The top-level domain (TLD) “.py” corresponds to the Republic of Paraguay, a country located in central South America, in line with ISO 3166 protocol which assigns country TLDs. The organization responsible for maintaining and managing the “.py” TLD is the National Computing Center of Paraguay (Centro Nacional de Computación del Paraguay, or CNC), according to IANA (Internet Assigned Numbers Authority).
The “.py” TLD was first introduced in 1991 and since then, it has become an integral part of Paraguayan websites. As of 2020, there were major companies in Paraguay such as Tigo (tigo.com.py), Itau (itau.com.py), and supermarket chain Superseis (superseis.com.py) that use this TLD which shows its widespread usage (source – whois).
Just as other country-specific TLDs, there are certain eligibility criteria for registering a “.py” domain. As per the Domain Name Registration Policies of CNC, preference is given to entities or individuals based in Paraguay, although certain second-level domains are open to international applicants. A clear and documented connection between the desired domain name and the applicant is required. They also have the “.com.py” domain, a subdomain for commercial entities.
The “.py” TLD and its second-level domains are used by organizations in Paraguay including commercial entities, non-profit organizations, and even individuals. For instance, ‘www.ucsa.edu.py’ is the domain for the Autonomous University of Asunción, an example of an educational institution in Paraguay using the TLD. Paraguayan government agencies also use this TLD. An example of this is the Ministry of Finance ‘www.hacienda.gov.py’.
Usage of the “.py” TLD is beneficial because it makes the geographic location of the entity or individual immediately clear, and makes the website more likely to appear in search results in the region. This is due to geotargeting algorithms used by search engines like Google which favor locally relevant results.
In conclusion, ‘.py’ is the country TLD for Paraguay, managed by their national domain name authority, CNC. It is widely used by entities and individuals in Paraguay, providing a clear link to the country and boosting local visibility on the internet.
Sources:
1. IANA Root Database: https://data.iana.org/TLD/tlds-alpha-by-domain.txt
2. Centro Nacional de Computación del Paraguay: https://www.nic.py/normativa.php
3. Whois.com: https://www.whois.com/whois/tigo.com.py, https://www.whois.com/whois/itau.com.py, https://www.whois.com/whois/superseis.com.py
4. Google Webmaster Central Blog: https://webmasters.googleblog.com/2010/03/working-with-multi-regional-websites.html
