Categories: Web

Number of .IE registrations continues to rise, now totaling more than 170,000

croaghpatrick.ie is still available. Credit: Darren McCarra

2011 was a stellar year for .IE domains as the IE Domain Registry (IEDR), the body charged with managing Ireland’s official top-level domain (TLD), today reported that the total number of registered .IE domains grew by 12.9% in 2011, reaching 173,145 at year’s end.

In total, 39,398 new domains were registered in 2011, an increase of 7.7% on 2010 and a statistic which adheres to growth trends experienced in previous years. As also witnessed in previous years, the number of registrations recorded in 2011 was greater in the first six months of the year than in the trailing six. January to June saw 20,995 new registrations, while July to December saw 18,403.

The IEDR’s launch of OPTIMISE, an initiative to encourage Irish businesses to pursue online commerce, in May of last year resulted in the greatest number of .IE domain registrations in a single month, reaching 4,061 for the first time. Another initiative, Getting Irish Business Online, has also undoubtedly helped the IEDR reach record targets in 2011.

Many strong multinationals who have established themselves in Ireland have shown their support and commitment to .IE, including eBay, PayPal and Twitter.

The IEDR promises further initiatives this year to promote the .IE brand and will provide “dedicated support” to small and medium-sized Irish businesses who select .IE as their TLD of choice.

Albizu Garcia

Albizu Garcia is the Co-Founder and CEO of Gain -- a marketing technology company that automates the social media and content publishing workflow for agencies and social media managers, their clients and anyone working in teams.

View Comments

  • I'll generally recommend getting a .com then getting the .ie as well ... getting a .ie kinda limits your exposure to the world to some extent fair enough it may be your target market but things are changing

  • A small Irish business with customers searching within Ireland will rank higher with a .IE than a .COM

  • I'll generally recommend getting a .com then getting the .ie as well ... getting a .ie kinda limits your exposure to the world to some extent fair enough it may be your target market but things are changing

  • A small Irish business with customers searching within Ireland will rank higher with a .IE than a .COM

  • No they won't. If the site is hosted in Ireland and includes onpage indicators that it is Irish the ranking will be pretty much identical

  • You can set your target market as well within google webmaster tools (assuming majority of people use google in Ireland)

  • No they won't. If the site is hosted in Ireland and includes onpage indicators that it is Irish the ranking will be pretty much identical

  • You can set your target market as well within google webmaster tools (assuming majority of people use google in Ireland)

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