, I caused the registration of and was given control of a web site at twitter.sucks.
http://domainincite.com/19706-how-i-just-registered-twitter-sucks-for-free-in-just-five-clicks

Could a new gTLD help you achieve your business goals?
Consider what registrations in generic new gTLDs would make strategic sense, but also brainstorm whether your own .BRAND might be a good idea. It’s a long evaluation process that, to paraphrase Nao Matsukata, starts with one question: Would it solve a problem for you?
http://blog.fairwindspartners.com/gtld-basics/creating-a-strong-domain-name-portfolio

CentralNic’s growing very rapidly
CentralNic CEO, Ben Crawford discusses the company’s involvement in Alphabet’s “.xyz” domain name and how they’re performing compared to the “GoDaddy’s of the world.”
http://cnb.cx/1PcMofE

Going on Holidays?
http://visit.rio/

.XYZ Registry Reports Nearly All 5 Number Domains Sold Out
Daniel Negari, CEO of the .xyz registry has reported to TheDomains.com that there are less than 10,000 five number .xyz domain name combinations left before they are all registered!
http://www.thedomains.com/2015/12/17/xyz-registry-reports-nearly-all-5-number-domains-sold-out/

Domain Management Starter Guide: Strategy, Policies and Procedures
The bad news is domain management pain will aggravate further as the Top Level Domain (TLD) space expands from 22 (.com, .net, .org etc.) to 1,000+ TLDs (.news, .tech, .bank etc.), resulting from ICANN's domain name expansion program.
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/domain-management-starter-guide-strategy-policies-andre-forrester

The Nameshield Group: Registry, Corporate and Retail Registrar

Most recent Trademark Clearinghouse Sunrise Period announcements

Thursday: the new gTLD info of the day (updated)

www.idea.club

Curiosity of the day

The .BROTHER new gTLD (see application here) uses two letter second level domain names. The new gTLD applicant guidebook is not supposed to allow this.

http://hk.brother/

ICANN Appoints MFSD as First European Uniform Rapid Suspension System Provider

ICANN today announced that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with MFSD Srl (MFSD) establishing MFSD as a new Uniform Rapid Suspension System (URS) provider.
https://www.icann.org/news/announcement-2-2015-12-16-en
.Club has sold 2,000 premium domain name so far today
.Club registry gets solid results from release of 13,000 premium names.
http://domainnamewire.com/2015/12/16/club-has-sold-2000-premium-domain-name-so-far-today/

.BANK By the Numbers: Domestic Impact
To date*, 5,165 .BANK domain names have been registered in the U.S. by 2,534 banks. Outside the U.S., 560 domain names have been registered. An infographic from last month provides additional insights into the international impact of .BANK.https://www.ftld.com/WP/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/fTLD-Blog-Domestic-Impact-20151216.pdf

new gTLDs 2015: Wachstum und Prestige-Projekte
In ihrem zweiten Jahr haben die neuen Domain-Endungen ihre Position auf dem internationalen Markt gefestigt – dank kontinuierlich steigender Registrierungszahlen und öffentlichkeitswirksamen Projekten.
https://seo-portal.de/2015/12/16/google-zu-autosuggest-bildern-und-gtlds/

British businesses fall victim to 'cybersquatters' amid domain name rollout
However, new research reveals that some of the UK’s biggest companies are failing to protect their intellectual property, with many domain names relating to British brands already being bought up by third parties.http://thespokedblog.com/2015/12/17/british-businesses-fall-victim-to-cybersquatters-amid/

The Com Laude & Valideus Gazetteer of Top Level Domains
The purpose of the Gazetteer is to help brand owners and IP professionals navigate the new world of domains which emerged when ICANN launched its new gTLD programme three years’ ago.
https://comlaude.com/com-laude-valideus-gazetteer-top-level-domains

Two Sunrise Periods started today

the .SECURITY new gTLD;

the .PROTECTION new gTLD.

http://www.trademark-clearinghouse.com/gtld-calendar

The Nameshield Group: Registry, Corporate and Retail Registrar

Most recent Trademark Clearinghouse Sunrise Period announcements

The new gTLD info of the day (Friday)

New gTLD Infographic
The announcement of new generic top-level domain names excited many domain investors and webmasters since they offered a chance to register exact match business and sector focused domain extensions, such as .market,.dentist,.actor and many others, when they first released. However a few was able to register valuable domain names that worth thousands of dollars. The infographic that we designed and shared below shares the lists of the biggest selling new gTLD extensions and top 10 gTLD domain name sales of 2015.
https://domainpromo.com/1757/top-gtld-sales-2015

Refusal to accept .scot email suffix
A HIGHLAND MSP has attacked energy giant E.ON after it refused to allow an account holder to log on with a .scot email suffix.
http://www.thenational.scot/news/msp-attacks-eon-over-refusal-to-accept-scot-email-suffix-because-it-would-cost-too-much.11051?

Are the new gTLDs performing better for SEO?

