About a month ago, I typed BetaKit’s name into the address bar on my browser, and then added .CA.
It bounced to a newsletter sign-up for another company.
“It’s never a bad idea to register both a.CA and .com domain—even just to protect your brand.”
Like many startups and small businesses, BetaKit’s former leadership had originally opted for a .com website.
But they had not secured the .CA top-level domain (TLD), and now someone else had.
“It demonstrates exactly why it’s so important to secure your brand name as a .CA,” said Adam Eisner, vice-president for .CA and Registry Services at the Canadian Internet Registration Authority, which oversees the use of the .CA domain. “Because if you don’t, someone else can.”
Choosing a domain is an important moment for new companies, and many small businesses and startups choose a .com domain to establish themselves in the global marketplace of consumers.
Recently, many companies have also been opting for an .AI domain, which has resulted in something of a windfall for the country of Anguilla, which oversees the .AI domain.
But CIRA encourages Canadian companies to prioritize registering their .CA domain, even if they do it in tandem with another domain purchase.
“Here’s the thing: domain names generally aren’t all that expensive. So, it’s never a bad idea to register both a.CA and .com domain—even just to protect your brand and prevent a competitor from scooping up the .CA version of your .COM,” said Eisner. “Think of it as cheap insurance. And it is simple to have both the .CA and .COM resolve to the same website.”
In the technology sector, rapid growth can lead to company names taking on unexpected value, and CIRA warns that there is a thriving resale after-market for domain names.
But protecting your brand over the short and long term is not the only benefit of .CA domain registration, according to CIRA.
As search engines continue to develop their algorithms, .CA domains are also increasingly helpful for SEO, CIRA notes.
Search engines aim for localized search results, and they rely on domain extensions as one of the inputs to show people the results they expect.
This is why .CA domains are so important for Canadian small businesses, whose clientele are increasingly finding them through localized geographic search results.
CIRA and GoDaddy (the world’s largest domain registrar) both recommend .CA sites for businesses that sell primarily to Canadians, or offer professional services that cater to a specific geographic region in Canada, as well as those that operate in industries with geographic or national restrictions or regulations, such as healthcare and financial services.
For direct-to-consumer companies, CIRA has also found that Canadians are four times more likely to shop on a website with a .CA domain name over a .com because they know they’re getting charged in Canadian dollars.
“A .CA domain tells people you’re Canadian—where you are located, who you are serving,” said Eisner. “And many Canadians want to shop and support other Canadian businesses.”
He noted that .CA domains can also be used to create a custom email address, so if you’re a small business, you can look more professional and credible, versus using a Gmail account.
While Canadian brands and addresses are a draw for consumers at home, they also have the benefit of being relatively unpopular for cyber attacks.
According to the SpamHaus Project, an international non-profit that tracks spam and cyber threats, .CA is among the “least-abused” top-level domains. That means .CA domains are far less likely to host malware, an important consideration in a time of increasing cybersecurity risks.
“Some of the largest global brands out there have .CA domains, because they understand the value of protecting their brand name online in Canada.”
Canadian domains also come with WHOIS privacy protection for individual Canadians, meaning that the registrant’s personal contact info—and home address—isn’t posted online for public consumption.
Unlike other countries including Anguilla, CIRA also enforces a Canadian Presence Requirement for a Canadian domain, so not just anyone—whether they’re in Cameroon, Croatia or Cambodia—can register a .CA.
But this does not mean that companies with a .CA domain can only operate in Canada—many large international brands have a .CA domain to showcase that they sell within Canada.
“Some of the largest global brands out there have .CA domains, because they understand the value of protecting their brand name online in Canada,” said Eisner.
BetaKit understands that value too, and now owns its Canadian domain, which was returned quickly and kindly, following a request to the domain registrant. It now points proudly to our coverage of Canadian technology and innovation news.
For conflicts that are not resolved as simply, CIRA’s Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (CDRP) offers guidelines to arbitrate and address disputes, particularly for trademark holders.
To avoid future conflicts when selecting a URL, CIRA recommends ordering a Nuans report to search existing Canadian corporate names, as well as a search of registered trademarks on the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) website.
And on its own website, CIRA uses some very on-brand humour to address those who have discovered their preferred name is already taken.
“First of all,” the site reads, “As Canadians, we’re very sorry this happened.”
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Ready to register your own .CA domain? Visit GoDaddy’s website to search for your .CA domain and get a special offer.
Feature image created by BetaKit.