Your website’s TLD is more than just a technical detail for your domain name. Nowadays, the Top-Level Domain has a lot more to do with brandability, recognition, credibility, and authority. It’s an essential part of your marketing strategy and even more – of your SEO efforts.

While we all know that the .com TLD is, without a doubt, the most preferred, recognized, and renowned extension, it’s by far not the only one that can make your brand recognizable.

The .io TLD is the perfect example. In the past few years, it gained massive acclaim from tech companies and users. Unsurprisingly, today, the .io extension is one of the most sought-after TLDs.

So, let’s take a closer look at the .io extension. What’s its deal? Why is it so popular these days? Why are tech companies in love with it? Can you get a piece of the action if you’re not a tech company? Most importantly, let’s discuss all the benefits and downsides and whether you should hop on the .io wagon.

What does the .io extension mean

First and foremost, the .io extension is a mere ccTLD. To jog your memory, a TLD is a top-level domain that stands at the end of every website address. It directs the browser to the location of your website’s server and contains some aspects of the website, like its purpose, owner, and geographical location.

The .io extension is a Country Code TLD (ccTLD), which means a specific country operates the servers and the TLD. This means the owner country (or territory) can implement some rules on the websites that want to use their extension. For example, the .bg (Bulgaria) extension requires the website to represent a legal entity that has been registered in Bulgaria. This means that any website with an extension .bg has a Bulgarian office (at least on paper). The .au (Australia) TLD has the same policies, while the .eu (European Union) extension, for example, is only given to EU citizens or businesses registered in member states.

The .io TLD governing body is the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT). Although these territories have been part of the UK since 1965, they have no permanent residence. Only around 3000 military and contractor personnel live on the small islands south of the Maldives in the Indian Ocean. Thus, this ccTLD was never meant to be a country-specific extension.

Essentially, this means that no one really has any interest in adding any restrictions to the .io TLD, as there are no local brands or companies that could benefit from having a reserved TLD and domain name. But the sweetest part is that most users don’t even realize that the .io extension is a country-specific TLD. Today, this extension is far more associated with the IT sector than some islands in the middle of nowhere.

What’s so special about the .io TLD

So, how did a ccTLD with absolutely no organic users become such a hit, especially among tech companies? Well, the .io case is particularly interesting, as many factors drove this extension to such popularity.

Brandability

First and foremost is brandability. The “IO” abbreviation has been commonly used for input/output since the dawn of computers. This is how computers and other information systems communicate with the world. Thus, the IT sector saw a goldmine in such a widely unused TLD.

So, having a .io extension became somewhat of a badge for tech companies. Moreover, consumers, even those without any IT knowledge, quickly learned that the .io extension means a tech company.

Over time, this extension became widely known for gaming and cryptocurrency websites, as many flash games use it for their projects. So, today, all tech companies are highly interested in securing a .io domain name before the competition snatches it.

To make it even sweeter, the .io extension makes it quite easy to incorporate into a domain name, such as examplestud.io or examplerad.io. One of the most famous non-tech users was US presidential candidate Marco Rubio, who used the domain name rub.io for his 2016 campaign. Today, however, this domain name is free if you are interested.       

Availability

As you can see, the brandability is not the only perk of this TLD. Compared to other extensions, this one has many free domain names waiting for their owner. Today, around 44.5% of websites around the world use the .com extension, while only about 0.4% use .io. Naturally, if you want to get a specific domain name, chances are someone already has the .com extension, while the .io version is free.

So, the .io TLD gives one opportunity to business owners that seem already gone – to choose their brand name based on their research and preferences rather than on what domain name is free. When the internet became inevitable in 2020, many old brands were forced to either rebrand or pay massive amounts to domain dealers, who snatched their .com name only to sell it at a highly elevated price.

However, that is not unique to the .io extension. Most ccTLDs have a large pool of free names. What makes the difference, however, are the restrictions.

No restrictions

As we already explained, most ccTLDs have some restrictions. ccTLD operators put them in place mostly for national businesses’ protection from dealers like the ones in the .com TLD. The .io ccTLD, however, has no such restrictions. In other words, you don’t have to be a business entity in the BIOS (as there are no such entities anyway). Anyone worldwide can register a .io domain without needing a local presence on one of the several God-forsaken islands in the middle of nowhere.

Still, you should note that there is a contract between you and the domain name registrar, so you need to read that carefully before proceeding. Regardless, the lack of complications in registering a domain with the .io extension is undoubtedly one of the main reasons behind its current popularity.

Perception

Along with the ease of registration, another factor is the perception of the .io. In an internet filled with .com websites, a .io one sticks out. It is easily memorable and helps users remember the difference. Furthermore, while many other extensions are also memorable, this one has gained some reputation for being credible and believable. For example, the .tk TLD (a similar case to the.io one) has often been used by scammers and other entities you don’t want to mess with. However, the .io is perceived by common users as authoritative. Perhaps precisely because many tech companies have made it into a brandable extension of their names.

Still, a far more important detail is the search engine’s perception of this TLD.

SEO benefits

Google and other search engines often distinguish ccTLDs from general TLDs (gTLD). The general TLDs are globally recognized and can be used by anyone. So, when you search for something in Google, it will consider your geographical location and prioritize gTLDs and ccTLDs from your region. For example, if you are searching for a keyword in Germany, you will get a lot of .com, .net, and .org results, along with .de results. However, it’s highly unlikely you will get a .jp (Japan) result, as Google doesn’t really expect you to search for a website in Japan.

