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It is important to know how much actual internet traffic there is on a domain extension, or top level domain (TLD), since this is one indicator of the health of the extension. There are various measures of internet website use, with the main ones being Alexa, Cisco Umbrella, Majestic, SimilarWeb, and QuantCast. In this post I take a look at the global popularity of different web extensions as measured by the Cisco Umbrella ranking methodology.
Each website use rating system operates on a different principle. For example, Alexa mainly measures visits to sites by those who have installed the Alexa browser plug-in, while Majestic measures backlinks to sites from different subnets.
The methodology for all four rating systems is covered in this paper. That research paper also introduces TRANCO, a new ranking system that uses results from the other four in order to obtain a ranking that is more resistant to deliberate manipulation.
Cisco Umbrella Rankings Recently CENTR began using the Cisco Umbrella rankings in their data on domain extensions. The Cisco rankings are based on the number of unique DNS (Domain Name System) queries are made for a domain, but only counting those from different IP Internet Protocol ) addresses.
Since the Cisco Umbrella network handles over 100 billion requests every day, the rankings are based on a large dataset. You can read more about the Cisco Umbrella rankings in their post introducing the system.
The top million sites are updated daily in the Cisco Umbrella ranking. I used the Cisco Umbrella rankings for this post partly because they conveniently provide rankings by extension. The data is freely available, and has been provided since 2016.
It is important to realize that the Cisco Umbrella ranking system indicates which extension, or domain, is more popular than another, but does not provide publicly-released measures of the significance of those differences.
The Top 50 Most Used TLDs I looked at the Cisco Umbrella rankings for domain extensions. The ranking list provided by Cisco is actually a mix of extensions (TLDs) along with some commonly referenced individual sites, such as many specific Amazon server addresses. I extracted only the TLDs, in compiling the following ordered list. Therefore the numbers will be different from those on the raw Cisco list, but the order is the same.
Here are the relative web traffic rankings for different domain extensions, with higher on the list meaning more traffic.
Findings and Surprises Many of the results could have been predicted, but there were also some surprises.
Reflections While ranking may hide big differences in actual use, I was surprised that a number of new gTLDs ranked as highly as they did. Eight new gTLDs placed in the top 50, beating out many major country code extensions.
The ranking of
The general use country codes
Keep In Mind All ranking systems are dynamic and change from day to day. I have been researching this article for a few weeks, and during that time the rankings were pretty stable. Also remember that any ranking system may mask huge differences between activity of different TLDs even when their rankings are only slightly different. On the other hand, different rankings may actually correspond to rather similar use rates, especially as one goes further down the list.
It is important to stress that these are rankings based on perceived global traffic. No doubt each country code extension finds extensive use within its own region, even though when measured globally many are well down the ranking list.
Have Your Say I would love to hear your reflections.
Each website use rating system operates on a different principle. For example, Alexa mainly measures visits to sites by those who have installed the Alexa browser plug-in, while Majestic measures backlinks to sites from different subnets.
The methodology for all four rating systems is covered in this paper. That research paper also introduces TRANCO, a new ranking system that uses results from the other four in order to obtain a ranking that is more resistant to deliberate manipulation.
Since the Cisco Umbrella network handles over 100 billion requests every day, the rankings are based on a large dataset. You can read more about the Cisco Umbrella rankings in their post introducing the system.
The top million sites are updated daily in the Cisco Umbrella ranking. I used the Cisco Umbrella rankings for this post partly because they conveniently provide rankings by extension. The data is freely available, and has been provided since 2016.
It is important to realize that the Cisco Umbrella ranking system indicates which extension, or domain, is more popular than another, but does not provide publicly-released measures of the significance of those differences.
Here are the relative web traffic rankings for different domain extensions, with higher on the list meaning more traffic.
.com.net.org.io.co.tv.ms.us.me.uk.co.uk.fi.ru.news.de.gov.st.cn.jp.info.edu.ly.fr.cloud.it.ai.to.mobi.xyz.link.pl.eu.ca.nl.network.be.biz.in.market.co.jp.ua.im.vn.gg.mx.pro.club.es.am.media
- As expected,
.comis in first place. - Most will not be surprised that
.netand.org, in that order, take second and third places. - Beyond that, predictions are more challenging. The general purpose country code extensions
.io,.coand.tv, in that order, are the next TLDs with the most traffic, at least as Cisco Umbrella measure web traffic. - The next place was a real surprise to me, with
.mstaking 7th place. The.msdomain extension , a country code for the British Overseas Territory Montserrat also finds many other uses. It is used by Microsoft for certain projects, and also sometimes for sites related to the state of Mississippi, in addition to several other international uses. - The
.uscountry code did surprisingly well, coming in 8th place, well above some country codes that typically sell for higher prices. - It was followed by the well known country extensions
.uk,.co.uk,.fiand.ruin that order. Given the size of the country.fiis surprisingly active, but the extension finds use in the financial world as well as its regional meaning. - I would not have predicted
.newsas the highest-ranking new global top level domain name (new gTLD) in 14th place, nor that it would edge out major country codes like.de,.cnand.jp. - At 16th place is the U.S. government extension
.gov, higher than the education.eduand.infoextensions that took 20th and 21st places respectively. - The
.lyextension finds use in domain hacks, and takes 22nd place, while France.fris in 23rd place. - Another new gTLD comes next, with
.cloudin the 24th position. - After Italy’s
.it, the.aiextension takes 26th place. It has found use of late for artificial intelligence startups, or investors hoping to sell to them, - The country code for the island nation of Tongo,
.to, now sold from Toronto and promoted both as a domain hack or phrase, and for use by the Toronto community, secured 27th place. - The decline of
.mobiis apparently over-stated, as the extension, while not selling for the high valuations of the past, is still in the top 30 in terms of use. - Two more new gTLDs crack the top 30 with
.xyzand.linkin positions 29 and 30. The.xyzextension also does well in Alexa ratings. - A number of major country codes, including
.euat 32nd, take the next number of places, follow by the new gTLD.marketin 35th place. There were numerous high value.marketdomain sales in the past, but it is not as active in aftermarket sales of late. Clearly from this ranking it is still is actively used. - The
.bizlegacy alternate extension was in 37th place. - The country code extension for India,
.in, is in 38th place. - The
.ggcountry code, now used for global gaming, picked up 44th place. This was closely followed by Mexico’s.mxin 45th place. - The legacy alternative extension
.protook 46th place. - Two other new gTLDs,
.cluband.mediatook 47th and 50th places respectively. The Alexa rankings also show.clubas a relatively heavily used extension.
The ranking of
.news is particularly impressive, outpacing .gov, .info and .edu, as well as such major country extensions as .de, .cn, .jp and .fr.The general use country codes
.io, .co, .tv and .me all placed in the top ten, supporting these as popular choices for businesses and domain investors looking outside the legacy big three.It is important to stress that these are rankings based on perceived global traffic. No doubt each country code extension finds extensive use within its own region, even though when measured globally many are well down the ranking list.
- What things most surprised you in the rankings?
- How important is web traffic when you consider investing in an extension?
- Which extensions do you predict are on the way up, and which are on the way down, in terms of web use?
- In a year’s time what extensions that did not make this list of top 50, would you expect to now be on the list?
) that unlimited # of excellent generic single words were available in .work, went a bit overboard. Godaddy was charging $1.99 each, and we seem to've burned that bridge by buying 900+ in one session, then another 7,100 in 2018 ... which they've now upped to $8 (oy). 
