The Top-Level Domain (TLD) “.cleaning” is one of the thousand-plus new domains added to the internet after a 2011 decision by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the organization that manages the Domain Name System (Source: ICANN). TLDs are the last segment of a domain name, or the part that follows immediately after the “dot” symbol. They fall into several categories, including generic top-level domains (gTLD), such as .com, .net, .edu, and country-code top-level domains (ccTLD), such as .uk or .de. The “.cleaning” TLD falls under the category of a gTLD (Source: World Intellectual Property Organization).
This “.cleaning” TLD may be attractive for businesses or individuals who are associated with cleaning services. Websites with addresses like “www.jones.cleaning” or “www.sparkle.cleaning” immediately tell the potential visitor what the business is about. The TLD helps to identify the website with the cleaning industry and might even impact the website’s search engine optimization, although Google in 2015 confirmed that the new TLDs will not have any advantage over traditional TLDs when it comes to search rankings (Source: Google Webmaster Central Blog).
Here are some examples of businesses using .cleaning TLDs: “www.bubbles.cleaning”, “www.pristine.cleaning”, and “www.freshstart.cleaning”. These websites, when you visit them, surely enough, offer cleaning services.
Registering a “.cleaning” domain depends on the availability and policies of the registrar. Some popular domain registrars such as Godaddy and Namecheap provide this service. The costs for these domains can vary with each registrar, with a rough range of $20 – $60 per year.
It’s interesting to note that, the release of such a vast number of new TLDs – over 1,300 by the end of 2016 – was seen by ICANN as a way to enhance competition, innovation, and choice in the Domain Name space. On the security side, some industry sources point out that these new TLDs can potentially be misused by cyber criminals to mislead internet users, by using them to create deceptive website addresses. However, actions are in place by registers and ICANN to monitor and combat such fraudulent activities (Source: ICANN).
In conclusion, a “.cleaning” TLD can offer a unique, industry-specific domain for businesses or individuals in the cleaning service industry. Its use needs to be in line with the policies and pricing of the chosen domain registrar, and despite the potential for misuse, necessary precautions are being taken to minimize such risks.
