2016 in Review: 9 Popular Websites with New Domain Extensions
As we approach the end of 2016, we're seeing a growing number of popular websites with new domain extensions that are part of the expanding internet, known as the new gTLD program (gTLD is the abbreviation for generic top-level domain.) Because larger numbers of people are starting to use these websites, this helps more people get familiar with these new internet domains.
See this curated list of 9 popular new gTLD websites that are gaining recognition with popular usage:
- kodi.wiki - a wiki reference site with collaborative documentation of Kodi® media center, an award-winning free and open source cross-platform software media player for home theater PCs
- blog.google - "find Google’s official word on any given topic"
- domains.google - Google's online store for registering & managing domain names
- abc.xyz - Google's parent company, Alphabet
- x.company - "a moonshot factory," subsidiary of Alphabet that's working on experimental projects
- slack.help - online help center for the very popular Slack messaging app
- coursera.help - online help center for Coursera where you can "take the world's best courses, online"
- ces.tech - event website for the International Consumer Electronics Show (known as CES) with more than 165,000 attendees
- joinhouse.party - Houseparty is a mobile app for group video chat that's popular with a younger audience: "60% of the apps users are under the age of 24"
And so far (at the time of this post), there are three large international banks using their own branded top-level domains, a strong indicator for how these new domain extensions increase a level of security and trust:
- banco.bradesco - Bradesco is the third-largest bank in Brazil, headquartered in the metropolitan area of São Paulo
- mabanque.bnpparibas - BNP Paribas is a French multinational bank with its global headquarters in Paris, ranked as the third-largest bank in the world
- home.barclays - Barclays Bank operates in 40 countries, with its strongest presence in the UK and US
Typically a website's most popular page will be its home page. Canon moved its home page to global.canon in 2016. We're anticipating more big brands will more actively use their new domain endings in the coming year 2017.
In the Christian circles that many Bible readers are a part of, these popular websites have ranked in the Alexa top 1M sites:
berean.bible - Berean Bible is "a three-tiered study Bible to connect you from a smooth and accurate translation through to the root of the Greek and Hebrew meanings."
american.bible - American Bible Society's website for daily Scripture readings, prayers, devotionals and more.
planning.center - Planning Center originally launched as a web-based app for churches to plan their worship services and has grown into a suite of apps for church management of membership, giving, check-ins, groups, events, resources and more.
life.church - Life.Church is often described as an innovative American evangelical multi-site church headquartered in Edmond, Oklahoma, currently in 27 locations plus an online campus. Life.Church is also home to the popular YouVersion Bible app.
ccv.church - Christ's Church of the Valley is 1 church in 7 locations across the Phoenix Valley, in the state of Arizona.
menlo.church - Menlo Church was previously known as Menlo Park Presbyterian Church, with 140 years of history and currently in 5 locations in the San Francisco Bay area.
bridgetown.church - Bridgetown Church in Portland, Oregon. In 2016, Bridgetown Church participated in a collaborative effort, the Year of Biblical Literacy with The Bible Project and Reality SF.
Growing awareness and usage of domain names ending in meaningful words help people to remember the web address, especially when advertisements in everyday situations want to direct people to a website location. And, when people remember the web address, they're more likely to visit the website.
While search engines have become a common way to find resources on the internet, web addresses are still important and needed to quickly direct people to a website location when marketing on business cards, flyers, billboards, signs, radio, podcasts, videos, emails, and in many other real-life situations and places.
From this little research project, it's starting to look like the internet is getting more organized with new domain endings and meaningful web addresses are useful in connecting specific audiences with relevant websites. It's fascinating to see how the future of the internet is taking shape!
Background info: the lists of popular websites are selectively compiled from the one-month average Alexa rank of the most popular gTLD websites. Currently there are over 1,500 websites with new gTLDs ranked in the Alexa top 100,000 sites, and many more in the Alexa top 1,000,000 sites. The above lists were curated based on recognizability of the website's content usefulness, as we can best discern. Many ranked websites did not appear to have quality content; in other words, some websites have content and traffic that appear to be computer-generated.