Since the new generic top level domains (gTLDs) started being released last year, there has been an inevitable question in many brand managers and marketeers heads: will they have an impact upon Search?
https://www.dotnice.com/new-gtlds-performing-better-in-search-than-the-traditional-ones/

SEO and new TLDs
As we all know each domain name is different. stahura.club is different than stahura.photography. Each domain name being “globally unique" is the main benefit of the domain name system.
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/seo-new-tlds-paul-stahura

Public Comment Period opens
On 2 December 2015, XYZ.COM LLC submitted a Registry Services Evaluation Policy (RSEP) request to offer a new registry service for .XYZ, .COLLEGE, .RENT, .THEATRE, .PROTECTION, and .SECURITY TLDs. The registry service is a proxy service that will provide secondary gateway access toSRS/EPP, RDDS (via Whois – port 43 –, web-based Directory Service, RDAP, or any combination of the three), or both for the purposes of operating these TLDs in local domain name markets.
https://www.icann.org/news/announcement-2-2015-12-10-en

The Nameshield Group: Registry, Corporate and Retail Registrar

Most recent Trademark Clearinghouse Sunrise Period announcements

The new gTLD info of the day

TLD Logic: what we're about
TLD Logic is a unique service for monitoring and analysing trends in the global domain name market which includes hundreds of Top Level Domains (TLDs) and millions of domain names. TLD Logic provides a suite of highly visual and interactive tools for exploring the current status and market trends of TLDs including domain counts, growth evolution, registrar portfolio breakdowns and trends. TLD Logic has been designed with range of user-controlled functionalities to allow customised trend analysis charts on a range of metrics.
https://tldlogic.com/

New gTLDs Show Encouraging SEO Performance
With all the arrival of countless new generic top level areas (gTLDs), several marketers are excited that they’ll currently obtain a web address that best describes their company or company. On.ORGANIC, a company inside the company that is natural are now able to get a website for example, or possibly a company that’s about excitement and enthusiasm are now able to get on.RED, etc. in The same moment, the majority are also wondering some significant seo-related inquiries.
http://informatic.dk/domains/new-gtlds-show-encouraging-seo-performance/

Conference Drops Its For a.Tech
The Consumer Technology Association (CTA) parent company of the giant electronic show, CES which is held every January in Las Vegas, has dropped its 2 character .org for a new gTLD, .tech domain name
http://www.thedomains.com/2015/11/27/ces-conference-drops-its-domain-ce-org-for-cta-tech/

How to rank in page 1 of Google in 48 hours

A recent story

This is a recent story from a wine lover who registered a ".club" domain name related to red wine. Read his story below.

Extract: "However, regarding my newly launched VinoRouge.club, it is interesting to note that after only 48 hours (with no publicity, news stories or links), the website is ranking on page 1 of Google for a search of Vino Rouge (out of over 3.5 million results) and in the first position for Vino Rouge Club. No magic SEO here, just fresh and interesting content, as well as a new gTLD domain name. Time will tell if it was just luck, but my hunch is that this year will start to see more and more new gTLD websites being successful because of favorable rankings and cheaper advertising options. I know I'm looking forward to trying it again soon with a different new gTLD domain name. If the results are similar, I'll be sure to come back here and let you all know about it".

Read Vincent Jacques' complete article on gTLD.club and register your .CLUB domain name with Uniregistry.

VinoRouge.club: Ranked on Page 1 of Google in Less Than 48 Hours

Being a member of a twelve-member wine club that meets once a month for the last 22+ years provided motivation to finally create website to document what our club does.  What do we do you may ask...we taste red wine.  In fact, between all of our regular tastings and special tastings, we've tasted thousands of red wines over the years from all over the world and we have kept detailed records of the tasting we've done over that time, including a member preference poll for each tasting we have ever had.  Now that we are well into the digital age, we decided it was time to create a website for our wine club, so that we could share with the world what we've been up to and provide some insight on what our collective pallets like the most.

When considering a domain name for our wine club, it only seemed natural to register a dot club domain name, VinoRouge.club, since that is our name and a club is what we are!    Oh, and the dot com was already taken.  That IS the beauty of a new gtld!  It is a niche...it is available... and it is what it is, not to sound like Frank Zappa or Bill Belichick.  

New gTLDs just may have a leg up in search engine marketing.  Recently in Las Vegas at Namescon 2015, Bill Hartzer, Senior SEO Strategist at Globe Runner SEO, participated in a speaking panel about search engine optimization and an experiment he conducted using exact match domains in dot com and a new gTLD.  In the example he provided, he talked about two domain names that he developed with identical content, 3caratdiamonds.com and 3carat.diamonds.  What Bill shared was that getting traffic through Google Adwords cost a bit less for the new gTLD than it did for the dot com.  Bill also shared the fact that over time, the conversion rates (for downloading a PDF about diamond sizing) were also better for the new gTLD than they were for the dot com.  

Okay, while this is not earth shattering, it is, perhaps, an indication that search engines may prefer new gTLDs over time, as they are more significantly niche focused, they have fresh content since they are new and they are relevant to the search being conducted, although nobody's is admitting that over there.   

