Geographical Extensions: Travel the World with geoTLDs

In 2012, ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) launched its programme for the expansion of new extensions. Since 2013, nearly 300 new gTLDs (generic Top-Level Domains) have been deployed year after year, such as .BLOG, .SHOP, and .MUSIC. Among these newcomers, the emergence of several geographical extensions, related to regions, cities, or cultures: the geoTLDs.

Summary table of all geoTLDs

For those in a hurry, here is a summary table of all the available geographical extensions, organised alphabetically by country or continent.

Country / Continent	City / Region / Area represented	Dedicated extension
🌍 Africa	All countries in Africa	.AFRICA
🇦🇺 Australia	City of Melbourne	.MELBOURNE
🇦🇺 Australia	City of Sydney	.SYDNEY
🇦🇹 Austria	Tyrol region	.TIROL
🇦🇹 Austria	City of Vienna	.WIEN
🇧🇪 Belgium	Brussels region	.BRUSSELS
🇧🇪 Belgium	City of Ghent	.GENT
🇧🇪 Belgium	Flanders region	.VLAANDEREN
🇧🇷 Brazil	City of Rio de Janeiro	.RIO
🇨🇦 Canada	Quebec province	.QUEBEC
🇨🇳 China	Guangdong province	.GUANGDONG / .广东
🇨🇳 China	City of Foshan	.FOHSAN / .佛山
🇨🇳 China	City of Guangzhou	.GUANGZHOU / .广州
🇫🇮 Finland	City of Helsinki	.HELSINKI
🇫🇷 France	Alsace region	.ALSACE
🇫🇷 France	Brittany region	.BZH
🇫🇷 France	Corsica	.CORSICA
🇫🇷 France	City of Paris	.PARIS
🇩🇪 Germany	Bavaria region	.BAYERN
🇩🇪 Germany	City of Berlin	.BERLIN
🇩🇪 Germany	City of Cologne	.COLOGNE / .KOELN
🇩🇪 Germany	City of Hamburg	.HAMBURG
🇩🇪 Germany	North Rhine-Westphalia state	.NRW
🇩🇪 Germany	Ruhr region	.RUHR
🇩🇪 Germany	Saarland state	.SAARLAND
🇭🇺 Hungary	City of Budapest	.BUDAPEST
🇮🇪 Ireland	Irish community	.IRISH
🇮🇶 Iraq	Kurdistan region	.KRD
🇯🇵 Japan	City of Kyoto	.KYOTO
🇯🇵 Japan	City of Nagoya	.NAGOYA
🇯🇵 Japan	Okinawa region	.OKINAWA
🇯🇵 Japan	City of Osaka	.OSAKA
🇯🇵 Japan	Ryukyu Islands	.RYUKYU
🇯🇵 Japan	City of Tokyo	.TOKYO
🇯🇵 Japan	City of Yokohama	.YOKOHAMA
🌎 Latin America	Latin American countries	.LAT
🇳🇱 Netherlands	City of Amsterdam	.AMSTERDAM
🇳🇱 Netherlands	Friesland province	.FRL
🇷🇺 Russia	City of Moscow	.MOSCOW / .москва
🇪🇸 Spain	City of Barcelona	.BARCELONA
🇪🇸 Spain	Catalan community	.CAT
🇪🇸 Spain	Galician community	.GAL
🇪🇸 Spain	City of Madrid	.MADRID
🇪🇸 Spain	Basque community	.EUS
🇿🇦 South Africa	City of Cape Town	.CAPETOWN
🇿🇦 South Africa	City of Durban	.DURBAN
🇿🇦 South Africa	City of Johannesburg	.JOBURG
🌏 South Asia	Desi people: India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka	.DESI
🇨🇭 Switzerland	Swiss community	.SWISS
🇨🇭 Switzerland	Zurich canton	.ZUERICH
🇹🇼 Taiwan	City of Taipei	.TAIPEI
🇹🇷 Turkey	City of Istanbul	.IST / .IST
🇦🇪 United Arab Emirates	City of Abu Dhabi	.ABUDHABI / .ابوظبي
🇦🇪 United Arab Emirates	Arabic-speaking countries	.ARAB / .عرب
🇦🇪 United Arab Emirates	City of Dubai	.DUBAI / .دبي
🇬🇧 United Kingdom	Wales and Welsh community	.CYMRU / .WALES
🇬🇧 United Kingdom	City of London	.LONDON
🇬🇧 United Kingdom	Scotland and Scottish community	.SCOT
🇬🇧 United Kingdom	City of Liverpool	.LIVERPOOL
🇺🇸 United States	City of Boston	.BOSTON
🇺🇸 United States	City of Miami	.MIAMI
🇺🇸 United States	City of New York	.NYC
🇺🇸 United States	City of Las Vegas	.VEGAS

What is a geographical extension (geoTLD)?

The differences between ccTLD and geoTLD

We are already familiar with ccTLDs (“country-code Top-Level Domains”), extensions specific to each country (or territories corresponding to ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 codes): .FR for France, .US for the United States, .CN for China… These extensions are always composed of two characters and are often subject to registration restrictions (such as the requirement for local residency).

Unlike ccTLDs, geoTLDs belong to the larger group of gTLDs (“generic Top-Level Domains”). As the name suggests, a geoTLD is a geographic Top-Level Domain. It is composed of at least three characters (for example, .SCOT or .AFRICA) and is used to represent cities, regions, cultures, or recognized geographic areas. GeoTLDs are often managed by specific entities (private or public) through the ICANN new gTLD program. Registration rules for geoTLDs are often more flexible.

The benefits of a geoTLD

Geographical extensions offer numerous advantages for individuals, organizations, and businesses looking to connect their online presence to a specific region, city, or culture.

Firstly, adopting a geoTLD allows you to stand out from the competition. While most people will choose to register a .COM, .ORG or .NET domain name, registering a domain name with a geographical extension provides your visitors with additional context about your site’s content. Even better, a geoTLD can simplify your domain name and make it easier to remember. For example, “tourismberlin.com” could become “tourism.berlin” with the .BERLIN extension. Besides differentiating yourself from oversaturated generic extensions, geographical extensions offer greater availability: if your desired domain name is unavailable on .COM, it might still be available on .NYC (New York City)!

On a broader level, geoTLDs can also enhance your site’s credibility. By choosing an extension that reflects the city or region where your business is located (or the event you’re promoting), your domain name reinforces trust among users, who will see it as a sign of proximity and commitment to the city or region.

From a cultural perspective, a geographical extension can both strengthen the authenticity and branding of a business, anchoring its local roots. For example, a Parisian fashion brand using .PARIS could position itself as a local and high-end label. Additionally, geoTLDs can help cultivate a sense of belonging to a culture, by celebrating identity or heritage. This is the case, for example, with the .EUS extension, which promotes the Basque language and culture, or the .BZH extension (from “Breizh”: Brittany in Breton), which tends to highlight Breton culture and language.

What are the existing geographical extensions ?

The world map of geoTLDs

The list of geographical extensions 2024

Below is a list of all the geographical extensions existing to date. GeoTLDs with links are those currently available for registration at Netim.

Africa

At the continent level, there is the .AFRICA extension dedicated to all African countries.
If you would like to discover all the country-specific extensions (ccTLDs) in Africa, check out our article “African domain extensions in the spotlight!”.

🇿🇦 South Africa

• .CAPETOWN: the city of Cape Town
• .DURBAN : the city of Durban
• .JOBURG : the city of Johannesburg

 

North America

🇨🇦 Canada

• .QUEBEC: the province of Quebec

🇺🇸 United States

• .BOSTON : the city of Boston
• .MIAMI : the city of Miami
• .NYC : the city of New York
• .VEGAS : the city of Las Vegas

 

South America

Celebrate Latin American culture with the .LAT extension dedicated to Latin America.

🇧🇷 Brazil

• .RIO: the city of Rio de Janeiro.

 

Asia

For South Asia, discover the .DESI extension, dedicated to the Desi people: India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka.

🇹🇷 Turkey

• .IST and .ISTANBUL : the city of Istanbul.

🇮🇶 Iraq

• .KRD: the Kurdistan region.

🇦🇪 United Arab Emirates

• .ABUDHABI / .ابوظبي: the city of Abu Dhabi
• .ARAB / .عرب: for Arabic-speaking countries
• .DUBAI : the city of Dubai

🇷🇺 Russia

• .MOSCOW / .москва: the city of Moscow

🇨🇳 China

• .GUANGDONG / .广州: the Guangdong province
• .FOHSAN / .佛山: the city of Foshan
• .GUANGZHOU / .广东: the city of Guangzhou

🇯🇵 Japan

• .KYOTO: the city of Kyoto
• .NAGOYA: the city of Nagoya
• .OKINAWA: the Okinawa region
• .OSAKA: the city of Osaka
• .RYUKYU: the Ryukyu Islands
• .TOKYO : the city of Tokyo
• .YOKOHAMA : the city of Yokohama

🇹🇼 Taiwan

• .TAIPEI: the city of Taipei.

 

Europe

🇪🇺 The European Union has its own extension: the ccTLD .EU! If you’d like to learn more about this extension, check out our article “Discover the advantages of .eu: meet one of our clients”.

🇦🇹 Austria

• .TIROL : the Tyrol region
• .WIEN : the city of Vienna

🇧🇪 Belgium

• .BRUSSELS : the Brussels region
• .GENT : the city of Ghent
• .VLAANDEREN : the Flanders region and Flemish culture

🇫🇷 France

• .ALSACE : the Alsace region
• .BZH : the Brittany region
• .CORSICA : Corsica
• .PARIS : the city of Paris

🇫🇮 Finland

• .HELSINKI : the city of Helsinki

🇩🇪 Germany

• .BAYERN : the Bavarian region
• .BERLIN : the city of Berlin
• .COLOGNE and .KOELN : the city of Cologne
• .HAMBURG : the city of Hamburg
• .NRW : the state of North Rhine-Westphalia
• .RUHR : the Ruhr region
• .SAARLAND : the Saarland state

🇭🇺 Hungary

• .BUDAPEST : the city of Budapest

🇮🇪 Ireland

• .IRISH : the Irish community and culture

🇳🇱 Netherlands

• .AMSTERDAM : the city of Amsterdam
• .FRL : the Friesland province

🇪🇸 Spain

• .BARCELONA : the city of Barcelona
• .CAT : for the Catalan community
• .GAL : for the Galician community
• .MADRID : the city of Madrid
• .EUS : the Basque community and culture

🇨🇭 Switzerland

• .SWISS : the Swiss community
• .ZUERICH : the canton of Zurich

🇬🇧 United Kingdom

• .CYMRU and .WALES : Wales and the Welsh community
• .LONDON : the city of London
• .SCOT : Scotland and the Scottish community

 

Oceania

🇦🇺 Australia

• .MELBOURNE : the city of Melbourne
• .SYDNEY : the city of Sydney

 

What is the procedure for deploying a geographical extension?

As mentioned at the beginning of this article, geoTLDs are primarily part of the gTLD category. Therefore, if you wish to obtain a new geographical extension for your city or region, you need to follow the application procedure supervised by ICANN. Find out more about the application timeline for the next ICANN round.

Before submitting your application, it’s important to note that this is a very costly procedure, and all stakeholders must support the project (relevant municipalities, local governments, or communities). For example, for the .PARIS extension, the City of Paris was directly involved in the project. Similarly, for a French region, the applicant must obtain the support of the region in question. The application will be funded according to regional agreements.

The application must include very detailed documentation: objectives, technical plan (infrastructure, security, domain management), financial plan, official support letter(s) (authorisations from local authorities), etc. Your application will be submitted to ICANN for evaluation. If your application is accepted, a contract will be signed with ICANN to define the manager’s obligations. This will be followed by the implementation of the technical infrastructure, and then the launch phases.

If you’re interested in submitting an application for a geographical extension or, more broadly, a generic extension, Netim can assist you with your process. Feel free to contact us to benefit from our support and help bring your project to life!