70% of people asked do NOT trust new domain names, according to a British SEO (search engine optimization) firm.
The SEO company, Varn, conducted a survey asking 1,000 people across the United Kingdom about new domain names. Here was the question;
Do you trust companies with .co.uk and .com domains more than those with other newer domains like .eu, .biz, .net, .fashion, .london, .digital etc?
Varn found that 70% of people don't trust new domains. The answers were grouped into three categories.
- I trust .CO.UK and .COM domains more
- I trust all domains the same
- I trust .EU, .BIZ & .LONDON etc domains more
What's interesting about Varn's survey is that they were variations with different groups of people. Varn says that women are more cautious with new domains compared to men.
- 74% of women trust .COM and .CO.UK domains more
- 67% of men trust .COM and .CO.UK domains
- 29% of men trust all domains the same
- 22% trust all domain extensions similarly
While that's interesting… it isn't the shocker of the new domain survey.
Young People Don't Trust New Domains!
Varn found a higher percentage of young people do NOT have trust in new domains compared to older people.
The response from 25-34 year olds;
- 77% said, “I trust .CO.UK and .COM domains”
- 21.3% said they trusted all domains the same.
55-64 year olds had a much different view;
- 61% trust .COM and .CO.UK domains
- 35% said “I trust all domains the same”
That means there is 16% less trust among Millennials and Generation Y for new domains.
The claim from new domain companies and registrars is that, “New domains are for young and next generation.” That is clearly not the case according to Varn's research.
They sum up the survey results with some wise words;
So why do people not trust newer domain names as much? Well security seems to be the main reason. Some internet users associate the new domain names with spam, or fear that the site may not be secure so personal information and payment details may be at risk.
We've already seen spam be a major issue. This IT Manager blocked ALL new domains due to spam.
Since this is a British SEO firm that focuses on search metrics.
What does this mean for your website?
Ultimately we can summarise it as trust= CTR= rank. If users trust older extensions such as .com over the newer ones then websites with new TLDs will have lower click-through rates (CTR), which could then over time mean they perform less well in rankings.
What do you think of these findings on new domains? Does it surprise you that 70% of people in the UK do not trust new domain extensions?
