Most Popular Domain Extensions

When we think of the most popular domain extensions (TLD's), we have to think about them in two different respects.

1.Registrations:  volume or total number of domain names that have been registered in a particular TLD because of popularity. Or maybe some other circumstance that has nothing to do with popularity or affinity for a particular extension.

2.Usage:  What TLD's are people actually using to build their online business, blog/site or projects with because of popularity, born out of what the extension represents or means to an industry or group of people. An example would be .la, which is the ccTLD for Laos but some have repurposed the domain to stand for L.A. (Los Angeles).

The reason I say this about TLD's is because on the surface, certain extensions would appear have a lot of usage (developed into actual legitimate websites) if you were to just look at it based on number of registrations. TLD's such as .gq and .tk have massive amounts of registrations but are not well known and do not have a tremendous amount of reputable sites built with those Tld's. As opposed to .gg which has a small amount of registrations but has legit sites and businesses built using that extension especially by a specific industry/community, which we will dig into a little bit later.

What is a TLD:  Top level domains are the suffix or extension at the end of the domain name. E.g. the part of the domain that is the last dot and the letters or characters that come after, such as .com, .net, .org and so on.

There are also country code top level domains (ccTLD's) that are typically two characters in length (but can be longer like .co.uk)and are representative of the country they are assigned to.

What is the purpose of a TLD: TLD's were designed to represent a particular industry and/or entities in a certain sector, such as .com for commercial or .mil for military. They also can represent a geographic location/area like .us for United States or .fr for France.

Popular Domain Extensions:  So, in regard to the most popular domain extensions, the number one and obvious extension is .com. The most recognizable businesses on the planet are established on the extension and is often the go to when people want to establish their online presence. However, remember what I said earlier about .tk and .gq, well, according to DomainNameStat.com, .tk comes in at 2nd place with 26,535,402 domain name registrations. The .gq extension is still in the top 25 ranking at the number 19 spot with 5,461,937 registrations.

.com

.com (short for commercial), the most well-known and sought-after extension of them all, .com is the benchmark for domain name extensions. As previously mentioned, the go to TLD for businesses is the .com since it was the first extension in the dawn of the internet that represented business entities. There has been some talk about if any extension will ever unseat the .com from its reigning position but it's highly unlikely any extension ever will. Maybe when the .web domain extension becomes available, (if it ever does) it might provide a challenge but until then, .com will continue to be the king.

.net

The second-best extension after .com, however it may no longer be the case. Largely because of TLD's like .io, .co and .xyz which have recently become very popular among entrepreneurs. Some people are even starting to prefer .org over .net. Be that as it may, if the .com you desire isn't available, the .net TLD is still a very good alternative. Similar to .com, the .net has been in existence for a very long time and is used extensively. The extension .net, which means "network," was first offered for networking and internet service companies. It has been rumored that it made sense to have the .net over the .com back then, in fact, the first domain ever created was Nordu.net. However, the internet became more commercialized, which, in turn, caused the .com to become more popular and the .com namespace grew to become increasingly congested. It was only logical for the .net to become the runner up to the .com extension when a particular .com domain name was not available.

.org

This TLD, which stands for organization, is essentially the .com for non-profits and was initially created with their purpose in mind. The .org domain space, however, grew congested much like its .com and .net counterparts due to the restricted capacity in the .com and the .net. Another contributor, was the lack of regulations or requirements to confirm an organization's existence or purpose to be a non-profit. Some people or businesses looking to establish themselves as a for-profit, have started to choose the .org extension more frequently. However, for individuals who want to establish themselves as a non-profit organization, the extension continues to be a strong option.

.io

The British Indian Ocean Territory's cctld, (country code top level domain) has arguably surpassed all other ccTLDs and new gTLDs as an alternative for startups, especially in the tech space. This is because people in the technology sector have a strong affection for the suffix io, which stands for input/output and is a frequently used term in the field. As previously mentioned, the .io extension has also gained popularity among business founders outside of the tech sector as a competitive alternative to the .com, .net, and .co. Another small cause for the increased popularity with this ccTLD (along with other domain extensions) could be domain hacks. But perhaps most significantly, it is seen as generic and may be geo-targeted to a certain nation.

.co

Is one of the country code top-level domains for Columbia is .co, which formerly rivaled .io in terms of popularity among tech people. Nonetheless, the .co domain extension continues to be popular, maintains a good reputation among internet users and is a viable alternative to the .com (.co was once thought of as a .com challenger). The emergence of the .co ccTLD is due to the incredible marketing of the extension when it was made available to the global public. Another big reason and probably the most critical, was the adoption of the extension by major businesses like Twitter, Facebook, and Overstock. Lastly, similar to its gccTLD cousins, it is also regarded as generic and enables users to have a worldwide presence or be geo-targeted.

.xyz

At one point was labeled as the domain extension for generations X, Y, and Z. However, much of the its popularity can be attributed to the extension not having a real meaning and lends itself to having widespread appeal to entrepreneurs. The xyz domain extension has been trending as of late and has over 11 million registrations. Early on, the xyz rise may have much to do with google deciding to use abc.xyz for its alphabet inc, tech company Hooli (hooli.xyz) from the television show Silicon Valley and low registration fees. Recently, the .xyz extension has gained a lot of steam and seems to have become the .com web3 crowd, i.e., the number 1 domain extension in that space.

Honorable Mention

.gg

The country code for for the island of Guernsey became popular in the video gaming and Esports. This is due to the phrase, GG or Good Game, that is commonly used among gamers.

.ai

The country code for the British territory of Anguilla became popular in the artificial intelligence space. AI is short for artificial intelligence and the abbreviation is used in everyday speak when referring to artificial intelligence.

.vc

The country code for Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. This extension became popular among venture capitalist and was repurposed to stand for venture capital.

.me

The country code of Montenegro. This extension became popular because, me, is a common word in a few languages, namely English. The extension was initially popular for those who wanted to make a resume/personal portfolio or a blog branded after themselves. Recently founders have found more creative ways to use the extension as a brand for their company.

.tv

The country code for the island nation of Tuvalu. This extension was repurposed to stand for television and became popular among streaming and video sharing platforms.

.so

The country code of Somalia. It is not clear if this domain extension was repurposed to have another meaning. Supposedly it was rebranded to stand for social but not 100% sure about that. Nonetheless, the .so extension has seen some pretty good adoption by the startup crowd, with some pretty legit companies still operating on the extension.