Number of domain names 'increasing'

During the second quarter of this year the number of domain names registered by businesses and individuals grew by one per cent when compared with figures from the first quarter, according to new research.

Figures issued by VeriSign showed that a total of 184 million domain names were registered by the end of the second quarter.

The firm, which provides website and internet infrastructure certification, said that the increase amounts to a nine per cent year-on-year growth.

According to VeriSign, .com is still the most prolific top level domain name used on the internet, accounting for 93.5 million of all registered web addresses.

Second and third place on the list go to .cn and .de respectively.

Lawdit's domain name expert Zarbakht Khan said that when businesses buy domain names they should bear in mind that .com addresses are generally speaking more valuable than their .net and .org counterparts.

He also claimed that getting a web address with relevant keywords in is vital.

Written by Debra Hastings-Henry