Why domain squatters could be back in the game.

In a recent article titled “Squatters Are Screwed; Nobody Cares If Your Domain Has That Hot New Suffix” Jason Kincaid at TechCrunch.com argues that cyber squatters who register domain names with new suffixes (such as “.nyc” and “.me”) are screwed because there will not be much demand for these suffixes.

Jason’s argument is that many people are turning to search engines to find the website they want to access.  For example, searching the website name in Google rather than entering the URL in the web browser.  Therefore, Jason claims that domain suffixes other than .com and .net are not going to be in wide spread use because your domain name is not that relevant for finding the right website.

While I agree with Jason in many aspects, I do find a small contradiction in his argument. If search engines are going to play a vital role in finding a website, the actual domain name will become less relevant.  This is true, but, this also applies to the domain name suffix as well.

In the future when search engines play a dominant role in finding the right website, it will not matter whether you have .com suffix or a .biz suffix.  Therefore in my view, the trend towards using search engines to find websites may lead to greater acceptance of other domain suffixes. I am not predicting that this will happen, but it is just a thought. If this happens the squatters who have registered names under other suffixes could be back in the game!

Personally I feel a short brandable  “.com” domain name is the best choice. While the domain name might become less relevant on the online world, the use of the domain name as a powerful marketing tool will still remain strong in radio, TV and on print.

So what kind of domain name do you prefer? A large or confusing “.com” name? Or a shorter and crisp name with a less popular suffix?

Share your thoughts and opinions.