.uk Which one is better? .co.uk or .uk?

[Soofi]

Which one is better? .co.uk or .uk?

For domain name investment, as well as development?

I am trying to compare it with .co.in and .in and see how they fare.. thoughts ya'll?

 

[joro001]

Again you are taking it personal brother.. why?

Nope not at all.
.co.uk wins every time that is all and i've stated above why.

Anyway again i'm out of the thread nothing more to add.

 

[Soofi]

Nope not at all.
.co.uk wins every time that is all and i've stated above why.

Anyway again i'm out of the thread nothing more to add.

Okay, in that case its fine. I thought you were getting upset and leaving thread. :D

 

[noonoo1]

I'm from the UK and .uk for me every time!

.co.uk is just ugly!

Roll on 2019 !

 

[carob]

I'm from the UK and .uk for me every time!

.co.uk is just ugly!

I agree for branding .uk looks a lot better - a short one word .uk domain is great and more logical to people outside the UK. But .org.uk is not going away so there may be people who really want .co.uk to make clear they are a business, not a charity or a state body.

 

[erwin.groen]

Which is 'better' can be interpreted different ways.
From a long standing business owners standpoint .co.uk is 'trusted' therefore it is 'better' to use for business branding as mainstream consumer awareness may not know .uk at the 2nd level. I would continue to use .co.uk but I would try my absolute best to obtain the shorter .uk to match.

If you were to ask me as a new business owner if you had the option to use .uk as far as promoting/marketing is concerned I would probably use .uk (only if I had the corresponding .co.uk domain as well) & have it forwarded to .uk

Unfortunately many businesses will suffer in the uk as a result of confusion in 2019. It is a problem that will be faced here in Australia where auDA (the Australian namespace authority) has chosen to go down the same path where .com.au will compete against .au

 

[BrandChimp]

.co.uk by far!

I guess it is the .com for UK businesses!

.uk is like .net

 

[Soofi]

This is getting interesting for sure as there is a split between discussion participants as some believe .co.uk will be the absolute winner as some believe otherwise.

Point to note here and ponder over is it might be tough for .uk to overtake .co.uk if we compare it with .com's existence over other gtlds. The cctld .co.uk has been available for long time and that's the reason .uk may face tough times even after 2019 IMO

 

[BrandChimp]

people think .uk is a typo of .co.uk just like .co looks like a typo of .com.

.co and .uk would of been nice at the start of the internet. Now it is kind of late for them to become the main tlds.

 

[Grego85]

IMO .uk is a better extension because it is so much simpler and better looking. But for the next 4 or 5 years .co.uk will still be preferred because of the familiarity.

 

[The Durfer]

its not really a comparison, .co.uk is the established british tld with .uk replacing it in 2019.

 

[LucidDomains]

People in the UK like how the .co.uk looks and sounds, we're not going to adopt the .uk, .org.uk or .me.uk anytime soon. It's usually those people who are not from UK that actually think .uk is better because it's "shorter" ....however think of .uk like a ngTLD, it's about the same level of public awareness imo. 5 years...might be a different story..

No business would ever consider running on a .uk without having the .co.uk in their possession. 99.9% of the traffic would go to the .co.uk. You could do a years worth of marketing and branding, but I'm sure some people would still type .co.uk. We've been typing it for 30 years. It will take time to switch over.

Not saying it will never happen but at least 5 years imo if not more.

 

[erwin.groen]

What will be interesting to see how many businesses will actually obtain their .uk & redirect their domain name in time before the deadline.

 

[joro001]

People in the UK like how the .co.uk looks and sounds, we're not going to adopt the .uk, .org.uk or .me.uk anytime soon. It's usually those people who are not from UK that actually think .uk is better because it's "shorter" ....however think of .uk like a ngTLD, it's about the same level of public awareness imo. 5 years...might be a different story..

No business would ever consider running on a .uk without having the .co.uk in their possession. 99.9% of the traffic would go to the .co.uk. You could do a years worth of marketing and branding, but I'm sure some people would still type .co.uk. We've been typing it for 30 years. It will take time to switch over.

Not saying it will never happen but at least 5 years imo if not more.

Completely agree, you have to be from the UK to understand just how dominant and widely used .co.uk is by businesses. It is simply not going to change any time soon.

In fact I spoke to Nominet a number of times by phone about the .UK extension and they personally told me that the main idea of the .UK extension is to allow more choice for UK businesses where the .co.uk domain is no longer available. This was launched similar to the new GTLD's are i.e. as an alternative to .com, never in a million years to replace it. It is the same with .co.uk IMO.

 

[BrandChimp]

Completely agree, you have to be from the UK to understand just how dominant and widely used .co.uk is by businesses. It is simply not going to change any time soon.

In fact I spoke to Nominet a number of times by phone about the .UK extension and they personally told me that the main idea of the .UK extension is to allow more choice for UK businesses where the .co.uk domain is no longer available. This was launched similar to the new GTLD's are i.e. as an alternative to .com, never in a million years to replace it. It is the same with .co.uk IMO.

Unfortunately this will create a lot of confusion. Just like .co and .com... both are great domains but are too similar. .co sites are loosing traffic and emails to the .com.. This can be costly for business owners. It's a fact.. Let's hope a company will not rebrand itself to o.uk

 

[LucidDomains]

Just to clarify, .co.uk is not switching over to .uk after 2019. Both .co.uk and .uk are a separate extensions and will remain that way.

 

[carob]

In fact I spoke to Nominet a number of times by phone about the .UK extension and they personally told me that the main idea of the .UK extension is to allow more choice for UK businesses where the .co.uk domain is no longer available.

