What s New with Dot Brands, SEO & ICANN 5? by Shane Ryan

ICANN, or the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, will hold its 52nd public meeting in Singapore from February 8-12, 2015. This meeting gathers experts from around the world to meet about issues regarding the governance of the Internet.

One of the topics discussed will be new generic Top Level Domains (gTLDs) - these are new domain name extensions (to the right of the dot) that are expanding the Internet. To date, 487 new gTLDs have been delegated (introduced to the Internet) and 974 more are proceeding through the program. ICANN publishes a weekly update of stats on the new gTLD program, and a listing of all of the delegated strings on its website.

One type of new gTLD is the dot brand, or brand TLD, and proponents say that its introduction will significantly change the online brand strategy game. A brand TLD provides the opportunity for branded corporations to use their corporate name as their website's corporate identifier, instead of - or in addition to - the more traditional .com domain name extension. Some brand TLDs that have recently been delegated include .barclays, .hermes, .marriott, .cartier, and .samsung. A total of 617 brands submitted new gTLD applications, but not all have been delegated yet.

ICANN has extended the date for dot brands to sign their Registry Agreements through July 2015, but from our vantage point, it seems that many brands are moving faster to the sign the agreements in order to get their new domains up and running sooner rather than later.

In its Internet 2020 report, NetNames states that 89% of businesses believed that the new gTLDs will make it easier for consumers to find their website, and that by the year 2020, 92% of large companies will invest in new gTLDs.

Why get a dot brand domain name extension? A starting point is to protect a brand's intellectual property rights, but many companies are registering new domain names to gain heightened visibility beyond the traditional .com or .net extensions.

There's also currently a lot of speculation around the SEO value of new gTLDs. Initially, it was believed that new domains would be neglected by search engines, but search engines are now updating their algorithms to include new gTLDs. Some people feel that keyword-based domains (such as coffee.club) could even have an advantage for SEO, although the key to search will still be the content of the site not the actual domains.

As dot brands enter the mainstream, it's important to know that ICANN has safeguards in place to ensure that the Internet and the businesses that depend on it keep running smoothly. ICANN requires gTLDs to protect their domain name registration data via a Registry Data Escrow Agreement. This way, in the event that a registry fails or falls short of meeting its requirements, ICANN can reassign its customer data to another registry to ensure that the domain-holding businesses do not suffer. In fact, of all the new gTLDs delegated, Iron Mountain has signed Registry Data Escrow Agreements with over 70% of them.

We'll be at the ICANN 52 meeting, and would be happy to talk to you about data escrow for new gTLDs. If you'll be there, and would like to discuss data escrow protection, please email me at shane.ryan@ironmountain.com, and I'd be happy to set up some time to talk.

Iron Mountain will be also be partnering with ICANNWiki in sponsorship of the ICANNWiki Singapore city guide which will be handed out the meeting. If you'll be in Singapore, be sure to check it out!

LINK:	http://blogs.ironmountain.com/2015/service-lines/technology-escrow/wha...
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