How does interest in domain names in Australia compare to the rest of the world?
While the population might be smaller than many other western countries, Google Search Insights data for 2013 has shown that Australia has one of the highest search volumes for “domain name” in the world.
In fact, Australia is second only to Nigeria, and followed by India, Singapore, Bangladesh and New Zealand, while the United States is notably missing from the top 10 countries.
The data reflects the popularity of domain name purchases, with about one in four Australians owning at least one domain.
What’s more, research from Verisign puts Australia in the top 10 countries for country code Top Level Domain (ccTLD) name registration in 2013 and the Domain Name Registrar (Australia) expects .au domain name registrations to hit the 3 million mark in 2014.
So what are we searching for when it comes to domain names specifically?
According to the Google data, the most popular domain name searches in Australia for 2013 are as follow:
- domain name search
- domain search
- domain name registration
- domain registration
- domain name register
- domain name australia
- domain names
- domain name server
- free domain
- buy domain name
Search terms also rising by 50% and 60% respectively are “godaddy” and “business names”.
The most searches for domain names in Australia come from the ACT, followed by NSW and Victoria (which only have a point of difference between them).
But city-specific data shows that while Canberra is first, it is actually followed by Melbourne and then by Sydney, revealing how data can be affected by interest (or lack thereof) in regional and metropolitan areas.
How To Use Domain Name Search Data To Your Benefit
This kind of information might seem trivial at first glance, but you can use it to your advantage if you are interested in domain names.
Analysing these trends and drawing logical conclusions could give you an edge if you are planning to work in the domain name industry or if you want to figure out what helps make domain name purchases more successful.
The fact that “domain name search” was the top search for 2013 in Australia, for example, suggests that people are eager to find domain names that are available for registration. That also indicates most searches come from people who understand at least the basics of domain names.
Similarly, the top rising search term related to domains – “business names” – reveals that businesses or people interested in starting businesses are currently very interested in the domain name market.
But most of all, the fact that Australia had the second highest number of domain name searches on Google in 2013 shows our growing and sustained interest in the market.
Search data and insights are often considered a key part of website development and maintenance, but they can also help with domain name research.
So whether you want to build up your portfolio, sell domains or just want to buy one domain name, looking at this data gives you valuable insights into the local and global market.