Popular websites that have switched to .uk

tifosi · Jul 29, 2014

Will take someone of the size / calibre of the bbc to do it I think.

bensd · Jul 29, 2014

Monkey said:
I wonder if they're just changing as part of a sales pitch. Its hard for them to say you should change to a .uk (and buy it from them) if they're not doing it themselves. imo they have too much of a vested interested in this to put any weight on them changing.

I wondered this when it was first announced. If they can get customers to reg the .uk nice and early it means an extra few years of registration fees (+ any other upsold products eg. hosting).

julian · Sep 3, 2014

autotrader.uk

you probably already know but I noticed resolve at least

bing.uk
tsb.uk
microsoft.uk
autotrader.uk
hotmail.uk

AssetDomains · Sep 3, 2014

julian said:
you probably already know but I noticed resolve at least

bing.uk
tsb.uk
microsoft.uk
autotrader.uk
hotmail.uk

Thanks for the update but do these redirects just spell the death of .uk if the massive companies just redirect to .co.uk then .uk is unlikely to ever takeover is it.

julian · Sep 3, 2014

I suppose for many is very difficult to justify the risk reward benefit.

It's got to be .UK off the bat for some new mega site, but takes some balls not to push it as .co.uk

AssetDomains · Sep 3, 2014

I think the likes of Microsoft, hotmail could do it with little risk no way google could hurt them for switching.
It would be interesting to see what would happen on the wider internet in the short term if the BBC was to switch without first discussing it with Google. Surely it would send major ripples to the ranking if all the authority there domain dishes out suddenly changed.

Retired_Member38 · Sep 3, 2014

AssetDomains said:
I think the likes of Microsoft, hotmail could do it with little risk no way google could hurt them for switching.
It would be interesting to see what would happen on the wider internet in the short term if the BBC was to switch without first discussing it with Google. Surely it would send major ripples to the ranking if all the authority there domain dishes out suddenly changed.

There wouldn't be any ripples. If BBC changed over Google would immediately white list the change and it'd pass all the authority that the old one did, right away. The BBC site itself will also instantly take over all of the old rankings immediately.

It would be interesting to see how some mid tier companies faired if they changed over. i.e. huge companies but certainly not critical to search quality. As if these companies can't change over easily and painlessly, then it doesn't really matter what BBC do.

invincible · Sep 28, 2014

Next month Rakuten.co.uk will launch, eventually replacing Play.com sometime in 2015. Source: http://www.ecommercebytes.com/cab/abn/y14/m08/i01/s03 - I notice that they haven't registered rackuten.uk. Since rackuten.co.uk is a new site, not a rebrand of the existing Play.com, have they done the right thing by launching with the .co.uk or could launching with the .uk (redirecting the .co.uk to that) have been an opportunity for them and dot.uk extension to gain valuable exposure?

jasman · Sep 28, 2014

invincible said:
Next month Rakuten.co.uk will launch, eventually replacing Play.com sometime in 2015. Source: http://www.ecommercebytes.com/cab/abn/y14/m08/i01/s03 - I notice that they haven't registered rackuten.uk. Since rackuten.co.uk is a new site, not a rebrand of the existing Play.com, have they done the right thing by launching with the .co.uk or could launching with the .uk (redirecting the .co.uk to that) have been an opportunity for them and dot.uk extension to gain valuable exposure?

Play.com and their other domain Buy.com are truly awesome domain names and incomparably better than either rackuten.co.uk or rackuten.uk. If they want to get the Rackuten name in the public's consciousness they should just keep Play.com and Buy.com but have something like "Part of the Rackuten network" or "A Rackuten company" as a subheading under the logo.

To not make use of this premium Internet real estate is like a national chain closing down its Oxford Circus flagship store and leaving it empty just because it wants to focus on its national network of shops.

ian · Sep 28, 2014

invincible said:
Next month Rakuten.co.uk will launch, eventually replacing Play.com sometime in 2015. Source: http://www.ecommercebytes.com/cab/abn/y14/m08/i01/s03 - I notice that they haven't registered rackuten.uk. Since rackuten.co.uk is a new site, not a rebrand of the existing Play.com, have they done the right thing by launching with the .co.uk or could launching with the .uk (redirecting the .co.uk to that) have been an opportunity for them and dot.uk extension to gain valuable exposure?

Not sure about that, maybe they are waiting for larger fish to react and change first, but what I would say is they have larger problems than that if they decide to launch using a muddled name like Rackuten, rather than Play! I still firmly believe that a name should be easy to understand when spoken, so no huge confusion over spelling, or use of numbers for words (4/for) etc. I accept Rackuten may be a well known company in bigger circles, but based on the target market, it isn't exactly easy to remember for your average jo!

Jasman beat me to it!

invincible · Sep 28, 2014

Play.com has had the Rakuten name on it seen the latter acquired it and I believe has slowly been encouraging users to think of the site as Rakuten rather than Play.com.

It's possible that Rakuten will repurpose Play.com in respect of this other acquisition: http://techcrunch.com/2013/07/12/fo...ki-video-service-across-europe-first-stop-uk/

devilsrefugee · Sep 28, 2014

I hope .uk takes over. Its much more appealing visually than the .co.uk.

Lucky Luke · Oct 5, 2014

the .uk devalues .org.uk even further

My view is that .uk will do very well in time.

I have a bunch of .org.uk domains that looked okay compared to .co.uk but now they are very doubtful when compared to .uk

Some of my .co.uk were a bit iffy as .co.uk but now look great as .uk

I'll develop a couple of them now as .uk, having held off for years from developing the .co.uk

stellar73 · Oct 6, 2014

I hope .uk takes over but it is rather worrying that 4 months down the line no major players have made the switch.

Sold a co.uk on Sedo a couple of weeks ago with no question from buyer as to whether .uk was included - I get the impression that the population at large still dont seem to know or care.