ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers ) has just approved key proposals to relax the rules on domain names which opens the way for more customization and flexibility. Domain names will now be allowed to use any combination of letters and numbers, including non-Latin characters.
Top level domain (TLD) names (the 2 or 3 letters after the dot) will not have to conform to the existing name conventions. So instead of .com we may be seeing .blog, .xxx or .sex to identify a site. Second level domain names (the bit before the dot) could use a TLD as a keyword giving more options for creativity in naming - .travel, .hotel, .photo. craft, .shop, .safeway. Towns and cities would not have to just rely on a country TLD name - .melbourne .waggawagga. The possibilities are endless, although a name will have to be either memorable, descriptive, distinctive or follow conventions taken up by similar niches to be of much use.
This opens the floodgates to domain name registration. Popular .com keynames words suddenly become free again to be recreated with a different TLD extension. Interesting thought - I wonder if ing or ed will become popular - twitter.ing, digg.ing, learn.ed stumble.ed, flickr.ed. We will not see these particular examples of course because of copyright on the second level domain name (the bit before the dot). So we will not witness google.oogle, msn.acronym, abc.def, windows.liveordead, microsoft.hard nor ICANN.ucannot ask.andlearn. I could go on forever making up names like that but will restrain myself and leave you to come up with some for yourself 
There are advantages for users as well as domain name owners. Users will be able to distinguish what a site is about more easily if it has a distinctive TLD. I hope search engines and browsers will come up with a way for us to easily filter out certain TLD names. For example, it would be good to filter out shopping sites if we were just looking for information rather than to buy or vice-versa. I can see it now - a Firefox extension called shopaholic. Search engines relying on advertising revenue may not be so keen on this idea, however. Another advantage of this could be easier filtering out of adult sites to safeguard children although I imagine some of these sites would want to draw unsuspecting visitors in by having a special extension as well as one that does not distinguish it.
Here is an quick explanation by the BBC on the changes:
You can read more about the ICANN recommendation on their site
For Australian readers: The rules on transfer of an Australian domain name were relaxed as of 1st June this year. Now domain names are not strictly attached to businesses. Previously a name could not be transferred unless the business changed hands too. There will be a 6 month cooling off period before a sale can be finalized. It sounds as if you do have to have a good reason to sell however as the rules state that “It will not be allowable to register a domain name for the sole purpose of resale or transfer to a third party”. I would imagine an allowable change would include a situation where a domain name defines a product or service that a business no longer sells. More information is available on the The Australian Domain Name Administrator (auDA) site.
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This is very valuable information, Sue. I can only imagine the “new mess” of the web with these new rules.
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Agreed Mig, It will bring up so many issues and I only touched the surface here.
Mess of the web…… it’s going to be even worse than that!
I really don’t like this idea, and I hope they don’t go threw with it.
First of all thanks for a very readable and educative post - I did not know.
To me it sounds like it might be ciaos, but then again I’m old fashion.
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I think you are correct - it could get confusing.
This is really going to make domain names interesting. Opening an icann of worms. Great post.
You have made de main point there James.
This is bound to open up a lot of possibilities for keywords. I wonder if plain old dot coms wil be more or less valuable than they are now, from an SEO viewpoint.
In general, as I understand it, the older a domain name is the better for ranking (backlinks and kewords etc being equal). If this trend continues on, a lot of the new domain names will have to age to reach full potential as far as Google is concerned.
I was unaware of the age factor. I wonder if that is as applicable to blogs which gain exposure by updating regularly?
Age is definitely a factor. The older a domain is, the more authority it carries.
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Thanks RT that is good to know
Well, the theory is good for honest people who want decent names for new sites.
But whenever a new domain suffix comes in, such as .info or .name, people go and register thousands of domains, then sell them for a premium.
Unfortunately, I see this problem getting a lot worse with these changes.
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When can we apply for these new domains? And where? I’ve been looking already. Can you point me in the right direction?
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Not sure what a URI is? (to post a comment)
Followed you here from the Aussie Bloggers, lots going on here!
I saw this news story on the telly today. They said they’ve already rejected the .XXX for the adult content. I only caught the end of the story where they suggested a domain like that could cost $100,000. Really?
Wait and see I suppose…
Cheers
Cindy
@Cindy: URI = Uniform Resource Identifier
Age is a factor, I agree. If you search Google and use an add-on like seo for firefox, you will see most of them will be from 2001 or before, especially for more popular keywords.
By default, people think .com when you say a web site, so while it may open the possibilities, I was not too excited right now. At least, not yet.
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That could get interesting. I run a website for finding Available Domain Names and I guess I’d have to make a lot of changes.
Im not seeing this as a positive neccesarily, seesm to me it could get really ugly. literally
[...] has already raised a couple of questions in the blogosphere. Sue Bride explains in detail what the new rules for TLDs are, but she doesn’t address important concerns related to brand protection. We can expect that [...]
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Well, domainers aren’t going to be very happy. I don’t mind, but they only one I really like is .blog
I wasn’t aware of that. Thanks for the heads up.
Great update. As blogging is getting more and more common. Its getting essential for students to create and write blogs of their own, as assignments gradually. Soon every person will have one. So extensibility and personalization should be welcomed.
Thanks for the share!
This is such a huge money grab for ICANN and will result in a huge spam mess. This will inflate .coms even more for their age and “respectability”. Oh, and don’t even get me started on all the changes to those error checkers on forms that insist on .com emails.
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Great post ! I want to know when you update your blog, where can i subscribe to your blog?
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This is good news (perhaps old, but good), as more combinations of competitive urls can be registered. We’ve found pages ranking in the search engines merely on the keywords used in the domain url! Colleen
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I wonder when there would be new 2nd level zones…
I wish i could create .blog site =)
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