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Benefits of the New TLDs (Top Level Domains) & Who Should Get Them?

Small businesses looking to stand out and develop keyword rich urls can now look beyond traditional gTLDs (generic top level domains) name and building out websites using the new, industry-specific TLDs. There are many benefits of the new TLDs, including, possibly, increased organic reach. Since search engines, like Google, are becoming more of a “decision engine” by giving you the answer right in the search result, having a keyword driven TLD can theoretically be one more marketing effort that will help flourish your brand’s search results. CMDS is a brand building agency; we help create experiences for people that engage them with your brand…including helping you find the perfect gTLD.

CMDS, Brand Building Agency Explains: What is a gTLD?

As a brief overview, gTLD’s are the letters that appear at the end of a website’s internet address that identify it generically with some domain class. Generic top level domain url examples include:

• .com (commercial),
• .net (originally intended for Internet service providers, but now used for a variety of purposes),
• .org (non-profit organizations),
• .gov (U.S. government agencies),
• .mil (military),
• .edu (educational organizations).

The New World (Wide Web)

In 2014, the release of more than 1,000 new gTLDs became the biggest shake-up since the internet began. It started a fresh digital landscape offering small businesses the opportunity to grow their digital footprint and build a domain portfolio that works for their brand. The new domain extensions are going to impact search in a big way and has opened up the flood gates to a ton of different types of domains for different industries.

More Options Available Online

These new TLDs give businesses an opportunity to pick a name that better matches their website presence. In the past, a start-up would have to research and think about what domain names are available before even naming their business. In addition, companies were severely limited because of how fancy they had to get with their .com url strings to make it work. Some even had pick a name that had nothing to do with their business; how confusing is that for the consumer?

The web is now doing some reverse engineering to get organized and neatly categorized. No one really knew how much of a success gTLDs would be and how instrumental the web would be in people’s lives. Today, business owners can get a domain name using the new TLDs that may have been unavailable for older extensions. A few examples include:

• .attorney
• .plumber
• .flowers
• .wedding
• .lawyer
• .realestate
• .hvac
• .solar

Is Google Changing the Search Algorithm to Favor these TLDs?

Although Google has said they will value these domains just as equally as the general ones, it definitely helps the consumer as they perform a search to actually find what they’re looking for by enhancing user experience. In addition, the approval process set in place to purchase these new TLDs prevents domainers, people who buy, park and sell domains for profit, from hording big batches of industry specific domains. The governing body of the web is now more strategic to regulate who can purchase certain domains. For example, if you’re purchasing a .lawyer or .attorney domain, you’re actually a lawyer. Google has put its stamp of approval on it.

Get Your Own Industry Specific Domains with CMDS

Remember that the phrasing of the first part of your link is also important for SEO purposes. Make sure it’s really accurate to the keywords and key phrases you want to target to positively impact your rankings and user-experience. You now have the opportunity to optimize both the main part of your URL and the suffix, so you should take advantage of it. Your digital brand is the best tool you have to reach new customers in a world that increasingly relies on the Internet. Make sure it rocks.

To learn more about how CMDS can help grow and market your business, call us today at 732-706-5555.

Tagged as Brand Building, brand building agency, branding agency NJ, Building Your Brand, CMDS, Digital Branding, gTLDs, top level domain