Google announced the availability of the new dot ING top level domain that allows users to register domains that indicate verbs, nouns and adjectives that end with the ing suffix.
ING Top Level Domain (TLD)
A top level domain (TLD) is the last part of the domain name, like .com, .org, etc.
The newest version, introduced by Google, is .ing, which allows publishers to register a domain name that targets actions, people, places, things and even adjectives that end with ing.
Many brands have already begun registering .ing domain names:
- Adapt clothing brand registered adapt.ing
- Adobe Acrobat registered edit.ing and sign.ing
- Canva registered draw.ing
- ING banking and financial group registered bank.ing
Why Is ING Important?
This kind of targeting with a ING TLD is good for branding what users can do or accomplish with a site, product or service by using a short and easy to remember domain name.
This is called a domain hack.
Wikipedia has a useful description of a domain hack:
“A domain hack is a domain name that suggests a word, phrase, or name when concatenating two or more adjacent levels of that domain.
For example, bir.ds and examp.le, using the fictitious country-code domains .ds and .le, suggest the words birds and example respectively.
In this context, the word hack denotes a clever trick (as in programming), not an exploit or break-in (as in security).”
Is The ING Domain Useful?
Yes, the ing TLD is useful in many ways that can help in marketing, selling products and services or for making it easy to reach a website.
It could be useful for websites that have a long or difficult to remember domain name who would prefer a one or two word domain that accurately describes what the site is about.
Bill Hartzer, founder of Hartzer Consulting (LinkedIn), suggests a useful way to deploy a .ing domain name.
Bill shared:
“I already had a friend ask if they should get those domains, as their company name ends in -ing. I suggested to him it’s a good ‘domain hack’ as we call it.
And they can use the ing domain for a URL shortener for social media links, etc.
For the .ING domain ending, you could easily use your brand or company name and add the .ING to the end of it.
For example, it could be ‘Google-ing” or ‘Hartzer-ing’, used as a social media URL shortener.
So what I’m saying is that .ING would be a great domain hack.
If people interested in ING TLDs are going to be ‘enterprising’, they are going to scan through a big list of words that end in ‘ing’ to check to if any of them are available for registration. “
ING Domains Can Hyper-Target User Intent
Of particular interest are the verb forms of -ing words because they communicate the actions of an activity. This is important because verbs are the most accurate way of targeting user intent.
Inlinks may have been the first to propose that there are more than the standard five or six user intents, that there are more precise user intents that exist in the form of verbs.
Examples are eating, cooking, fixing, flying, plumbing, and writing.
Affix a city, state or province name to those verbs and you have an exceedingly user intent targeted domain name, like LosAngelesPlumb.ing, FloridaAirCondition.ing.
The wedding industry is likely going to be competitive, with so many geographic domain names available that can be registered such as ManhattanWedd.ing.
Then there are travel and wedding variations, such as DestinationWedd.ing.
Targeting a service there’s Wedd.ing or AmazingWedd.ing.
How about products? There’s DressesForWedd.ing, right?
There are so many variations that precisely target user intent and not just for weddings or plumbing services.
How Much Do ING Domains Cost?
The cost for early access domains begin high and progressively become less expensive as the date of the wide-open launch date (called General Availability) gets closer.
Early access rates, during the Early Access Period (EAP) are the most expensive.
This is the calendar of availability for when the ING domains are available for registration:
“September 20, 2023 – October 24, 2023: Sunrise, where trademark holders who have submitted their trademark to the Trademark Clearinghouse can register domains on the new TLDs.
October 31, 2023 – December 5, 2023: Early Access Period (EAP), where anyone can register available domains in the new TLDs for an extra fee, which decreases leading up to General Availability.
December 5, 2023 onwards: General Availability, where anyone can register available domains without paying an EAP fee.”
Early Access Period (EAP) for an additional one-time fee. This fee decreases according to a daily schedule until December 5.
On December 5 at 16:00 UTC, .ing domains will be publicly available at a base annual price through your registrar of choice.”
The cheaper and more affordable general availability rate for ING domains from December 5, 2023 and afterward will start at $14.99/year.
For those without deep pockets that’s the date to bring a list of desirable domains to their favorite domain name registrar to check if it’s available.
Read Google’s official announcement:
Introduc…ing the .ing top-level domain
Featured image by Shutterstock/Krakenimages.com
