How established .com businesses can greatly benefit from the new generation of domain names, and why they might want to use multiple domain names.

Article written By Marek Eckhaus, CEO, Brands.International. 

Everyone who seriously invests in the new generation of domain names (also sometimes called “new gTLDs” – so in domain names ending in extensions like .life, .world, or .expert – for example, a domain like alien.lifeparadise.world or wealth.expert) must have noticed something very interesting. Some of the largest global companies and brands like AppleAmazon, or T-Mobile are registering new gTLDs in large amounts, usually focusing on very high quality, keyword-rich domain names.

What do they do that? Although we can not say 100% what their intentions are now, or in the future, we can observe how the domain names are being used by those companies, and learn from it. I believe if the below discussed approaches and techniques work well for them, it will definitely benefit also an average online business owner. We should always learn from the best, after all.

It seems like that most global companies have already understood that although their main website domain name is their main digital identity and their main brand at the same time, it is not always necessarily the best URL for each form of engagement with their clients, customers or fans.

Let me give you a few examples to clarify what I mean. I will describe some interesting things which large companies are doing with the new generation of domain names, and which you probably have not heard about until now.

1. Amazon – using new gTLDs as the main URL for specific projects.

Let’s start with Amazon. One of the most valuable brands in the world, operating their main business at Amazon.com. What can do you there? Of course, online shopping. But Amazon is not only about online shopping. They have hundreds of other businesses and online activities as well. For example, they are running the Amazon Care program, designed to make easier access to healthcare for their employees. They run in at Amazon.Care domain name. Could they put the whole content of this program under Amazon.com? Sure, that was the possibility as well, but by using this specific TLD, .care, which makes perfect semantic sense, they are simply:

  1. Communicating a message with the URL itself
  2. Inviting more online engagement from their target group.
  3. They also prevent their main URL from being cluttered by content which is not relevant for the main focus of the URL, which is online shopping.
  4. Less cluttering means they make their main URL easier to navigate for their clients, so they can focus on what matters most – online shopping.

2. T-Mobile – using new gTLDs as a clever redirect for specific projects.

Now, I will give you another nice example of a large global company using new gTLD domain names in the correct and innovative way, which is T-Mobile. This company operates on its main website, t-mobile.com, and because it is present in many countries, it also operates on local domain names relevant for a specific country, like T-mobile.cz for the Czech Republic or T-mobile.pl for Poland. Being a global company, they are hiring talent globally. But how to easily communicate that, and which website to use? They found an ideal solution in my opinion: by choosing domain extension .careers, and running their adds for their global hr website using domain name Tmobile.Careers, they are achieving following beneficial results

  1. They present the company objective with very easy to remember website address.
  2. There are obvious SEO (search engine optimization) benefits for that specific website content.
  3. They communicate the message and purpose of the website very clearly via the URL itself.
  4. The domain will pass an audio test (after hearing something like “please visit us at Tmobile DOT Careers for more information”, prospects and recruiters can easily access the website).

Now, unlike the previous example of Amazon.Care, where content is stored on .career domain, T-Mobile is using Tmobile.Careers as a redirect to site T-mobile.com/careers, while still fully benefiting from the above-mentioned advantages.

Of course, before new domain names were introduced on the internet in 2014, it was not possible to use those new modern options, and for companies like T-Mobile, the only option would be to advertise URLs like T-mobile.com/careersThis URL is definitely much more difficult to remember and communicate, particularly when in audio form (think of radio or TV advertisement).

3. Apple – using new gTLDs as branded redirects for their specific products, effectively passing SEO ranking powers of new gTLDs to the redirected sub-page of it’s existing .com structure.

Another example of a company that realized very soon that high-quality, keyword-rich new gTLDs can be a very effective SEO tool is Apple. Apple has registered some of the best new gTLDs in the world.

So what they do with them? Well, they are utilizing the fact some domains can increase your organic search traffic, which of course will significantly reduce your spending on paid advertising. This is very clever – there is no good reason why to pay for advertising if you have the possibility to get organic traffic for free (or for the initial purchase cost of a high quality domain name, to be more precise).

Apple has obviously found a smart way to use a keyword-rich new domain name s to boost specific parts of their existing website in organic search results – what they do is that they use specific new domain names as branded redirects.

Let me give you an example: Apple is a global brand, well established on domain name apple.com. It sells a lot of products – one of them is the Apple Watch. Here is the current link for that particular product: https://www.apple.com/watch

As in the case of T-Mobile, there were not many possibilities to simplify the link before new gTLDs. But now, following is possible: Apple is setting up a branded redirect to this part of the website, using the new generation of a domain name, Apple.Watch – this simply means that when people are searching for Apple watches, the keyword-rich domain name Apple.Watch will rank in search results. It is set up as a branded redirect, so by clicking on this link customer will be redirected to the relevant product page on Apple.com.

Using the above described clever technique, Apple is gaining all benefits of keyword-rich new gTLD domain names like Apple.Watch, while their existing search ranking structure (on .com domain name apple.com) is well maintained.

Of course, this is again not only about ranking and SEO. As previously described, there are also other significant benefits:

  1. They present the company product with very easy to remember website address.
  2. They communicate the message and purpose of the website very clearly via the URL itself.
  3. The domain will pass an audio test (after hearing something like “please visit us at Apple DOT Watch to purchase them”, customers have an easier way to access the website and to buy the product).

Above mentioned examples are just a tiny part of a large number of techniques the most successful global companies are using to boost their online presence. It might sound complicated, but it is not. If you are spending too much money on online advertising, paid ads, and/or your web page is getting slow or is being clustered, consider to spend a reasonable amount of money on relevant new gTLD names. Correct implementation of new techniques can boost your ranking and dramatically reduce your SEO optimization and online advertisement costs.

BIG CREDIT FOR THIS ARTICLE: I took a lot of inspiration for my article, including particular examples of new gTLD’s usage after reading the following source, where lot of original research was performed: https://www.premium.domains/blog/grow-your-digital-identity-with-multiple-domain-names/. I fully recommend this website to everyone who is interested in new internet domain names and new internet possibilities.

We are happy to advise you – Brands.International is a leading global expert in new gTLD domain names. If you wish to learn more, please contact our domain consultants for a non-binding consultation.

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