by Mika » 21 Jun 2023, 04:11 Until March 2023, 628.5 million domains have been registered and 53.3 percent are dot com, making it the most used domain extension. By the end of 2022, 1600 domain extensions were registered on Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA). Therefore, dot com holding more than 50 percent of the market share is a significant indicator of why dot com is the most preferred domain.
There are a couple of reasons why you also need a dot com domain, if you decide to launch your website (any kind of website including, blogs, forums, online stores, business websites, portfolio websites, etc.)
Dot com being one the oldest domain extension, people trust dot com more than any other domain extension. Dot com can be used for any kind of websites. Dot com is accepted by browsers as a default domain. You don’t even have to type .com to visit a website using the .com extension.
Interestingly, when you go to register your dot com you will have it is extremely rare to find a proper domain. In that case, you will either have to compromise with the domain name or use a different domain extension. If you want to use a different domain extension, what is the best alternative for dot com domains?
Using Domain Extensions Other Than Dot Com
Dot com alone is not the oldest domain extension. In 1984, the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority released other 5 domain extensions along with dot come, viz. .edu, .gov, .mil, .org, and .net. You cannot register dot gov and dot mil as these are reserved only for governments and the military. You also cannot register dot edu as this is reserved only for educational websites. Dot org was originally meant for non-profit organizations but these days dot org are being used for all sorts of websites. Dot net is the last option left on the original 6 domains released by IANA.
After the first 6 domain extensions were released, IANA also released two country domains dot uk and dot us. These are also good domain extensions that you can use if you want to target visitors in the United Kingdom and the United States. In 1988, dot int was released by IANA, and this extension is mainly for international organizations.
Is Dot Net The Best Alternative to Dot Com?
Dot net is one of the six domains released by IANA. However, after dot com, the most registered domain extension is dot ca, which is a country domain for Canada, followed by org as the third most used domain and dot ru as the fourth most used domain. While org is for organization and dot ru is for Russia, you can chose the dot net which ranks 5th in the list. This brings us to the conclusion that the best alternative to dot com domain extension is dot net.
While you can use any domain extension you want as domain extension does not affect your website SEO, using a proper domain extension still matters for branding and building trust. Currently, you can see some trending domain extensions like dot io, dot gg, etc. However, you should know that these domains are pricey. You can get dot net under $12.
