Google, ABC.xyz, and the growing awareness of fresh domain names
Awareness is growing, one domain at a time.
When fresh top level domain names started rolling out over a year ago, basically no one outside of the insular domain name business had heard of them. They started with zero awareness. The good thing regarding that is there’s only one way to go: Up.
Fresh TLD firms hoped that upward trajectory would happen much faster than it has. Sure, a couple brands have started using .brand. Some sites have switched to fresh TLDs; others have bought them and forwarded them to their existing sites. Mainstream press outlets have written regarding the fresh domains.
All told, still, it’s been a very slow trickle.
Yesterday, Google disclosed Alphabet, a fresh holding firm of which Google is now a part. It chose the clever domain name abc.xyz for the holding firm. (Get it? First three and last three letters of the alphabet?)
This has created massive awareness of .xyz.
Yes, it’s just a holding firm. It doesn’t seem like there will be much content on abc.xyz. Still, I think it will be mentioned a lot. Alphabet will host its investor information on the site eventually, so the domain will be mentioned in earnings releases.
That Alphabet has chosen this .xyz name is big. But I think the more interesting thing is how they thought of choosing a .xyz domain in the first place. It shows how exposure builds on exposure builds on exposure…
Back in May, HBO show Silicon Valley used a .xyz domain name. The fictional firm Hooli, which is a lot like Google, used the domain name Hooli.xyz for its “moonshot” project division.
In Alphabet’s notice yesterday, it paid homage to this. Click the period following “drone delivery effort”, and you’re forwarded to Hooli.xyz.
What role did the Silicon Valley exposure have on Alphabet’s choice of domain name? Perhaps nothing. Perhaps they just though it was a clever domain for Alphabet. But I doubt it. I suspect the Hooli.xyz exposure at least made someone high up at Google aware of the domain.
Fresh TLDs can’t subsist on the abc.xyz exposure alone. They need another hundred similar lightning strikes in the next few years. This becomes more plausible everyday. You might not have heard regarding Hooli.xyz, but now you’ve heard regarding abc.xyz. So you might at least think regarding a fresh top level domain for your next name…
