The .CO domain extension: .COM has a competitor.
The .COM domain extension has long been and remains the leader in registrations. According to Verisign, the number of domain names registered there exceeds 80 million. However, a competitor to this oldest and most popular domain extension has recently emerged on the internet: the .CO domain, which opened for registration a few weeks ago.
Domain.CObelongs to Colombia. This domain extension was later transformed into an open top-level domain extension. This domain was initially positioned as a .COM equivalent, which is precisely what made the .CO domain so popular. Google plans to change the classification of the .CO domain extension and designate it as international. This means that websites registered in .CO will be able to rank higher in search results, as domains that Google designates as regional rarely top international search results.
Domain names in the .CO zone aren't cheap. During the Sunrise registration period, .CO domains cost $275, but after the general registration period, they cost $32.
During the priority registration period for the .CO domain zone, copyright holders submitted more than 11,000 applications, 1,500 of which were rejected due to similarities to commonly used words.
The speed of domain registrations in the .CO zone is astounding even veterans of the market. In the first week after registrations began, and three and a half months after registrations began, the number of domains registered exceeded 300,000. Two and a half weeks after registrations began, the number of such domains exceeded 400,000. Analysts are calling this a fantastic start. Indeed, in the first 15 minutes after registrations began, more than 90,000 names were registered in this domain zone.
During the Landrush period, more than 39,000 domains were registered, fetching over $20 million. Recently, the largest transaction in the .CO domain zone was recorded: the O.co domain was sold for $350,000.
Interest in names in the .CO domain extension will continue in the future. Judging by registration trends, this domain extension will be in demand both among owners of new internet projects and among those seeking to protect their .COM domain from typosquatting, a type of fraud that the .CO domain encourages to a certain extent.
