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Domain guides
Plain-English help with choosing, buying and valuing domain names.
Choosing
How to choose a domain name
A free name score checker, three quick tests, 12 rules, real examples and a printable checklist.
Read the guide →.com vs the new endings: which should you choose?
Trust, price, renewal traps and email: when a non-.com makes sense, and when it doesn't.
Read the guide →Basics
Buying
How to buy a domain name
Seven steps from idea to a registered, locked-down domain, plus typical costs and mistakes to avoid.
Read the guide →Bought the wrong domain by accident? How to avoid typos (and fix them)
The 10 common typo traps, a 2-minute routine before you pay, and how to fix a mistaken purchase.
Read the guide →How to buy a domain that's already taken
Check if it's for sale, find the owner, decide what to offer and pay safely through escrow.
Read the guide →Domain auction sites: where to buy and sell domains
GoDaddy Auctions, DropCatch, NameJet, Sedo and more, plus eBay, Facebook and Craigslist risks.
Read the guide →TLD-List: compare domain prices
Compare registration, renewal and transfer prices across registrars.
Read the guide →Domain financing: lease-to-own, installments and loans
Lease-to-own, installments, leasing and loans, with the risks.
Read the guide →Value
Ideas
Community
What is domaining?
How domain investing works, how domainers make money, and how to start without bleeding money on renewals.
Read the guide →Domain legends: the famous investors and record sales
Rick Schwartz the Domain King, Frank Schilling, Mike Mann and more, plus the record sales.
Read the guide →The first domain names ever registered
Symbolics.com, the first 10 .com names, and how domains went from free to worth millions.
Read the guide →Domain forums and communities
NamePros, DNForum, Reddit and more, plus news, sales data, free courses and safety tips.
Read the guide →The most expensive domain names ever sold
AI.com for $70 million, Voice.com for $30 million and the rest of the all-time top 20.
Read the guide →The first domain registrar and the story of ICANN
From SRI and Network Solutions to ICANN, Register.com and more than 1,000 endings.
Read the guide →The story of the Amazon.com domain
Cadabra, Relentless.com and the seven-year fight for .amazon.
Read the guide →How famous companies got their domain names
Google, Yahoo, Facebook, Twitter and X, Tesla, Uber, Airbnb and more.
Read the guide →Valuing
NameBio: how to use the domain sales database
How to search the domain sales database investors rely on, and what it doesn't show.
Read the guide →Domain appraisal tools: every major one compared
Atom, GoDaddy, EstiBot, HumbleWorth and more, and how to get a value you can trust.
Read the guide →Domain investment calculator
Total cost, profit, break-even and a realistic expected result.
Read the guide →Short domains
One-letter domains: the rarest names online
Why only X.com, Z.com and Q.com exist, and where single letters are still possible.
Read the guide →Two-letter domains (LL)
How many exist, famous sales like We.com, and how to buy one.
Read the guide →Three-letter domains (LLL)
All 17,576 are taken. Here's what each type is worth and how the market works.
Read the guide →Four-letter domains (LLLL)
All 456,976 are registered. The boom, the value tiers and buying tips.
Read the guide →Five-letter domains
Millions of combinations, the brandable sweet spot, and how to find one available.
Read the guide →One-word domains: the gold standard
Why single-word .coms are the gold standard, and how to get one.
Read the guide →Websites
How to submit your website to Google Search Console
Verify your domain, submit your sitemap, request indexing and read the reports.
Read the guide →How Google ranked domains then, and how it does now
From keyword domains and the 2012 EMD update to how Google ranks sites now.
Read the guide →Extensions
Types of domain extensions explained
TLD, gTLD, ccTLD, new gTLDs, sponsored, .brand, city and IDN endings explained.
Read the guide →What is a gTLD (generic top-level domain)?
The original .com, .net and .org, the 2000s additions and the new gTLD era.
Read the guide →What is a ccTLD (country code top-level domain)?
How country endings work, why to use one, and what to check first.
Read the guide →Country code domains Google treats like .com
The 20 country endings, like .io, .ai and .co, that Google treats as global.
Read the guide →New gTLDs: the new domain endings
The 2012 and 2026 rounds, the kinds of new endings, and whether they're worth it.
Read the guide →Sponsored top-level domains (sTLDs)
Endings like .gov, .edu and .aero that only certain groups can register.
Read the guide →.Brand TLDs: company-owned endings
How Google, BMW and Amazon got their own endings, and why many brands gave them up.
Read the guide →City and region domains (geoTLDs)
City and regional endings like .nyc, .london and .miami, and whether they help.
Read the guide →IDN domains: domain names in every language
Domains in every script, how Punycode works, and the look-alike scam risk.
Read the guide →Second-level domains and subdomains
How .co.uk, .it.com-style names and subdomains like www work.
Read the guide →Domain hacks: when the ending finishes the word
del.icio.us, youtu.be, redd.it and how to make your own.
Read the guide →.com vs .net vs .io vs .ai vs .co
Side-by-side pros and cons, and which to choose.
Read the guide →Owning
Domain expired? What happens and how to get it back
The stages after expiry, how to recover it, and how to prevent it.
Read the guide →How to transfer a domain to another registrar
Unlock, get the auth code, transfer and keep everything working.
Read the guide →Registrar vs registry: what's the difference?
Who runs your ending, who sells it to you, and how they make money.
Read the guide →DNS records explained in plain English
A, CNAME, MX, TXT, NS and the rest, in plain English.
Read the guide →How to protect your domain from theft and hijacking
How domains get stolen, the lock-down checklist, and what to do if it happens.
Read the guide →