All about Country Code Top-Level Domains

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All about country code top-level domains
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Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Top-level domains
• Country-code top level domains
• Advantages of country-code top level domains
• Disadvantages of country-code top level domains
• Conclusion

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Introduction

• Have you ever seen a domain name with only two
  letters to the right of the dot?
• Such as .IN, .UK, .CA, and so on...
• These are known as country code top-level domain
  names and are assigned to specific countries.
• Every country has a domain name reserved for it
  this is generally denoted by a ccTLD, which is
  generally two letters long.
• a ccTLD shows users and search engines in what
  country, sovereign state, or dependent territory
  a website is registered 

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Top level domains

• A top-level domain, or TLD, is the portion of a
  web address that appears at the end.
• In other words, the top-level domain is the part
  of a domain name that comes after the dot.
• The .org extension, for example, is the TLD for
  htshosting.org.
• The most common top-level domains (TLDs) are
  .com, .org, and .net, but there are hundreds of
  other top-level domains.
• Top-level domains are divided into two types
• Generic Top-Level Domains (gTLDs)
• Country Code Top-Level Domains
• We will discuss country code top-level domains in
  this presentation

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Country Code Top-Level Domains

• A country code top-level domain name is a name
  that defines the domain for a specific country or
  geographical area.
• Every country has its own domain name, which is
  typically denoted by a ccTLD, which is two
  characters long.
• The first ccTLDs which were created, were .uk for
  the United Kingdom, .us for the United States,
  and .il for Israel.
• CcTLDs include information other than country
  codes, such as the sovereign state or dependent
  territory where the website is registered.
• CcTLDs are the most effective way to demonstrate
  to search engines and users that a website's
  content is tailored to a specific country or
  region rather than a specific language.
• Although country code top-level domains can be
  used to increase website traffic, there are some
  advantages and disadvantages to using such
  ccTLDs.

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Advantages of ccTLDs

• When a site uses a ccTLD, Google considers the
  site to be uniquely relevant to the geographical
  area targeted by the ccTLD and recommends that it
  appear on SERPs (Search Engine Result Pages) in
  that area.
• Although country code top-level domains can be
  used to optimize the traffic of your website, it
  offers numerous advantages, including
• More domains are accessible
• Shorter domains
• Connections
• Local search
• Let us discuss the advantages one by one

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1. More domains are accessible

• There are approximately 150 million registered
  .COM domain names.
• Thus, it is difficult to find an available domain
  name.
• In comparison, the majority of ccTLDs have fewer
  than a million registrations.
• This indicates that there are far more names
  available in these domains than in .COM

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2. Shorter domains

• As the web becomes more mobile, people prefer
  short, simple domain names that are easy to
  remember.
• The ccTLDs, are the shortest to the right of the
  dot, with only two characters.
• All of the other domain options have at least
  three characters, and some have more.

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3. Connections

• We mean the association your domain has with your
  location when we say "connection."
• In particular, to those who are visiting your
  website from that location.
• There are descriptive domain extensions that
  alert visitors to the fact that they are on a
  specific type of website.
• Some ccTLDs also have descriptive qualities.

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4. Local Search

• When searching locally, you typically enter your
  location or the phrase "near me.
• This instructs search engines as to where you
  want search results to be displayed.
• Having a country code top-level domain helps
  search engines and users find you.

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Disadvantages of ccTLDs

• Each country is assigned a ccTLD based on its ISO
  country code.
• The ccTLDs can be an excellent choice for a
  website.
• However, country code top-level domain has some
  drawbacks too such as
• Search Engine Optimization
• Cost
• Unique rules
• Let us discuss these drawbacks in detail.

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1. Search Engine Optimization

• Google uses several cues to determine whether
  content is targeting users in a specific
  location. The top level domain is an important
  one.
• The search engine assumes that content on .CO.UK
  domains is aimed at people in the United Kingdom
• Whereas websites on .DE are aimed at people in
  Germany.
• This is great for sites that are targeting those
  countries, but it can be problematic if they
  aren't.
• Some generic country code domains, such as.CO
  and.ME, are treated by Google as generic rather
  than targeted to the countries to which they
  correspond.
• Website owners must log in to Google Search
  Console and correct the targeting for domains
  that are not on the list.

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2. Cost

• The country or groups that partner with the
  country to offer the domain name determine the
  pricing for ccTLDs.
• As a result, the price can fluctuate from year to
  year.
• In the future, the cost of renewing the domain
  name may be significantly higher.
• Unregulated pricing also means that the initial
  cost of registering a ccTLD is frequently
  significantly higher than that of other top level
  domains.
• When selecting one of these domains, kindly keep
  the price in mind.

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3. Unique rules

• Certain peculiar rules apply to country-code
  top-level domains.
• The government of each country is in charge of
  ccTLDs.
• They set their own rules for who can register
  and use their domains.
• Identity verification, censorship, and free
  speech rules are examples of this.
• These rules are subject to change at any time.
• Regardless of how rare these changes are,
  understanding the fundamentals of ccTLDs is
  critical.

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Conclusion

• Taking everything into account, ccTLDs can be an
  excellent choice for many businesses and
  individuals.
• They're short, cool, and can have interesting
  ramifications.
• So, if you have decided to register ccTLDs for
  your business, HTS Hosting offers a large
  selection of country code top-level domains for
  your websites.
• For more information on domain services, you can
  visit our website www.htshosting.org

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