It’s been a long time coming. Dot Brand, the part of the New TLD domain name endings, are now officially here, I’d like to declare. While we have already had several Dot Brands use their branded TLDs for websites and microsites, it’s now that Google has launched their Keyword blog that I can say that Dot Brand is officially launched.
You see, with Google’s overall clout, trust, authority, and the sheer numbers of users that will end up reading their blog or becoming aware of it, they have a huge influence on the adoption of New gTLDs, and Dot Brand.
Now that Google is actually using Dot Google, other brands can be assured that Dot Brand is not a fad.
Why Now? Why declare that Dot Brand is officially here now? Well, you see, let’s look at an example. Look at the .XYZ Top Level Domain (TLD). Sure, they had a good thing going, a good business plan. I was even personally at the “launch party” of .XYZ, at NamesCon back a few years ago in Las Vegas. But look at the number of domain registrations. When ABC.XYZ was launched, out of the blue, it became the official website of Google’s parent company, Alphabet.
And immediately the public started buying .XYZ domains. So much so that it’s a top New gTLD based on the number of total domains registered.
Google is influential. When Google does something, people listen. They follow their lead. And now, with Blog.Google launched, brands can start using their Dot Brand, and follow Google’s lead.
According to the Dot Brand Observatory, there are currently 557 total Dot Brands:
557 Dot Brand
464 Live Brands
86 Active Brands
5082 Second Level Domains (now 1 more with blog.google launched)
560 Active Websites (now 1 more with blog.google launched)
Ever since the New gTLD program was launched, and ever since I started doing New gTLD research and testing, I have honestly been waiting for this time. The time when a major brand, such as Google, that’s influential, starts moving sites and moving to their Dot Brand. It’s my prediction that once this happens (and it has happened now), we will start seeing the public be much more aware of New gTLDs as they become aware of Dot Brand. While the public won’t be able to register a domain in any of the 557 Dot Brands, they will start to realize that there’s much more than Dot Com. And, as this happens, there will be much more interest and demand for New gTLD domain names. Which, in turn, will become more valuable.
So, welcome, Google’s new Keyword blog. It’s great to see (you).
Dot Brand is officially here.