6 Domain Name Trends for 2022
In the simplest terms, a domain name is your web address, but you can also think of it as the main entrance to your online space. It’s something you want people to remember so that they can type it in their browser at any time and visit your website. It’s also something you want to be up to date with the latest trends so that it stays effective and relevant. Just like brick-and-mortar stores continuously change the look and feel of a shop’s entrance to suit the latest trends, online business owners should be aware of the latest trends in the domain world.
In this article, we look at the latest stats and trends from last year to see what 2022 might hold for domain names.
1) .me will continue to be popular
.me has been a hit ever since it was released onto the market in 2018 – the first 100,000 .me domains were registered in just 48 hours. However, the domain has really come into its own during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The past two years have seen lots of people make the leap into self-employment. According to a study by Upwork, the share of freelance workers in the US had increased by 8% between 2019 and 2020 – from 28% to 36%. By the end of 2021, the percentage of freelance workers in the US reached around 40%.
Many of these workers needed to set up websites for their online businesses. When it comes to choosing a domain, the .me domain became a more popular option than traditional domains such as .com as it gives sites a more personal feel. Usually, .me is used for personal blogs, but today, we see it being used more by creative professionals and photographers.
With MasterCard predicting that the gig economy will grow by 17% by 2023, the .me domain looks set to become more popular than ever – especially for creative professionals.
2) .live will continue to rise
Video streaming has become a major hit lately, with social platform giants YouTube, TikTok, Twitch, Stream, and Instagram running wild with new streaming content. But that is just one part of it. There are also yoga instructors, music festival organizers, athletes, musicians, and online gaming users that have had the need to stream videos.
As more content creators come to the field and produce videos, the need for websites to display and stream their videos outside of just social platforms has increased dramatically. .live is a domain that is used primarily for streaming videos and podcasts, although it has expanded to include promotions and marketing. You can think of the .live domain as one that adds excitement to your website. It demonstrates that your site is vibrant and up to date with the latest digital trends.
One study predicts that the global video streaming market will grow by 21% by 2028. So, if you have content to stream and are in the market for a new domain, .live is the one to go with.
3) The keyword ‘meta’ will skyrocket
In October 2021, Facebook announced that it was rebranding its corporate identity to Meta in a bid to become a key player in metaverse technology. A day after the news broke, over 48,000 new ‘meta’ domains were sold.
The metaverse – aka the place where the physical and digital worlds come together – is expected to succeed the current mobile internet. It will begin with things like avatars, 3D meetings and who knows where it might end – Mark Zuckerberg expects that we will socialize, learn, collaborate, and play in the interconnected 3D space that the metaverse will become.
If you plan to be relevant in the new meta-world, make sure your domain name has the word “meta” in it. After all, the metaverse is here to stay.
4) Descriptive domains will become increasingly popular
Descriptive domains are those that allow businesses to fully utilize both sides of the dot in domain names to make their web address more self-explanatory. Some examples are drink.haus and switchboard.live.
There are multiple benefits to these extensions – they are easy to remember and can contribute to SEO. In one case study, African headwrap company Wrap Life doubled sales within the space of two months after changing its domain name to thewrap.life.
Some companies such as Xbox have embraced descriptive domains in a more strategic way. If you type in xbox.games in your URL search field, you will be directed to xbox.com. Here, Xbox knows that users will search for “xbox games.” So why not use that as an actual domain and have it redirect to their homepage? Smart.
It’s for these reasons that descriptive domains are expected to increase in popularity over the coming year. If you want a creative and catchy domain name, descriptive domains are the way to go.
5) Demand for shorter domains will go up
Research suggests that more people are registering shorter domains. In fact, non .com domains were 26% shorter in October 2021 than in previous months.
Tip: You can make significant use of a .me domain (covered in point 1) by keeping it short and simple. For instance, iag.me is the domain name of Ian Andreson Gray, a digital marketing consultant for live video usage. His domain name is only 6 characters long, or 7 if you include the dot in the middle. This approach provides a sense of minimalism in a digital space that is full of noise. If you are going for a minimalist web design, you may want to consider a minimalist domain name.
6) .eco and eco-related domains will become more popular
We all know it. We are all embracing it. Reduced gas emissions. Green energy. Electric cars! Efforts for a cleaner environment will continue to grow this decade, which means more “green” businesses will be out there to help make that possible. Thankfully, there is a domain just for them.
The .eco domain was created to help promote a greener earth and brighter future for our planet. Companies in the solar panel space, environmental awareness, and recycling have since began adopting this domain to better identify themselves as “green” businesses. This trend will continue to grow, so if your business is there to help increase sustainability for the world, the .eco domain will help get your message out there.
