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You may have seen stories in the news this week about plans to introduce shorter .uk domain names.
This means that, from summer 2014, it will be possible to register .uk domain names without the co so example.uk rather than example.co.uk. The move brings the UK in-line with other countries like Germany and France and means UK domains will be snappier and simpler to remember.
This is the biggest and most significant change to the .uk internet since it began, so what does it mean for consumers and businesses?
The most important thing to understand is that nothing is being switched off – all of the existing domains ending in .uk including .co.uk, .org.uk and .me.uk will continue to run as normal.
More than 10million .uk customers will be offered the shorter equivalent of their current address. So if you already have a domain name ending in .uk you will have five years to decide whether or not you would like to purchase the shorter domain. This means there’s there’s no pressure to make an immediate decision right now and you can wait until you’re ready to change things like business cards or letterheads.
In a small proportion of cases where there are competing addresses (e.g. someone has .org.uk and someone has .co.uk) the new domain will be offered to the holder of the .co.uk address.
It is also likely there will be websites offering the chance to pre-register new .uk domains. Remember that before signing up to anything you should check that you know exactly what’s included as these types of promotions cannot guarantee you will get your chosen domain name.
The important thing to remember is that these changes won’t happen overnight, but if you are a .uk domain registrant you may want to start thinking about the shorter .uk domains will affect you, and whether or not you would like to apply for one, once available.
If you think you might want one of the new shorter addresses, you might like to register for updates.
Nominet, the not for profit company responsible for running the .uk domain namespace, is planning to launch a dedicated hub with everything you need to know about the new .uk domains in February 2014.
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