Did you know that the deadline for reserved .uk website addresses is next month? June 25th to be exact. Up until now the preferred ending for UK websites has been .co.uk e.g. www.mywebsite.co.uk. This is the option people generally choose first and if it isn’t available they may choose www.mywebsite.org.uk or occasionally some rarer ones like www.mywebsite.ltd.co.uk. Other countries made things a bit simpler with addresses like www.mywebsite.com or www.mywebsite.fr (France). Now the UK has made it simple too and you can choose www.mywebsite.ukImportant information for owners of .co.uk addresses
Most attractive website addresses have already been registered with a .co.uk ending. Until June 25th the owners of these addresses have the reserved right to register the accompanying .uk ending but after June 25th it is a free for all. In fact many savvy people are waiting expectantly for June 25th to grab the interesting .uk website addresses that .co.uk owners forget to register.
Many savvy people are waiting expectantly for June 25th to grab the interesting .uk website addresses that .co.uk owners forget to register!
What will happen to .co.uk?
We can’t predict the future but our expectation is that the simpler .uk ending will become the recognised popular option though probably not for a few years. Switching your website over to .uk from .co.uk has search engine implications and can cost you significant lost placement on Google, so it is not recommended.So, should I bother getting the .UK address?
Not everyone owner of a .co.uk website need bother getting the .uk address to go with it, but here are our top 3 reasons why you might want to:
- If your website address is distinctive like www.happyfeet.co.uk and you have invested in branding to go with it you are likely to want to avoid the potential loss of business from people trying www.happyfeet.uk and going elsewhere.
- As .uk becomes more popular people will start to try visiting .uk addresses first and fail to find your website.
- At some point in the future you may wish to switch to .uk, so you may wish to secure it as an insurance policy against someone taking that option away from you.
Still not sure?
Consider instead that if your website address is www.nigelrobsonhomeopathy.co.uk then there won’t be too many other Nigel Robsons with homeopathy practices and you may feel it really isn’t really worth it. On the other hand addresses like www.guildfordcounselling.co.uk or www.reflexologylondon.co.uk are highly valued and you may wish to protect your investment in such an address by grabbing www.guildfordcounselling.uk or www.reflexologylondon.uk.