The Internet has always been first and foremost about self-expression. Marketing of products and services has shifted from the old conventional method to a new world driven by the Internet with an important tool known as domain name. Having and using a domain name makes communication easier and seamless over the Internet. A domain name could be registered at different top levels such as the country code top level domain (ccTLD) and generic top level domain (gTLD) or even directly as a name.
Generally, Top level domain — known as TLD — for example .ng has become a buzzword in the Internet world in the past few years. Everyone from web developers to owners of small businesses are buying TLDs of choice for their websites, and their popularity is growing on a daily basis.
So what is a top level domain, and why are they so important? Top level domains are important because they help narrow down searches in engines like Google. These searches could be narrowed down by profession — like a lawyer or a doctor — to events in certain cities or geographical location. With all the data that search engines have to sift through, this could really help in a relevant search.
This will almost certainly change how Google search results are created. For example, a tourist who is looking to book a luxury hotel in Nigeria would only have to type in “luxuryhotel.ng” in order to find relevant and real time results for their query. Someone who is looking for a house to let would only need to input “housing.com.ng” into the search engine and find what they are looking for.
With your domain name registered on the right TLD, you have created first hand marketing for your business because the name would be friendly to search engine and thereby get better ranking from the search engine.
Anyone who is looking to launch a new website or update their existing site might want to think about moving to a new ccTLD because of the non-availability of most marketable names on the gTLDs and other old gTLDs. This is important for bloggers and creatives who will find that they will get better results from having a niche domain. People who are in the technology industry and who spend a lot of time online might know what top level domains are, but not everyone does. The country code top level domains such as .ng is well preferable in relation to geographical location of your business and target audience.
