ICANN is considering adding new TLDs. The new TLDs are purported to be ‘more marketable,’ although I have no idea what that could mean outside of SEO.
ICANN: This proposal allows applicants for new names to self-select their domain name so that choices are most appropriate for their customers or potentially the most marketable. It is expected that applicants will apply for targeted community strings such as (the existing) .travel for the travel industry and .cat for the Catalan community (as well as generic strings like .brandname or .yournamehere). There are already interested consortiums wanting to establish city-based top level domain, like .nyc (for New York City), .berlin and .paris.
Well, well. Do you think this will have a genuine, long-term SEO impact, or will spammers get to it first and abuse it to the point that G, Y!, and Live reduce any weight of the new feature to near-zero power? Call me negative, but the spammers are going to own this one awfully quick, IMHO.
clipped from: www.mediapost.com
How New TLDs Could Impact Your SEO
Posted August 14th, 2008 by Andrew Hazen
(ICANN) announced June 26 that it had given preliminary approval to a recommendation to introduce a whole range of new Internet domain names, which would pave the way for a seismic increase in online real estate.
It should be noted, however, that ICANN will not be selling the new TLDs for some time. The recommendation must first receive final approval early next year, followed by a limited period in which any established entity can submit an application for evaluation.
ICANN reports that there will be a six-figure charge for registering these new domains. That is chump change for major domains — and even those that want to be