That is what they say but many believe Nominet launched it as a money grabbing scheme while also putting up prices a lot - so a business how has to have two domains, at higher prices.

The profits are then used for speculative ventures in NGTLDs, possible violating UK law.

https://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/09/26/great_british_domain_name_ripoff/

UK domain name holders are being overcharged while the company behind it wins contracts by undercutting the market in what may be illegal market abuse.

In recent months, Nominet has signed a number of contracts with commercial operators of dozens of internet extensions ranging from .boston to .vodka.

In March 2016, Nominet increased the cost of .uk domains by an extraordinary 50 per cent, claiming that unspecified "cost increases" meant it had to push the wholesale price of .uk domains up from £2.50 per year to £3.75 per year.

 

[LucidDomains]

To be fair, £3.75 a year is still very good when you consider other ccTLD extensions. Of course cheaper is always better, although I think it's already one of the cheapest in EU.

 

[carob]

No business would ever consider running on a .uk without having the .co.uk in their possession.

No sane business would but several times already I have seen a business launch on .uk without even registering .co.uk. Most people don't know much about domains, don't seek advice, and if they do it is from someone who knows less than nothing.

Recently came across a business owner who had had some nice keyword domains redirected to his site. A supposed "expert" advised him that would hurt him in SEO so he dropped them and a dropcatcher stepped in and offers them for re-sale. Another person I advised to register singular and plural, .co.uk and .com and he did not listen and then a competing business appeared on the singular of his .co.uk domain. I expect quite a bit of that with .uk later.

 

[kite26]

Come on. British people are driving on the wrong position (right side of their cars), the it is logical to prefer .co.uk. Overall, for now .co.uk is the king.

 

[LucidDomains]

No sane business would but several times already I have seen a business launch on .uk without even registering .co.uk. Most people don't know much about domains, don't seek advice, and if they do it is from someone who knows less than nothing.

Recently came across a business owner who had had some nice keyword domains redirected to his site. A supposed "expert" advised him that would hurt him in SEO so he dropped them and a dropcatcher stepped in and offers them for re-sale. Another person I advised to register singular and plural, .co.uk and .com and he did not listen and then a competing business appeared on the singular of his .co.uk domain. I expect quite a bit of that with .uk later.

Yep, I was speaking generally.

There are also industries where its so competitive and the CPC is so high that they will do anything to grab a slice.

If people register the .uk without the .co.uk they have been misinformed and will pay the price eventually when someone as you said, swoops in the takes the .co.uk from under them.

 

[LucidDomains]

Come on. British people are driving on the wrong position (right side of their cars), the it is logical to prefer .co.uk. Overall, for now .co.uk is the king.

Our driving seats are on the RIGHT side of the car.

 

[kite26]

You don't want to learn what greeks say for cypriots about this subject. Except for this, uk people have their way. No offense. Back to the subject, i think its a little premature the discussion, because we need to wait 2 years to start comparing which is the better extension. As i mentioned, .co.uk is the best extension for uk today.

 

[joro001]

That is what they say but many believe Nominet launched it as a money grabbing scheme while also putting up prices a lot - so a business how has to have two domains, at higher prices.

The profits are then used for speculative ventures in NGTLDs, possible violating UK law.

https://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/09/26/great_british_domain_name_ripoff/

Now i'm not necessarily denying that just saying the official Nominet position which is that .UK was never meant to be the number 1 extension, rather as an alternative for businesses who can't get the co.uk equivalent. If you think it's false then fair enough.

I can't reiterate enought that .UK could have been the main extension had it been launched first but it didn't happen that way rightly or wrongly and .co.uk is now considered the extension here. All others are kind of seen as weak alternatives such as .me.uk etc. As a business owner I also see .UK as a weak second best which I can do something with but every time would prefer to brand on the .co.uk or .com if business is also international.

In 5 years time i'm sure .UK will be far stronger than it is today but I don't see it getting close to .co.uk's dominance due to the above. It would be a very brave person indeed to invest thinking it will.

 

[carob]

Now i'm not necessarily denying that just saying the official Nominet position which is that .UK was never meant to be the number 1 extension, rather as an alternative for businesses who can't get the co.uk equivalent. If you think it's false then fair enough.

I have never heard or seen them say that, what they say themselves on their site is

http://registrars.nominet.uk/namespace/uk/launch/q-and-a#faq-id-689

Will existing .uk customers be offered the equivalent shorter domain first?
For the vast majority of existing registrants (over 96% of 10.56 million), we will automatically reserve the shorter equivalent of their current .uk domain for free for five years. At any point during that period they can decide to register the new .uk in addition to, the domain they already have.

Why are you introducing this change?
We think shorter domains will prove popular, and may persuade more people to join the .uk namespace, which we want to be as strong, popular and well-recognised as possible. Furthermore, we believe we have an obligation to provide UK registrants with options comparable to what is available internationally, so that they are able to choose what best suits them while still signalling their UK presence

 

[joro001]

I have never heard or seen them say that, what they say themselves on their site is

http://registrars.nominet.uk/namespace/uk/launch/q-and-a#faq-id-689[/QUOTE

It is not official policy you are right but what I came out of from my phone conversations to Nominet.

Anyway I don't want this thread being about me, i've stated my opinion and run a business here but you and anyone else can of course disagree and go all out for .UK becoming big. I don't see it gaining serious ground on .co.uk ever and certainly not making any real headway for at least 3-5 years but who knows for sure it's an unpredictable world.

Good luck whatever investors do.