Once one ventures outside of .com, the type of name that sells varies with the extension. While the best way to see what sells is to perform a detailed sales analysis over the past few years, a look at the top sales in the last year can provide a fast and useful indication.
Three Lists
Before I explain what the columns represent, have a look at the following table. What do you notice?
If I asked you to tell me what was different about the terms in the three columns, a response might include the following:
The three lists represent, in order, the top 10 domain name sales recorded on NameBio for the year 2024 in A=.xyz, B=.info and C=.co extensions. You can readily find the prices and sellers/venues on NameBio.
It is clear that the top .xyz sales are mainly single word, the the top .co sales are very short, particularly compared to the top .info sales that tend to be longer, multi-part terms, sometimes in languages other than English.
But when I looked at the three lists, one more thing jumped out at me for the .xyz list…
Most Top .XYZ Sales in 2024 Were Terms from the Physical Sciences
I was struck by the fact that almost every term in the .xyz top sales list for 2024 was a term that would be used regularly by a physical scientist, someone that worked in physics, chemistry, astronomy or atmospheric science.
Quantum is finding relevance in Quantum Computing of course, but more fundamentally quantum is one of the most important ideas in physics. Newton is one of the best known physicists of all time.
Physicists talk of stable systems, and universal laws, they create experiments, models and theories. One can observe physical phenomena such as an eclipse or halo.
Even the couple of terms that are not exclusively from physical science, find mention such as cradle of creation of elements, particles, stars or galaxies. While the magic potion elixir is not a physical science term, it could readily be used as a metaphor, especially in high energy physics.
I wondered if the trend continued, so I looked beyond the top 10 sales in .xyz, and I found operator in 11th place. Mathematicians and physicists speak of operators extensively, although the term most likely sold because of relevance in the artificial intelligence agent world.
There were multiple other physical science terms in the top 30 .xyz sales of 2024, including interval (14th), trillion (19th), spectral (26th) and synthesis (27th).
Although the use of .xyz domain names is predominantly in decentralized ventures such as crypto, venture capital, online tools, decentralized collaboration, images and other creative works, etc., the terms that sell do not directly represent those, for the most part.
When I did an analysis several years ago of What Sells in .XYZ?, I made the comment “Do not be afraid of less common, or more technical, terms.” This article would add to that “particularly if those less common and technical terms are from the physical sciences.”
What About .INFO?
Let’s look at the other two columns, B representing the top .info sales of 2024, and column C the top .co sales, and see if we can discern patterns beyond those about length and simplicity.
While I don’t think there is a similar preponderance, one might claim that the top 2024 .info sales seem rich in terms representing a facility or accommodation, with terms like VacationRentals, cabin, infrastructure, accommodation and possibly MyEurop. If one extends idea of place to a place for data, one or two more might fit.
As I had for .xyz, I looked past the top 10 .info sales to see if the pattern continued, and it did to some extent with LondonResorts in 11th place and resort in 14th.
When I did a more full analysis for the .info extension last year, Life In The .INFO Extension, I had also noticed the preponderance of languages in addition to English in top .info sales, with only 30.4% of the sold names being English, a far lower percentage than for other extensions.
The Top .CO Sales
As commented earlier, the main thing to notice is that the top sales in .co are usually very short. The highest-value sale was just 2 letters, and the longest term in the top 10 list from 2024 only 7 letters.
This is probably a stretch, but to me, many of the terms in the top 10 .co sales of 2024 represent either a sense of readiness, or action/motion. For example, CV, ready, garden, hosting, and valid are all in the readiness niche. Terms that imply motion or action include fire, pulse and wav and if one goes just outside the top 10 sales one can add want (11th), chase (13th) and fly (15th).
The trend of very short names continues past the top 10, with the next 10 sales in .co including another 2-letter and six 3-letter names.
Is It The Buyers Or The Sellers?
If the patterns that I noted are indeed significant, is it because buyers open to those extensions want names like these, or that the predominant sellers, the ones with big portfolios and who are able to get strong prices, like to specialize in that kind of name? I don’t know the answer to that, and I suspect it is a bit of both.
Startup Founder Educational Backgrounds
I wondered if the desire for physical science related terms might reflect the educational background of startup owners. One of the studies I found was from the Narwhal Project Tech Founders Education. The research looked at the background of 585 founders of Canadian Tech startups, and found that they were very well educated, with 95.4% of startup owners have an undergraduate degree, and 50.9% have a graduate degree as well.
The report cites studies from the United States with similar results: most startups are founded by well-educated individuals. The stereotype of businesses founded by dropouts, despite the famous examples, is not reflective of startup founders in general.
