The .io domain has been around since September 1997 and is registered as a country-specific ccTLD (country code Top Level Domain) of the British Indian Ocean Territory, an islands region in Oceania with about 2 thousand inhabitants. The assigned domains are managed by “IO Top Level Registry”, which subcontracts out their services to Cable & Wireless while only Chagos Archipelago – also known simply at ‘the chagossers’- falls into this geographical area
It would be interesting if we could find more information on what exactly these people do because I’m sure they aren’t just sitting there all day long
Domestic companies in particular rely on the corresponding country-specific .io domain to strengthen their Internet presence nationally. Interested visitors can immediately recognize a content orientation and search engines rate the .io domain for inquiries from the regional area much more than, for example, the .de domain .
If you want to buy or register your desired .io domain, the domain name should satisfy the following requirements: 3 to 63 characters may be used, special characters and pure numerical domains are allowed.
General Information
| Domain transfer | .io domain transfer is possible |
| Transfer auth-code | An auth-code is required for the transfer of a .io domain |
| Domain security | You can set a transfer lock for your .io domain |
| Change of ownership | Change of ownership is possible for .io domains |
| Internationalized Domain Names (IDN) | Your .io domain can contain special characters |
| Numeric domains | A .io domain cannot consist only of numbers |
| Registry | Nic.IO (Website | Regulations) |
Periods
| New registration | 1 year up to max. 10 years | |
| Renewal | 1 year up to max. 9 years | |
| Duration of registration | It takes a few seconds to register the .io domain. | |
| Notice period | The notice period for termination is 10 days before the domain expires. | |
Special provisions
| Domain length | A .io domain may be between 2 – 63 characters long. Hyphens may be used, but not at the beginning or at the end of the domain, and not 2 consecutive (for example, aa -bb.io). |
additional Information
Benefits
Particularly suitable are the .io domains for websites that have a content orientation to the Indian Ocean or the Chagos Archipelago. Both local search engines and indigenous citizens will immediately realize that this is probably a research-relevant source. Of course, it is also open to any other Internet users to buy or register a .io domain. It makes sense to register a .io domain in the IT sector, because the abbreviation “I/O” stands for “input / output” in computer science – with a .io domain, relevant companies can directly target the domain name accordingly to recognize the information technology.
Similar domains can be found in the geographically nearby area: The .in domain for India, for example, has a certain relation to the .io ccTLD, as well as the country-specific .cn domain for China and the .cx domain of the Christmas Islands.
Statistics
Certainly the .io domain is one of the exotic ccTLDs, yet national companies and individuals in particular can benefit from it. The competition for .io domains is relatively low, also due to the small population of the Chagos Archipelago. Accurate figures are not announced by the responsible administration, but overall, it can be assumed that the domain is rooted high in the regional area and, with appropriate measures of search engine optimization, offers enormous potential for existing and new web projects. Another advantage: many attractive and popular Internet addresses with the ccTLD .io are still available – interested Internet service providers can easily buy and register them online. If your desired .com domain is already taken, with a bit of luck you can always buy the equivalent .io Internet address and thus avoid it elegantly.
Domain registrar is at your disposal: If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the customer service via the contact form