So, is that not a significant problem for a ccTLD that has absolutely no locals to appeal to? Well, no.

Precisely because there are no BIOS locals and there is rarely even an internet connection there, Google and other search engines perceive the .io extension as a gTLD. More importantly, it perceives it as an authoritative TLD for tech companies. Naturally, this gives any brand a significant boost, as they can compete for shorter keywords with their domain name.

For example, sportsshoes.com has a huge potential to get to the top spot of Google if they make an effort (considering their domain name). However, sportsshoes.io has the same chance, without having to compete for the name and without having to pay thousands, if not millions, for the domain name.

Still, as the saying goes, one bad apple spoils the bunch. So, how do .io websites manage to deflect scammers and other malicious actors?

It has community

Since the .io has turned into a goldmine for most fintech and tech companies, they’ve become fiercely protective of it. In other words, they don’t want some malicious actors to spoil their success. Thus, the .io users have formed a sort of community. This lets brands have relative peace of mind that participants in this community have a common goal – to ensure the .io domain name is safe for their users and they won’t have to change to a different TLD because someone tries to tarnish the name.

It’s Trendy

However, the most important factor behind the .io’s popularity is that it’s trendy at the moment. Nothing attracts people more than something that’s already famous and popular. It’s much like the Kim Kardashian effect. No one really knows how she became popular, but she was famous because she was famous.

So, one of the most lucrative aspects of the .io TLD is that it’s in everyone’s mouth at the moment.

Are there any downsides?

Of course, there are some downsides to the .io extension

Higher price

For starters, the TLD is a bit more expensive than your usual extension. You’ll have to pay $60 (at the moment of writing) annually to own a .io website. That’s a considerable difference compared to the $12 you will have to pay for a .net website. However, the brandability of the extension is definitely worth the five times higher annual price.

Furthermore, it’s not something outlandish. $60 annually is not even a dent in a tech company’s budget.

Comparatively lower authority

Another downside is the comparison. While users are getting used to the idea that not all commercial websites use .com anymore, the vast majority still tread carefully when it comes to anything that does not end with the well-known three letters. So, you might initially experience some distrust, which will inevitably lose you some customers.

Still, the .io extension is rapidly gaining credibility, and a .io domain name is a wise investment in the future.

Geopolitical challenges

The biggest concerns are the potential geopolitical problems. This is a bit far off, but there are still some tensions between the UK, Mauritius, and the US over the Chagos Archipelago. In the worst-case scenario, this may lead to the dissolution of BIOT and the removal of the IO country code from the ISO-3166-1. As a result, the .io ccTLD will simply cease to exist. Now, this is an extreme and highly unlikely scenario, as the ICANN has the final word on that. However, it’s not unheard of. For example, many British businesses were unable to renew their .eu domains after Brexit, as they were no longer registered in an EU member state. So, while far-fetched, it’s not out of the question, and it is something to consider.

Despite these minor downsides, the .io TLD offers far more immediate benefits. So, it’s well worth considering getting a domain name with this extension.

Is it just for Tech Companies?

While the .io TLD started as a tech company heaven, the no-restrictions policies allow other serious businesses to take advantage as well. So many creative industries, like designers, architects, writers, and others, have hopped on the bandwagon. Just like with tech startups, this TLD gives small-time freelancers and mom-and-pop businesses a respectable and brand-appropriate domain name rather than just taking the scrapes from giant corporations.

So, today, the .io extension is a badge of honor on many e-commerce or online service websites, as well as educational platforms and all sorts of other websites.

Should you switch to .io?

With all that hype, you might be wondering whether to switch your current TLD with .io. But in general, that’s not a great idea. Not that you won’t benefit from a .io website, but it’s not worth losing your current branding and loyal audience. If you have a well-functioning website with respectable traffic, changing your TLD will affect your results negatively. This goes double if you already found your domain name with a .com extension. For the common user, .com is still the most respectable, credible, and well-known TLD. So, there is absolutely no reason to lose a .com domain name for any reason.

On the other hand, if you have only a ccTLD domain name (for example, shoes.de) and you want to expand your business outside the set country, then you can create your global brand with a .io domain. This doesn’t mean you should forsake your ccTLD domain website. On the contrary, you should use it as a source of authority and credibility rather than just leave it rot.

So, to sum it all up, if you already have a well-functioning website with some traffic, switching to a .io website won’t be efficient. However, feel free to reserve your brand name in the .io universe, as when you go global or decide to expand your brand, this will be a great asset to your business.

What do you need to start your .io website?

Getting a .io website is as easy as getting any other gTLD. However, to get all the benefits of having a .io website, you will need to put some effort into building a fast, secure, and reliable website. There is more than a great design and user-friendly interface. You need to focus on the infrastructure of your website first.

This is where we come in. HostArmada is at the forefront of the cloud-hosting industry. We ensure our clients have lightning-fast, robustly secured, and impeccably reliable websites. So, before you get started with your .io website, make sure to check out our plans and choose the one that best fits your needs. We will provide you with the infrastructure to make your .io website a smashing success.