There were more startup owners with engineering backgrounds than pure science backgrounds in the study published at the Narwhal Project, so my hypothesis is only partly borne out – the physical science terms would be part of engineering science.
I think the important message here is that most startup founders are well educated, in many cases in an engineering or science field, and will be open to naming terms reflective of that.
Do Patterns Persist At More Modest Prices?
I wondered if the patterns I noted in the top sales carried through to the more ordinary price points where many domain name sales happen. That is of course the more important question for most domain name investors.
To test this, I picked a sales price of $2000, and looked at the first 10 sales just above that price, for each of the three extensions. Here are the results:
While there is some hint of the patterns continuing, for example the .XYZ list includes physical science terms like spectrum and static, and possibly spatialized, the patterns are not nearly as obvious at 4-figure prices.
It is still generally true that most .xyz sales are single word, and that many .co sales are short, although not as short as for the top 10 sales of the year. The .info sales continue to be longer, more international, and much more specialized. Some of these sales were due to SEO value in an expired website, however.
Look At Full Studies
While checking out the top 10 or 25 sales in an extension for the previous 12 months is a fast-and-easy way to get a handle on the type of names that sell well in an extension, it is not a replacement for a full analysis. Here are the most recent NamePros Blog analysis articles related to the three extensions covered in this article:
If you have one of the NameBio Membership Plans, it is a quick and easy matter to look over the top 10, 25, or 50 sales in an extension. I recommend to use sales from the last 12 months, or perhaps last 2 or 3 years, to make sure you are seeing data reflective of recent sales. While the majority of retail sales do not appear in NameBio, there are enough sales to reflect the overall patterns for many extensions.
Please share your thoughts in the comment section below. It would be particularly helpful if some pick an extension not mentioned here, repeat the process, and then share what patterns you notice.
Thanks to NameBio as the source for domain name sales data used for this article.
Three Lists
Before I explain what the columns represent, have a look at the following table. What do you notice?
Top ten sales listed in NameBio up for the year 2024 in A=.xyz, B=.info, and C=.co extensions.
If I asked you to tell me what was different about the terms in the three columns, a response might include the following:
- The terms in columns A and C are generally shorter than those in column B.
- Column B has non-English terms.
- Column B also has more multiple term entries, like ‘MyEurop’ or ‘dan-news’.
- While the terms in columns A and C are both short, they tend to be shorter in C.
- If we compare A and C, the terms in list A tend to be complete words, but that is not universally so in C, where we have acronyms as well as terms like ‘wav.’
The three lists represent, in order, the top 10 domain name sales recorded on NameBio for the year 2024 in A=.xyz, B=.info and C=.co extensions. You can readily find the prices and sellers/venues on NameBio.
It is clear that the top .xyz sales are mainly single word, the the top .co sales are very short, particularly compared to the top .info sales that tend to be longer, multi-part terms, sometimes in languages other than English.
But when I looked at the three lists, one more thing jumped out at me for the .xyz list…
Most Top .XYZ Sales in 2024 Were Terms from the Physical Sciences
I was struck by the fact that almost every term in the .xyz top sales list for 2024 was a term that would be used regularly by a physical scientist, someone that worked in physics, chemistry, astronomy or atmospheric science.
Quantum is finding relevance in Quantum Computing of course, but more fundamentally quantum is one of the most important ideas in physics. Newton is one of the best known physicists of all time.
Physicists talk of stable systems, and universal laws, they create experiments, models and theories. One can observe physical phenomena such as an eclipse or halo.
Even the couple of terms that are not exclusively from physical science, find mention such as cradle of creation of elements, particles, stars or galaxies. While the magic potion elixir is not a physical science term, it could readily be used as a metaphor, especially in high energy physics.
I wondered if the trend continued, so I looked beyond the top 10 sales in .xyz, and I found operator in 11th place. Mathematicians and physicists speak of operators extensively, although the term most likely sold because of relevance in the artificial intelligence agent world.
There were multiple other physical science terms in the top 30 .xyz sales of 2024, including interval (14th), trillion (19th), spectral (26th) and synthesis (27th).
Although the use of .xyz domain names is predominantly in decentralized ventures such as crypto, venture capital, online tools, decentralized collaboration, images and other creative works, etc., the terms that sell do not directly represent those, for the most part.
When I did an analysis several years ago of What Sells in .XYZ?, I made the comment “Do not be afraid of less common, or more technical, terms.” This article would add to that “particularly if those less common and technical terms are from the physical sciences.”
