Tag archive
domain hack
7 articles
Domain Hacks: When the Dot Is Part of the Word — and Who Actually Owns the Suffix
From del.icio.us to instagr.am: how domain hacks work, why .io and .tv are ccTLDs (not gTLDs), what Google’s generic-ccTLD list changes for SEO, and the registry risks most naming guides skip.
.in: NIXI Crossed 4 Million Names—Google Locks India Geo, and Domain Hacks Are the Side Quest
NIXI—not IRINN—runs .IN Registry; 4.07M names (Mar 2024), 4.2M+ Tucows migration (May 2025), ₹500 wholesale, mandatory eKYC, DNIB top-10 ccTLD—and why the old guide's flipkart.in primary-domain fiction, Baidu SEO line, and unsourced hack list failed audit.
.la: IANA Says Laos, www.la Says Los Angeles—and google.la Proves Both Meanings
LANIC/LA Names/CentralNic stack, Google gccTLD status, ~133K passive-DNS census vs ~47K active tracker vs the old guide's unsourced 50–100K bracket, $25 competitive floor (not $30–55 alone), verified roofs from google.la to mzl.la—and why gril.la typos, entertainment Mad Libs, and AIO boilerplate failed audit.
.ly: English "-ly" Hacks Rent DNS From Libyan Sharia Law—and vb.ly Proved It
~12K tracked names (not 300K), GPTC/NIC.LY/LTT registry stack, Google does NOT treat .ly as a gccTLD, $75–$130+ shelf renewals, verified roofs from bit.ly to visual.ly—and why the old guide's generic-ccTLD line, two-year-minimum myth, and formulaic shortener checklist failed audit.
.so: Notion's Real Hostname—and a Mogadishu ccTLD the Old Guide Called "Generic"
SONIC/NCA registry stack, Cloud Registry backend, Google does NOT treat .so as a gccTLD, ~20K+ registry count vs crawl ~47K, $57+ shelf renewals, verified roofs from notion.so to now.so—and why the old guide's generic-ccTLD line, frame.so/raycast.so brochure, and ignored 2015 freeze failed audit.
.to: The 1997 ccTLD That Invented Instant Global Registration—and Still Revokes Shorteners
~17K delegated names (not 200K), TONIC Domains Inc. registry stack, Google does NOT treat .to as a gccTLD, $21–$100 shelf spread, verified roofs from cr.yp.to to g.to—and why the old guide's generic-ccTLD line, notion.to brochure, and 100–200K volume failed audit.
.ws: Samoa Delegated It, GDI Sold "WebSite," Google Genericized It—and MLM Volume Still Defines the Zone
GDI/Carlsbad registry stack, Google gccTLD listing (unlike .to or .vc), passive-DNS ~361K vs ~54K tracked vs the old guide's unsourced 200–350K bracket, $6.48 promo floor, verified roofs from samoagovt.ws to cnnne.ws—and why SiteSell confusion, symmetric fit matrices, and AIO boilerplate failed audit.