New gTLD Application Thoughts: The difference maker will be Google

The new gTLD applications are in and those of us in the Internet log, domain name space have been thinking about the new gTLD process for years. ICANN has talked about the new gTLD process for years, and finally we have a list of applicants for new gTLD's top-level domains. Of course, we were all really surprised to learn about a month ago that the number of applications was well beyond what most people thought. It was unclear who was going to be applying for new domain name extensions and how well adopted things might be received in the Internet community. There has been certainly a lot of commentary in the domainer space against new gTLDs because, of course, a lot of domainers own a lot of high value .com domains, and any new TLDs that compete with the .com world are a potential  threat to the domain name portfolios held by many people. 

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The new gTLD applications are in and those of us in the Internet log, domain name space have been thinking about the new gTLD process for years. ICANN has talked about the new gTLD process for years, and finally we have a list of applicants for new gTLD's top-level domains. Of course, we were all really surprised to learn about a month ago that the number of applications was well beyond what most people thought. It was unclear who was going to be applying for new domain name extensions and how well adopted things might be received in the Internet community. There has been certainly a lot of commentary in the domainer space against new gTLDs because, of course, a lot of domainers own a lot of high value .com domains, and any new TLDs that compete with the .com world are a potential  threat to the domain name portfolios held by many people.

When I am asked, as an Internet law attorney who specializes in domain name disputes and domain name transactions, about these new gTLDs, I basically have been saying this, "Now that we see who the applicants are, I think that there is going to be widespread adoption of new gTLDs by consumers over the next five years, and there's one reason that dominates my thought process in this regard. Google is one of the biggest players in the gTLD application process. When you look at the number of domain extensions that Google has applied for, one could only think that they will be leading the charge on new gTLDs, and if Google is leading the charge on new gTLDs, then you certainly can expect the dollars to follow and consumer awareness to follow."

What are the TLDs that Google has applied for? Well, there are many. There are many, and some of them are branded TLDs, and some of them are more generic TLDs. The big issue has always been for existing websites who want to consider a new TLD, such as .co or .me or .pro, or any of the other extensions which have previously come out, and many of the extensions that have previously done poorly, is that you can't just simply port your website from one domain to another. This has less to do with consumers being all caught up in .com and .com dominance and much more to do with the practical reality for website owners, people who actually run full on websites in terms of actually moving your address.

It's not like selling your house in New York City and moving to Los Angeles, California, and buying another house or moving your business from Miami, Florida, to Austin, Texas. It's much more complicated than that when you've got a website that's got SEO baked into it, backlinks coming back to it and that Google has already indexed and rated under its algorithm. So, when I say that Google is the number one factor for me in determining what's going to happen with these new gTLDs, what I really mean to tell you is that the deal is that once Google decides that it's going to allow people to port their websites over to new domain extensions, you've just got your first real game changer.

The deal is that if I could take my website and easily move from .com to .dot and I'm not going to lose any SEO traction, that just opens up a whole world of opportunity for me. How is Google going to do that under its algorithm? Will Google do that under its algorithm? That remains to be seen, but it's hard for me to believe that Google is not going to be making some major changes to allow portability of websites from one extension to another. With all these new gTLDs coming into place, it seems like they are going to have to provide more than just six months of keeping backlink juice in place, porting to the new extension.

Here is the thing. If Google does this, if they take the steps to allow you to port all of your SEO from one extension to another, it'll be moving your company much easier, much more cost effective and far less risky, once you can move your website from one domain extension to another. We need to watch and see what Google does with its algorithms as new TLDs get launched. The big factor is going to be, "Can I move my website?" Otherwise, with the new gTLDs, their market is going to be who? It's going to be domain investors and people who are starting new companies, who don't have a lot invested in their website yet, who haven't paid money to build out their web presence in SEO. Those will be the people in the market because very few companies are actually going to go through the pain and expense of trying to get their website from one gTLD to another and hope that they don't lose 50% of their business in the process.

My name is Domain Name Attorney, Enrico Schaefer. We'll see you next time.

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