Nobody knows and understands potential values of domain extensions as well as Google. After years of domain statistics from Adwords, Chrome, Google Analytics and log files from their own search engine. Therefore, it’s no surprise that they allied for 101 generic Top Level Domains (gTLD’s), costing them over £18,685,000 (£185,000 per application X 101 applications) in ICANN fees alone. Expect lawyer fees to be double that and yearly ICANN registrations cost of another £1,616,000.
Below is a full list of all gTLD’s which Google applied for and a few comments to some of them. At the end we draw some conclusions and provide some interesting statistics.
List of 101 domain extensions Google applied for
Want to know which gTLD’s Google applied for? Here is the full list:
.ADS – No surprise really. Watch this space. It might turn into anything from educational resources to advertiser profiles.
.AND – The short form for .ANDROID.
.ANDROID – A no-brainer. Google have to protect their trademarks and Android is one of the most important ones.
.APP – In the age where everyone uses and love apps, it’s no shock that 13 applicants are trying to get their hands on .APP.
.ARE – Also surprising!
.BABY – An excellent complement to .MOM, .DAD and .FAMILY, not to mention .DOG and .PET.
.BLOG – A way to protect Blogger and the fast growing blog space?
.BOO – Having Swedish roots, I remember Boo.com, founded by Swedes Ernst Malmsten, Kajsa Leander. Apart from that, Boo is also a programming language and a film. But how is it related to Google and their core business? The only reasons Google wants this one is because .BOO is shorter than .BOOK and it’s a possible alternative, alternative spelling and there are no other applicants. If we don’t get .BOOK, at least we can have the shorter .BOO might be how Google argues here.
.BOOK – 9 applicants competing; from Amazon to Double Bloom. Amazon would probably go mental if Google win this one. However, it can be highly related to some of Google’s new services, such as booking flights, hotels etc. Now it’s about which organization can motivate their rights to it best.
.BUY – Using ‘buy’ in adverts often works very well. Ask Google, or try it yourself in AdWords. This domain extension can be used to become some kind of integrated Google product, leading consumers to conversions and yes, you guessed it – sales.
.CAL – California?
.CAR – A huge market with several applicants competing for .CAR, .CARS, .AUTO, .AUTOS. Google are working on driverless cars, and this extension would be a natural fit.
.CHANNEL – Google Channels?
.CHROME – Huge brands should always be protected, so I find it to be an obvious move protecting the fastest browser with it’s own extension.
.CLOUD – Cloud hosting?
.CORP – Is corporate services and company registrations turning into a new venture for Google? They have at least applied for a bunch of gTLD related to this, such as .CORP, .INC, .GMBH (German), .LLC and LLP.
.CPA – Short for Cost Per Acquisition, one of the most valuable metrics Google use in the Adwords program.
.DAD – A nice complement to .MOM, .FAMILY, .BABY, .PET and .DOG.
.DAY – Not sure about this one. Any clues?
.DCLK – Not sure about this one either. What do you think?
.DDS – Data Distribution Service?
.DIY – You can do it yourself or hire a company to do it for you. Short and catchy extension. I wonder if B&Q even realise that their brand name (and domain name, DIY.com) might be hurt by if this goes through.
.DVS
.DEV – Short for development. Excellent name for those looking to hire top developers, may it be mobile developers, software developers or any other type of developer related to Google’s business.
.DOCS – Google docs.
.DOG – I’ve been thinking about the opportunities with this extension myself. In fact, I even registered dotdog.org for the sake of it. Short and catchy gTLD which easily can be remembered.
.DOT – OK..
.DOTS – OK?
.DRIVE – Suitable to be part of the .CAR domain extension.
.EARTH – Google Earth.
.EAT
.ESQ
.EST
.FAMILY
.FILM
.FLY
.FOO
.FREE – One of the more valuable gTLD’s would obviously be a gold mine for Google.
.FUN
.FYI
.GAME
.GBIZ – Probably the ugliest gTLD Google have applied for. Assuming the main reason is because .BIZ is rather recognized (but with a low reputation).
.GLE
.GMAIL – While .GMAIL is obvious, the question is if Google gets .MAIL or not.
