<p dir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-319eb462-e3e8-34af-fbe6-6bb1bb94c73b" style="text-align: justify;">The Internet is awash with all sorts of different types of domain names. Traditionally, someone in the United Kingdom might have gone for a .co.uk or a .com domain for a commercial entity, or a .org.uk or .org for a non-profit organisation, for example.</p>
<p dir="ltr" style="text-align: justify;">Over the years, people have started using alternative domain names. For instance, some websites have used domain hacks such as del.icio.us (Delicious) and blo.gs (Blogs). ICANN, the non-profit organisation responsible for top-level domains, even has a list of companies looking to register all sorts of weird and wonderful top-level domains!</p>
<p dir="ltr" style="text-align: justify;">One top-level domain that has been registered for some time and has fairly recently been offered to individuals, commercial and non-profit organisations is the .co domain. You may have heard of this domain ending being publicised at some point in the past; if you are thinking of getting a new domain name, should you consider getting a .co?</p>
<h2 dir="ltr" style="text-align: justify;">What is a .co Domain?</h2>
<p dir="ltr" style="text-align: justify;">A top-level domain that is being pushed by many domain name registration firms is .co, but you might be wondering what exactly is a .co domain?</p>
<p dir="ltr" style="text-align: justify;">The .co domain is technically the top-level domain that is assigned to Colombia in South America.</p>
<p dir="ltr" style="text-align: justify;">It was only ever available for registration to individuals and other entities within Colombia itself, but as of 2010 domain registration requirements have been relaxed; this has meant that, for the first time, it was now possible for foreign parties interested in .co domains to start buying them and using them for non-Colombian websites.</p>
<p dir="ltr" style="text-align: justify;">According to some recent statistics, more than 200 million .co domains have been registered by people and organisations outside of Colombia &#8211; something which has obviously opened up a whole new source of revenue for the firm that administers this top-level domain.</p>
<p dir="ltr" style="text-align: justify;"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-10673" alt=".co: Should You Consider Buying Such A Domain?" src="https://medusamagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Should-You-Consider-Buying-Such-A-Domain.png" width="640" height="427" /></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="text-align: center;">Photo via Flickr</p>
<h2 dir="ltr" style="text-align: justify;">Why should I Get a .co Domain?</h2>
<p dir="ltr" style="text-align: justify;">.co is a top-level domain which has obviously grown substantially in popularity in just under 3 years, but you might be asking yourself whether you should be getting a .co domain too?</p>
<h2 dir="ltr" style="text-align: justify;">Here are Some Reasons why you should:</h2>
<ul style="text-align: justify;">
<li dir="ltr">It’s memorable &#8211; just like .com and .co.uk domains are memorable, so too are .co domains;</p>
</li>
<li dir="ltr">Visitors have a smaller domain to type in &#8211; you might think that one or two characters isn’t much overhead when typing in a domain name into your web browser, but it can make the world of difference if you are tapping the domain name into a touchscreen device such as a smartphone or tablet;</p>
</li>
<li dir="ltr">It’s affordable &#8211; unlike some domains, .co domains are actually quite inexpensive to purchase;</p>
</li>
<li dir="ltr">Great for misspelt domains &#8211; if you have a .com domain and someone forgets to type in the ‘m’, you will be able to capture those visitors rather than having them visit a non-existent (or worse, competing) website!</p>
</li>
</ul>
<h2 dir="ltr" style="text-align: justify;">Won’t .co Domains be Bad for SEO?</h2>
<p dir="ltr" style="text-align: justify;">Actually you will be pleased to learn that Google responded to this very question in a YouTube video &#8211; the short answer is no, they won’t be bad for SEO! This means you can use .co domains for any non-Colombian websites and not suffer any penalties from search engines such as Google.</p>

.co: Should You Consider Buying Such A Domain?
