Seo Implications Of Icann’s Top Level Domain Changes

By Author: SEO Pandit
Total Articles: 6
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This week’s biggest technology news was ICANN’s (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) expansion of generic TLDs (Top Level Domain). Traditionally there were 22 approved domain suffixes like .com, .net, etc. After the change, companies can choose to have any domain suffix as long as they can justify the use of that suffix and shell out a cool $1, 85,000 as application fee. This fee is exclusive of the annual fee of $25,000 and all other additional fees that ICANN may decide gradually.
So what happens to the level playing field that the internet claimed to be? Will internet be reduced to a place where only big fishes survive? The questions are many and the answers are still vague and somewhere in the air.
But one thing for sure is going to happen after the proposed ICANN change is implemented- your Search Engine Optimization strategy will need a major revamping. URLs and TLDs (Top Level Domains) play a key role in search engine rankings and with TLDs up for sale and on the “exclusive” route, the competition will ...
... only grow tougher. Somebody with a domain .hospitals will get a preference over all other hospitals with unsuitable TLD.
Experts believe that the competition will exist in owning branded domains too- eg: Apple will prefer to have .apple in its URL rather than a more generic TLD.
Under such a scenario, local search, personalized search and concepts of geo-targeting will need a major rethink.
It might be slightly early to zero in on the pros and cons of the proposed change but if the TLD change is actually implemented, expect a major overhauling of search algorithms and a relook of search optimization strategies across the board.