.aero<\/td> SITA<\/td> Verified members of the air-transport industry<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\nFaking a .gov address is genuinely hard, and that difficulty is the entire point. Registrants who fall out of compliance, say a business that loses its aviation accreditation, can lose the right to keep a .aero domain once the sponsor’s periodic review catches it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/span>What Changed When ICANN Expanded New gTLDs in 2013?<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\nA handful of extensions turned into well over a thousand almost overnight, at least by internet-history standards. ICANN’s 2013 expansion split the new arrivals into three rough buckets. By early 2026, IANA’s root zone database had roughly 1,593 active TLDs on the books.<\/p>\n\n\n\nCategory<\/strong><\/td>Examples<\/strong><\/td>What They Signal<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>Industry & niche<\/td> .tech, .store, .app, .blog<\/td> A topic or purpose, rather than any physical location<\/td><\/tr> Brand TLDs<\/td> .bmw, .google<\/td> Private extensions reserved entirely for one company’s internal use<\/td><\/tr> City & region themed<\/td> .berlin, .london, .nyc<\/td> Geographic branding, but without geotargeting power behind it<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\nThat last bucket confuses people constantly. A city-themed extension reads as local branding to a human, but Google just sees it as generic. Sharing a name with a city buys you zero inherited local ranking boost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/span>Other Domain Categories You’ll Occasionally Run Into<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\nA few narrower categories float around out there, mostly for technical or linguistic reasons rather than everyday registration. Most site owners will never touch these directly. Still, knowing they exist saves confusion on the rare occasion one actually crosses your path.<\/p>\n\n\n\nCategory<\/strong><\/td>Example<\/strong><\/td>What It’s For<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>Internationalized ccTLD (IDN ccTLD)<\/td> .\u4e2d\u56fd (China), .\u0440\u0444 (Russia)<\/td> Country-code domains written in non-Latin scripts, serving local-language audiences<\/td><\/tr> Infrastructure TLD<\/td> .arpa<\/td> Reserved entirely for internet plumbing, like reverse DNS lookups, never registered by the public<\/td><\/tr> Test TLD<\/td> .test<\/td> Reserved by IANA for documentation and testing, blocked from ever going live on the internet<\/td><\/tr> Generic-restricted TLD<\/td> .biz, .co, .me<\/td> Technically generic but carrying looser usage guidelines tied to their original intent<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\nNone of these land in a typical registrar’s shopping cart the way .com or .io does. But they explain why some domain documentation references extensions you’ll genuinely never get offered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/span>What Does Each TLD Category Actually Cost?<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\nPrice tracks category way more than it tracks brand recognition, and the gap between cheapest and priciest option can stretch into the thousands per year. Restriction level and how new an extension is drive most of that cost.<\/p>\n\n\n\nTLD Type<\/strong><\/td>Typical Annual Cost<\/strong><\/td>Why<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>Standard gTLD (.com, .net, .org)<\/td> $10-20<\/td> High supply, mature market, minimal registry overhead<\/td><\/tr> Popular ccTLD (.co, .io, .ai)<\/td> $30-90<\/td> Registry-set premium pricing due to demand outpacing the extension’s original purpose<\/td><\/tr> Restricted ccTLD (.de, .us, .ca)<\/td> $10-25<\/td> Similar to standard gTLDs once eligibility requirements are met<\/td><\/tr> Verification-gated gTLD (.bank, .insurance)<\/td> $2,000-3,000+<\/td> Mandatory compliance audits and ongoing security requirements baked into the fee<\/td><\/tr> New gTLD (.tech, .store, .app)<\/td> $15-40<\/td> Registry-dependent, generally close to standard gTLD pricing<\/td><\/tr> Sponsored TLD (.edu, .gov)<\/td> Varies, often government or institutional rate<\/td> Not typically available through public registrars at all<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\nPremium individual names sit outside this whole table, regardless of TLD type. A name in high demand costs whatever the market decides, way past the base registration fee, and that’s a separate pricing mechanism entirely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/span>How to Choose the Right TLD Category<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\nGoal first, budget second, industry signaling third, roughly in that order. Most situations fall into one of a handful of common scenarios, and matching the right one saves a lot of second-guessing later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nBuilding a global, general-purpose brand:<\/strong> go with a standard gTLD, .com if you can snag it. Broadest recognition around, and no geographic ceiling holding you back.<\/li>\n\n\n\nServing one specific country exclusively:<\/strong> a ccTLD for that market strengthens local relevance, and it tends to build trust with local customers faster than a foreign-registered .com ever would.<\/li>\n\n\n\nRunning a tech company or developer-facing product:<\/strong> .io or .ai both work here, generic-treated ccTLDs either way. Worth weighing the .io sovereignty question first if a decade-long brand is the plan.<\/li>\n\n\n\nOperating in a regulated, high-trust industry:<\/strong> a verification-gated extension like .bank signals legitimacy right away, though the cost and compliance load are real and don’t go away.<\/li>\n\n\n\nLaunching something niche or product-specific:<\/strong> .app or .store gets the point across fast, especially handy when the matching .com is gone or priced way out of reach.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n