I have also heard several stories about new gTLD websites ranking well in organic search.  One specific story was about Credit.club and how only after two weeks, they were ranked in the first position for a Google search of Credit Club.  Granted, there was a lot of publicity, news stories and links that preceeded the ranking, due to credit.club being hand registered for regular fee.  However, regarding my newly launched VinoRouge.club, it is interesting to note that after only 48 hours (with no publicity, news stories or links), the website is ranking on page 1 of Google for a search of Vino Rouge (out of over 3.5 million results) and in the first position for Vino Rouge Club.  No magic SEO here, just fresh and interesting content, as well as a new gTLD domain name.  Time will tell if it was just luck, but my hunch is that this year will start to see more and more new gTLD websites being successful because of favorable rankings and cheaper advertising options.  I know I'm looking forward to trying it again soon with a different new gTLD domain name.  If the results are similar, I'll be sure to come back here and let you all know about it!  Thanks for reading and remember, don't drink wine and register domain names at the same time!

Google's search engine is ready for new gTLDs

I recently read about a new search engine for the .XXX generic Top-Level Domain recently launched. Yes, it is possible to search for pornography only.

With niche registries about to launch, these new search engines may become of a serious interest for specific industries and communities.

I myself find it interesting to be able to search in a specific domain name extension only. As a wine and rugby fan, I would love to avoid .COM web sites and focus on .WINE web sites exclusively when it comes to searching an info. Chances are high that content found on a .WINE is more relevant than on a .COM.

Well, Google has always been ready for new gTLDs and here is an example on how to find content on .museum web sites only. Let's try with a search in Virginia for example and see if there is content available on Internet on web sites using .museum domain names:

When in google, enter "virginia" in the search box and look for the advanced search which allows to search in a specific domain name extension. It is located down the search page, look for "Advanced search" (below in yellow):

Then, you should enter ".museum" in the "site or domain" search box (below in yellow) and hit on the button "Advanced Search".

All results found will only be on .museum domain names, you can check the URLs:

Basically, it means that Google may be able to provide much better results according to a search related to a specific community, an industry or even a brand represented by a new generic Top-Level Domain.
The number of mouse clicks to reach the advanced search is important and I doubt that a person searching an information goes as far as this. Shall we ever see any www.google.football or www.google.art domain names to focus on niche strings and facilitate a search? Will a search on Google.com offer the option to target a specific extension?

Future will tell...when ICANN is ready.

How will Google treat new gTLDs?

1. "There will be a transition period";
2. "We've always wanted to return the best result we can to users".

Google says nothing and it is acceptable: a transition period is required to adapt to something new. Today, from the 22 existing generic Top-Level Domains, none offers enough precision to be considered as an industry or a specific area of interest and none can be considered as a keyword which truly represents a community or a group.

".museum" maybe? With a potential of 24 000 domains, maybe it is the reason why it does not sell. Too restrictive also which does not help. 

All others Top-Level Domains are no keywords descriptive enough :

1. .xxx is just 3 x letters one after the other;
2. .info means "information";
3. .com means nothing (commercial ? communication ?) but users think .com when it comes to talking about domain names;
4. .net means...internet, network?
5. .org means...organization (for-profit? Not for profit?), orgasm ? :-)
6. .biz means business;
7. .travel could be a good example but isn't it too wide (and too restrictive)?
8. ...

It makes it difficult for a search engine like Google to announce a web site about wine will be better indexed with a .WINE extension rather than with a .COM. There is no existing experience about this today but the .museum one.

Will a .WINE web site which deals with wine be better indexed than the same .COM web site?

I would say we already have the answer to this question. When doing a Google search about a museum (I previously searched for a museum which uses a .museum domain name...and there are not a lot of them), the "Penn Museum" (www.penn.museum) for example is found first on top of the Google results, same for the "International Council of African Museums" (www.africom.museum).

It seems to work...in english. And after all, "museum" is an english word.

Comments from Google on new gTLDs

"Will a new TLD web address automatically be favoured by Google over a .com equivalent? Quite simply, yes it will." This question was answered by a back-end registry promoting and selling new generic Top-Level Domains.

Matt Cutts, head of the webspam team at Google seems to have a different answer to this question and came back responding a "Sorry, but that's just not true".

If I can understand the answer of Matt Cutts, I don't think the initial question was asked the correct way so I asked him in more simple words:

My question:
"If I should launch a web site in 2013 (or later when the .wine registry is launched) which content is about wine: would google favor the one with a .wine extension or the one with a .com extension?"

Will Matt answer this question? I will keep you posted. :-)

Follow posts here.

.VEGAS new gTLD and search engines

Not sure if this is the web site of a second applicant or one of the first domainers's web site to promote new generic Top-Level Domains.

One thing is sure: the article regarding search engine optimization (SEO) explains the impact owning a new descriptive domain name could have to be better positioned in search engines.

• First applicant for .VEGAS;
• I recommend the reading of "SEO and New TLDs".