Why are .com domain name registrations so high? What are the advantages of .com domain names?

Even those unfamiliar with the internet know that .com domains cover a wide range of websites, once the most popular domain name extension. So why is .com so popular? Today, we'll answer this question. If you think it's a bit one-sided, feel free to read more!

Whether you're building a new company website or a personal blog, a .com domain name represents your business. When customers see it's hosted on a .com website, they know your online store isn't just a figment of their imagination.

Instantly recognizable, the .com extension is the gold standard for domain names. One of the web's original and most popular top-level domains (TLDs), a .com domain name shows you mean business.

Historical Importance:

The .com domain extension was created in 1985 and was one of the first six TLDs when the Domain Name System (DNS) was first implemented. From the beginning, .com was considered a trusted top-level domain, even before the internet as we know it existed.

The first website to claim the .com domain name was the computer manufacturer Symbolics.com. Since then, over 130 million .com domains have been registered, significantly surpassing all other popular top-level domains.

Does .com Still Hold the Same Significance?

You may have noticed that the number of available domain extensions has exploded over the past few years. With all the new TLDs—from new stalwarts like .app, .dev, and .ai to the more obscure .popstar, .lol, and .ninja—how do you know .com is still the answer for your business? The answer is a bit complicated, but here are some things to consider.

Preference. With popularity—rightly or wrongly—so firmly in their favor, domains ending in .com are always in high demand. As with anything, with demand comes authority. This means that .com domains are among the most coveted.

They are considered the gold standard, a phrase that harkens back to how gold (whose historical value was only truly based on its perceived beauty) served as the benchmark against which all monetary values were set.

People often assume that by owning a .com, a company is projecting legitimacy. The owner of a .com is seen as the primary owner of that online "space." If we were to analyze the reasons behind the support for the .com top-level domain, it likely comes back to brand authority and wealth.

Being the owner of a prestigious, single-word .com TLD (e.g., amazon.com) can mean you're there first, financially advantaged, or both, thereby beating out competitors. Both of these reasons help validate your company as a safe bet for doing business.

Memorability:

We've all been there—trying to remember the right domain name when searching for a business website, typing in the .com version of the company name, hoping it'll get us where we want to go. Of course, increasingly sophisticated search engines mean the websites we're looking for are easier to find than ever before. Even so, domains ending in .com remain the ones people try because .com is so ingrained in how we think about websites.