What About .INFO?
Let’s look at the other two columns, B representing the top .info sales of 2024, and column C the top .co sales, and see if we can discern patterns beyond those about length and simplicity.
While I don’t think there is a similar preponderance, one might claim that the top 2024 .info sales seem rich in terms representing a facility or accommodation, with terms like VacationRentals, cabin, infrastructure, accommodation and possibly MyEurop. If one extends idea of place to a place for data, one or two more might fit.
As I had for .xyz, I looked past the top 10 .info sales to see if the pattern continued, and it did to some extent with LondonResorts in 11th place and resort in 14th.
When I did a more full analysis for the .info extension last year, Life In The .INFO Extension, I had also noticed the preponderance of languages in addition to English in top .info sales, with only 30.4% of the sold names being English, a far lower percentage than for other extensions.
The Top .CO Sales
As commented earlier, the main thing to notice is that the top sales in .co are usually very short. The highest-value sale was just 2 letters, and the longest term in the top 10 list from 2024 only 7 letters.
This is probably a stretch, but to me, many of the terms in the top 10 .co sales of 2024 represent either a sense of readiness, or action/motion. For example, CV, ready, garden, hosting, and valid are all in the readiness niche. Terms that imply motion or action include fire, pulse and wav and if one goes just outside the top 10 sales one can add want (11th), chase (13th) and fly (15th).
The trend of very short names continues past the top 10, with the next 10 sales in .co including another 2-letter and six 3-letter names.
Is It The Buyers Or The Sellers?
If the patterns that I noted are indeed significant, is it because buyers open to those extensions want names like these, or that the predominant sellers, the ones with big portfolios and who are able to get strong prices, like to specialize in that kind of name? I don’t know the answer to that, and I suspect it is a bit of both.
Startup Founder Educational Backgrounds
I wondered if the desire for physical science related terms might reflect the educational background of startup owners. One of the studies I found was from the Narwhal Project Tech Founders Education. The research looked at the background of 585 founders of Canadian Tech startups, and found that they were very well educated, with 95.4% of startup owners have an undergraduate degree, and 50.9% have a graduate degree as well.
The report cites studies from the United States with similar results: most startups are founded by well-educated individuals. The stereotype of businesses founded by dropouts, despite the famous examples, is not reflective of startup founders in general.
There were more startup owners with engineering backgrounds than pure science backgrounds in the study published at the Narwhal Project, so my hypothesis is only partly borne out – the physical science terms would be part of engineering science.
I think the important message here is that most startup founders are well educated, in many cases in an engineering or science field, and will be open to naming terms reflective of that.
Do Patterns Persist At More Modest Prices?
I wondered if the patterns I noted in the top sales carried through to the more ordinary price points where many domain name sales happen. That is of course the more important question for most domain name investors.
To test this, I picked a sales price of $2000, and looked at the first 10 sales just above that price, for each of the three extensions. Here are the results:
Ten moderate-value sales listed in NameBio starting at $2000 and up for the year 2024. A=.xyz, B=.info, and C=.co extensions. The patterns observed in the top sales are less obvious.
While there is some hint of the patterns continuing, for example the .XYZ list includes physical science terms like spectrum and static, and possibly spatialized, the patterns are not nearly as obvious at 4-figure prices.
It is still generally true that most .xyz sales are single word, and that many .co sales are short, although not as short as for the top 10 sales of the year. The .info sales continue to be longer, more international, and much more specialized. Some of these sales were due to SEO value in an expired website, however.
Look At Full Studies
While checking out the top 10 or 25 sales in an extension for the previous 12 months is a fast-and-easy way to get a handle on the type of names that sell well in an extension, it is not a replacement for a full analysis. Here are the most recent NamePros Blog analysis articles related to the three extensions covered in this article:
- .XYZ. A Look At What Sells In .XYZ and Past 12 Months of XYZ: A Look At The Data.
- .INFO Life in the .INFO Extension
- .CO Strong 2020 in the .CO Extension
If you have one of the NameBio Membership Plans, it is a quick and easy matter to look over the top 10, 25, or 50 sales in an extension. I recommend to use sales from the last 12 months, or perhaps last 2 or 3 years, to make sure you are seeing data reflective of recent sales. While the majority of retail sales do not appear in NameBio, there are enough sales to reflect the overall patterns for many extensions.
Please share your thoughts in the comment section below. It would be particularly helpful if some pick an extension not mentioned here, repeat the process, and then share what patterns you notice.
Thanks to NameBio as the source for domain name sales data used for this article.
Last edited:
Agent Bob
