What is .io? Meaning, Pros and Cons of Domain .io

Choosing the right name and Top-Level Domain (TLD) is very important for creating a website. However, the process can be difficult as there are more than 1,500 TLDs available. Each of these domains has its own purpose. For example, .com is suitable for commercial websites, while .io is a TLD that is quite populer in the world of technology companies.

In this article, we will discuss .io in detail, starting from its definition and brief history, to its use. We will also discuss the advantages and disadvantages of .io domains so that we can help you choose the right domain. Come on, read until the end!

Definition of Domains io

The io domain is the country domain code or ccTLD (country code TLD) for the Chagos Islands in the British Indian Ocean Territory. However, this domain has recently become more populer in the world of technology, due to the term IO or I/O which means input/output in a computing system. That is why the term i/o is starting to become familiar to the public.

How can a country domain code be a promising and profitable domain extension? Calm down, the io domain is indeed included in the country domain code, but lately the term io has been associated a lot with input/output.

One Indonesian startup that uses the io domain as a domain extension is Nodeflux.

Nodeflux is one of the industrial companies involved in the world of technology. Nodeflux focuses more on Computer Vision-based AI technology or image processing. Nodeflux creates applications or systems that can detect images only by looking at them.

The beginning of the .io domain

The .io TLD was first delegated to the Internet Computer Bureau (ICB) by an organization called the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA), whose job is to handle the Domain Name System (DNS) root zone.

After that, Levis Strauss registered the domain name levi.io for other needs that are not only limited to geographic identity.

The .io domain is now operated by Afilias, a registry in the United States that also maintains the .mobi and .info domains.

The Right Time to Use a .io Domain

Compared to other populer top-level domains, .io actually rarely used. However, these domain extensions are becoming increasingly populer on high-traffic technology sites.

Here is an example of a fairly well-known .io website:

• Opensea.io – the largest non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace today.
• Etherscan.io – this website is used to search Ethereum blockchain transactions.
• Greenhouse.io – Applicant Tracking System software (a job applicant tracking system) and recruitment.

Although that dominates the user segment .io is the tech industry, these extensions are actually available for any business. Visitors tend not to perceive .io as a country-specific domain.

For this reason, Google treats .io as one of the generic country-code TLDs, namely the ccTLD which is recognized as a generic top-level domain.

It’s different with TLDs .ly which you may encounter frequently too because many businesses use this extension, such as Bit.ly And Ow.ly. This TLD is still considered the country-code top-level domain for the country of Libya.

Finally, .io has also become one of the tricks used by a number of global companies in order to have a brand name that is easy to remember. They don’t have to be in the Chagos Islands to use it, or sacrifice SEO efforts because the domain isn’t country-compliant.

One such example is Marco Rubio, who successfully uses rub.io during the US presidential campaign. Bricklinka platform for buying and selling LEGO pieces, using studio to direct visitors to the software studio page.

Then, there are also Italian and Esperanto speakers who use .io to create geographically and keyword relevant domains. In Italian, ‘io’ means ‘I’ and can be used as a play on the official names of regions and countries.

For example, esperant.io leads to the Libera Folio website, an online newsletter written in Esperanto.

What is the Relationship between .io and Tech Companies?

Other companies in the world of technology use .io with respect to the topic of input/output. These companies include open-source organizations and players in the financial services sector, such as cryptocurrency companies.

Various video game projects also use domains .io because this term is well known for browser-based games with multiplayer components and minimalist graphics.

Pros and Cons of .io Domains

After explaining the basic concept of what it is .iowe will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of using this extension on your web address.

1. Pros of .io domains

Here are the advantages of the domain .io for your website:

• Personas around technology

.io is well known in the tech world and the startup community. This domain is also quite effective for external communication, helping people know what industry your business operates in.

Compared to other domains, such as .com And .netdomains .io only about 0.6% of all domains in the world. So, the availability of this TLD can be higher than other options if you buy a domain name for your brand.

• Well recognized by search engines

Google does not associate .io with the British Indian Ocean Territory, which means its search engine does not specifically target that geographic area when displaying .io websites in search results pages.

Use .io to summarize your URLs and create memorable domains.

2. Lack of .io domains

Despite having a number of benefits, the domain extension .io also has drawbacks:

Domain name prices depend on extension, availability and populerity. .io domains are more expensive than .online or .com, partly because they are already quite populer and in demand among the tech industry and startups.

• Still not reliable and a little hard to remember

Compared to populer domains like .com and .org, .io domains are less reliable and less memorable. It has a trust rating of just 3.0, and is one of the hardest domain name extensions to remember, with a score of 28%. The reason may be that .io domains tend to be new and don’t have the same credibility and reputation as .com.

• Controversial history

There are geopolitical issues in the Chagos Islands between Britain, Mauritius and the United States. This issue could put a stop to BIOT (ISO-3166 country code for IO) and .io domains, as businesses in the UK will not be able to register or renew .eu domains after Brexit.

Reasons to Use .io Domains

After knowing the explanation regarding the io domain, now is the time for you to understand the reasons why you should use the io domain. Here’s why:

1. A unique domain name

In creating a website, try to choose a domain name that is unique and easy for users to remember.

.io domains are one of them. Since the .io domain is not widely used yet, your opportunities to provide a website name are unlimited and easier.

2. Have the opportunity to make the domain name bigger

As you know, until now the .com domain is still a subscription for businesses that want to create websites. However, make no mistake. .com domains are becoming less and less available and will make it difficult to think of a domain name.

For example, before choosing the .io domain, you plan to use the .com domain with the comprasnow.com domain name. When registering with the comprasnow.com domain name, it turns out that the domain is already in use by someone else.

You as a business owner are confused that the name that will become business branding has already been used by someone else. That means you have to rethink your business branding.

It’s different if you use the .io domain. Because the io domain is a relatively new domain, choosing a domain name is still possible.

3. If your business is in the technology industry, use the .io domain!

Many technology industries already use domain io as a domain extension.

One of them is nodeflux.io. Nodeflux is an industrial company engaged in the technology world that focuses on developing AI technology based on Computer Vision or image processing.

Nodeflux makes an application or system that can detect only by looking at the image. There have been many products released by Nodeflux and all of their products are guaranteed to make you speechless!

4. Influential in improving website SEO

Actually the io domain includes the country domain code. That means if you use the io domain on your website, it will likely affect SEO.

Why? This is because Google considers country domain codes to be region specific. That is, when the country domain code is used, the intended user is a user in that country.

For example, Indonesia has a country domain code, namely the .id domain. The .id domain is suitable for websites that have a target market in Indonesia. Your website’s SEO will be good when the target users are Indonesian people.

Unlike the domain io. Although the io domain is a country code domain, Google doesn’t consider .io domains to be region-specific. Google considers .io domains to be gTLDs, meaning websites with .io domains get the same treatment as gTLD domains (.com, .net, etc).