.EU disaster zone - 13.3% dev'd!

[Mike]

Only 13.37% .eu Websites Active/Unique - .eu is a disaster zone

The latest WhoisIreland.com .eu web survey shows that the .eu ccTLD is in serious trouble. Out of 1723638 websites checked, only 13.37% of sites were active/unique. As a ccTLD for Europe, it is a disaster zone. Brand registrations accounted for 7.78% of registrations. The percentage of duplicate content sites was 6.02%. The percentage of websites that redirected elsewhere was 16.68%. The percentage of PPC/warehoused websites was 14.22%. The percentage of holding page sites was 16.79%

In terms of use, .eu is way below other ccTLDs. It is a junk extension. While some companies use .eu for a Europe-wide identity it is largely ignored as another example of useless EU bureaucratic corruption and waste in the rest of the European Union. If it wasn’t for German speculation and registrations driving the ccTLD, the .eu would have completely failed long ago.

Source: - and full article: http://blog.whoisireland.com/2008/01/29/only-1337-eu-websites-activeunique-eu-is-a-disaster-zone/
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Sad to see that an extension that could have become a powerhouse has been wasted by the ignorance of amateurs. Unfortunately, I do see undeniable parallels to the .US extension...

M.

 

[mvl]

Agree, but there is one thing that saves the .eu extension: Europe is gradually transforming from a bunch of countries into a union of states with a strong European identity. This is a political and economical process that has been going on since 1951 (six countries forming the European Coal and Steel Community). This treaty of six countries has evolved in a still expanding union of almost 30 countries with a European Parliament, a European Central Bank, a European Court of Justice, a free trade zone and 500 million inhabitants generating almost a third of the worlds GDP.

With a growing European Union the European Identity will also grow stronger making the .eu extension more and more attractive. This will not happen overnight, but it will happen.

 

[Moses]

agree with leonardo. EU identity as one country is getting stronger and that will make the .eu more attractive. but it sure will take time.

 

[Sir Regalot]

Time to buy

If it is a diasater zone it doesn't mean it is going to stay thet way. In 1945 Europe was a disaster zone. Those who went round London after the war buying up land that had become bomb sites made an absolute killing as property prices rose in the post-war years.

 

[labrocca]

Nice commentary on the EU situation. Since I am not an eu resident I have completed passed on the extension. I do however have .us domains. Sadly you are right about them and they are just as lackluster. I like my us domains but unfortunately no one else does.

 

[jmcc]

Sad to see that an extension that could have become a powerhouse has been wasted by the ignorance of amateurs. Unfortunately, I do see undeniable parallels to the .US extension...

The worst part about it, for .eu, is that a lot of small businesses that had registered .eu domains are dropping them. These small businesses form the fabric of any ccTLD. When they lose confidence in a ccTLD, the ccTLD becomes a junk extension. The problem with .eu is of Eurid's making. Through its incompetence, these small businesses were frozen out by the cybersquatters and cyberwarehousers. And Eurid didn't even bother to take action.

One large cybersquatting/cyberwarehousing operation (the Kurt Janusch/XSS.RO) operation had over 43K .eu domains prior to last April's landrush anniversary. It dropped approximately 30K on the anniversary. In the latest stats, xss.ro had given up on its own linkswamp site and pointed approximately 10K of its domains to Sedoparking.

I'm not sure that the .US extension is a good comparison. The European Commission gave the .eu to a third rate venture (Eurid). None of the people in Eurid had any serious gTLD experience and most of them were refugees from the Belgian ccTLD registry (DNS.be). A first world extension bungled by second rate politicians and run by a third rate registry. At least .US is not so badly run.

Over January, the number of Irish registered .eu domains count fell from 27906 (01/Jan) to 27832 (01/Feb) . The number of new Irish ccTLD (.ie) registrations was 3200. In terms of growth/deletions, .eu most closely resembles .BIZ gTLD. And in the EU, the .BIZ gTLD is a fourth or fifth choice extension.

Regards...jmcc

 

[John Doe]

Due to expansion, integration and convergence processes in Europe I don`t see a chance for .eu failure. Actually I think .eu is doing very well considering how historically strong are some ccTLDs of larger .eu members and how young is this extension.

 

[wot]

If you think .eu is a disaster zone just take a look at .asia in 2 years. :imho: