As I have been investing in .de domain names, I have noticed that the .com is open. I tried to justify in my mind why would some register .de and not the .com? The only answer I could come up with is that someone intends to market only in the region for which .de is designated for and/or wants to brand this concept. As any marketer or domainer knows, the .com extension is ingrained in modern culture. Not registering the .com is a big mistake in my opinion.
Throughout the twelve-years I have been domaining I have learned that .com receives priority in search algorithm and keywords in any language rank higher. Additionally if you host or park the domain, you should host it in the country of origin in which the extension relates to. A local IP gives the customer local results and the combination of these tactics rates higher in search.
When someone decides to not register the .com and just registers the .de, they give you a gift. I have registered 30-40 .com names in German language that are premium words. I plan to build websites or blogs within the domain name and hire a student from a local college to take my content and translate it into relevant German content. My guess is you saying to yourself “why would you want to build a blog with German content?” A blog with targeted traffic increases the value of the domain name. I am convinced that .de will outpace any other cctld for the next few years.
Along with .de, I am registering .co.uk, .in and .com. I refuse to register .cn because of the Chinese government’s stranglehold on the Internet. So if you are someone who is in the domain industry and looking for 12-24 month holds, .de is your extension. Keep in mind, German brokers are available and they are looking for great .de names and German keywords in .com.