.GMBH
.GOO
.GOOG
.GOOGLE
.GUGE
.HANGOUT
.HERE
.HOME
.HOW
.INC – One of many corporate domains the company applies for, along with .CORP, .LLC, .LLP and .GMBH.
.ING
.KID – Suits well with .MOM, .DAD, .FAMILY etc.
.LIVE – Both Google and Microsoft fight for the same extension here! I’m bringing the popcorn, but expect Microsoft to win this one, considering several of their services are called something with ‘Live’, such as Windows Live and Microsoft Office Live. It’s certainly a good name with perfect call to action making it memorable.
.LLC – Another of the corporate extensions.
.LLP – Yet another corp domain extensions.
.LOL
.LOVE
.MAIL: high stakes fight between Google, German 1&1 hosting, Afilias, Amazon, White Pages, GMO Registry, Victor Dale and Charleston Road Registry. There are obviously amazing opportunities for the winner. Who would not like to be able to offer email addresses with the dot mail extension?
.MAP
.MBA
.MED
.MEME
.MOM
.MOTO
.MOV
.MOVIE: Hard competition with many other serious contenders, such as Motion Picture Domain registry, Amazon and more.
.MUSIC
.NEW
.NEXUS – Combines well with .ANDROID?
.PAGE: Larry got to have his own extension, right? I honestly think he deserves it. Obviously, it can also be used for many other great purposes than being his personal little gTLD, but hopefully we’re seeing a blog by Larry Page on Larry.PAGE in the future. What do you think? At least it’s obvious that the misspelling aspect is covered, considering Google applied for both .SITE and .PAGE.
.PET – Broader than .DOG which they’re also sent applications for but a bigger market as well.
.PHD
.PLAY – Play.com are a heavy advertiser with Google.
.PLUS
.PROD
.PROF – It’s no huge surprise, matching well with other education related gTLDs.
.RSVP – parties?
.SEARCH – Being the most used search engine, Google want to mark their territory and further improve their brand with this gTLD.
.SHOP – Together with .STORE, this might be a obvious one. If you have money to invest, this is surely going to be a good investment.
.SHOW – A big money maker; everything from Broadway shows to sport games or any other kind of entertainment.
.SITE – Can link back to .PAGE 
.SOY
.SPOT
.SRL
.STORE
.TALK
.TEAM
.TECH
.TOUR
.TUBE – The less obvious choice of YouTube. Perhaps not that suitable for the popular video site as it would be for the London Underground?
.VIP
.WEB
.WOW
.YOU – The short version of .YouTube and/or simply a personal domain extension related to .KID, .MOM, .DAD etc.
.YOUTUBE – Youtube.com is one of Google fastest growing brands and revenue machines.
.ZIP
.みんな (Everyone in Japanese)
Average length: 3.75 letters
gTLD’s with 3 letters: 49
gTLD’s with 4 letters: 37
Average extension length for Google’s applications
Extensions should preferable be short, so it goes quick and easy to type and remember. It’s very obvious that most domain extensions Google apply for are three characters, in fact, about half of them are three letters long (48.5% of all their applications). Two or three characters are what people remember very easily and it tends to look good on adverts, in print etc. It’s also what Americans are used to from .COM.
Google domain applications, brand protection and typos
It’s very obvious that Google cares about typos and protection all types of similar registrations to their own name. Google have not only applied for .GOOGLE, but also for .GOO and .GOOG as either misspelling or to another way to mark their territory. It’s naturally also a way to further protect and enhance the brand in every possible way. With statistics from billions of users, they have obviously known how many people are doing misspellings every time. You’d probably be surprised if you knew the real number here.
The fact that Google applied for .YOU, .TUBE and .YouTube also shows how important it is to mark your territory online. Not to forget; .MOV, .MOVIE and .FILM.
Offering a personal space
People see themselves and their live in different roles, such as a family, being a mom, dad or going out doing something fun. Google attempt to capitalize on this, by registering, yes – you guessed it – .FAMILY, .MOM, .DAD, .DOG/.PET .FUN, etc.
Summary
In general, I have to admit that most of the applications sounds very natural. Google have a good feeling for domain names when it comes to extensions and words that are easy to brand, while they also have a good feeling for memorable words. Now we have to wait for a while and see how many registrars going to court (UDRP) about the handling of the new domain extensions. If you have anything to complain about feel free to use this form.