Northern Ireland .co.ni address

ruby juice

Hi,

A client has asked me to register a Northern Ireland (Nicaraguan) .co.ni domain for the NI division.

Does anyone have experience of using this domain and are there any know problems with security / SEO or is it just a big scam?

Cheers

mneylon

I had seen co.ni being promoted a few years ago for Northern Ireland, but I've never come across a website using one ..

I doubt that Google webmaster tools would recognise the usage so it'd be seen as being a Nicaraguan domain

Mrs OBumble

.ni is officially Nicaragua

.ie is for the island of Ireland:

In 2002, registration was expanded to include persons or businesses with a "real and substantive" connection with the island of Ireland (including Northern Ireland).[13][14]

ref: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Internet_top-level_domains

Richard

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

.ni is officially Nicaragua

And somebody bought the .co.ni sub domain and stsrted selling registrations based on that. But it never really caught on - I don't think there are many in use.

You can get them from https://www.101domain.com/domain_name_registration/co_ni.htm?gclid=Cj0KEQjw4aqgBRCvwLDi_8Tc54YBEiQAs6DLvFCewWR26fbnM6lzO_IXRdiUMBf3WmerH5YC-7PUb30aAusF8P8HAQ although they might be cheaper elsewhere.

.ie is for the island of Ireland:

ref: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Internet_top-level_domains

Well it's assigned to the republic as the article says ("Ireland" beside the flag icon refers to the state - it links to the Republic of Ireland) but they allow it to be used for NI organisations too.

Northern Ireland obviously falls under .uk but many organisations there wouldn't want to use that. Some use both .co.uk and .ie, some use .com and some, like UTV, think they're from Tuvalu.

Do the NI ones have to point to different content or is it the same for both. If it's the same for both why not register a .co.uk domain, advertise both and people can pick the .ie domain if they prefer.

mneylon

Richard wrote: »

And somebody bought the .co.ni sub domain and stsrted selling registrations based on that.

No they didn't. Both .com.ni and .co.ni are run by the .ni domain registry

Richard wrote: »

Well it's assigned to the republic as the article says ("Ireland" beside the flag icon refers to the state - it links to the Republic of Ireland) but they allow it to be used for NI organisations too.

The .ie ccTLD is for Ireland - the geographic territory, so the entire island - it's not assigned to the state

Richard

Blacknight wrote: »

The .ie ccTLD is for Ireland - the geographic territory, so the entire island - it's not assigned to the state

That isn't true. .ie used to be used for the republic. Later the IEDR changed their policies to allow registration from the whole of Ireland (or to people with a substantial connection to it). But most country codes are less strict than that. Italy allows the .it domain to be used by anyone in EU. That doesn't mean that .it is assigned to the EU as a whole.

Similarly .ie is assigned to Ireland the republic, whose domain registry allows it to be used by Ireland the island.

jmcc

If you want to cover all angles, use .CO.UK and .IE. Alternatively use a .COM or a .EU domain. The both the .IE and the .CO.UK (or .UK) are acceptable. The problem with using a .co.ni is that it is SEO/search engine unfriendly and is associated with Nicaragua rather than Northern Ireland.

Before the web really took off in the early 1990s, the .IE was free (as was .com) and geographical restrictions were not really considered. It was initially assigned to "Ireland" over twenty five years ago rather than the state and it was operated by UCD's computer department. It was only when IEDR took over that the geographic restriction was introduced and was relaxed again. UCD is still the sponsoring organisation for the ccTLD.

Some Northern Irish .co.ni sites exist but so too do .uk.com and .eu.com sites. The public generally only recognises their own local ccTLD(s), the .com and the adjacent market ccTLDs. The other TLDs are barely recognised and hardly used. In Northern Ireland's case, many NI companies have both their .IE and .CO.UK domain names. Also with over 20K .CO.UK domains on Irish hosters, it is the most popular ccTLD after .IE ccTLD.

Regards...jmcc

ruby juice

Thanks for the feedback on this. The problem with using .co.uk or .eu is they are already in use for the many other divisions within the company like corporate HQ, Uk office etc. I think with the SEO issues involved in using the Nigaraguan domain its best avoided and come up with a compromise 'companyname-ni.com' is looking good right now.

Maybe when Scotland gain their independence and apply for a .scot TDL Northern Ireland may follow suit.

jmcc

ruby juice wrote: »

Thanks for the feedback on this. The problem with using .co.uk or .eu is they are already in use for the many other divisions within the company like corporate HQ, Uk office etc. I think with the SEO issues involved in using the Nigaraguan domain its best avoided and come up with a compromise 'companyname-ni.com' is looking good right now.

Maybe when Scotland gain their independence and apply for a .scot TDL Northern Ireland may follow suit.

There already is a .scot gTLD. There's a .irish gTLD planned but it may be next year or so before it is launched. There's even a .wales gTLD.
It might be better to use 'companynamenorthernireland.com as the abbreviation 'ni' might not be immediately apparent. Also if it is a multinational, it is best to make sure that head office knows that this is their domain.

Regards...jmcc

mneylon

jmcc wrote: »

There already is a .scot gTLD. There's a .irish gTLD planned but it may be next year or so before it is launched. There's even a .wales gTLD.
It might be better to use 'companynamenorthernireland.com as the abbreviation 'ni' might not be immediately apparent. Also if it is a multinational, it is best to make sure that head office knows that this is their domain.

Regards...jmcc

.scot is launching over the next few weeks
.irish will be launching in Q1 of 2015

jmcc

Blacknight wrote: »

.irish will be launching in Q1 of 2015

This should shake the Irish market up a bit.

Regards...jmcc

ruby juice

So what will be the difference in using a .ie as opposed to a .irish domain?

jmcc

ruby juice wrote: »

So what will be the difference in using a .ie as opposed to a .irish domain?

Well .IE is a country code domain so people have to prove they have some entitlement before it can be registered. The .IRISH gTLD will be open to all. The aim is to tap into to the diaspora market where people of Irish descent in the US (or elsewhere) might not be permitted to register a .IE domain.

Regards...jmcc

mneylon

jmcc wrote: »

Well .IE is a country code domain so people have to prove they have some entitlement before it can be registered.

That restriction isn't due to be it being a country code though .. a LOT of country codes have far more liberal and open registration policies

jmcc

Blacknight wrote: »

That restriction isn't due to be it being a country code though .. a LOT of country codes have far more liberal and open registration policies

True. Unfortunately a lot of the restrictions on .IE date from a time when people who knew very little about the domain industry or the long term effects of restrictive regulations were making the regulations for .IE.

Regards...jmcc