What To Do With Your .au

Upcoming .au Domain Registrations
 

We've had a good flow of responses with some great questions and businesses keen to secure their .au domain. If you have already replied thank you!

Why didn't the link in the last email work? The website address https://www.jezweb.com.au/directau/ in our previous email had a leading space character (ascii code %20) at the start and so it returned an error, lol, hopefully, this clickable link will work, click here. And if that doesn't work feel free to reply to this email or copy and paste www.jezweb.com.au/directau into your favourite web browser.

What should I do with mybusinessname.au?
 

So far the most popular question so here is a more detailed answer.

Option 1: Redirection
Once we have applied for the domain name and it is registered then we can redirect it to your existing website. That is, someone who types into their web browser www.bobthebuilder.au will redirect to www.bobthebuilder.com.au much like we often set up with the .com variant of a business name. This is the simplest option and likely to be the most common way we see .au domains used for the foreseeable future. Google only really wants to have one domain name per website so its best to have one domain you use and then any others just redirect to that.

Similarly, email address redirects can be set up too, eg info@mybusiness.au can redirect to info@mybusiness.com.au. The way this is done can vary depending on how your email hosting is configured but it's a fairly simple and generally free or low cost configuration.

Option 2a: Switch to .au as your primary website address
Changing a website from www.something.com.au to www.something.au requires changes in the website hosting and website settings. That's not particularly difficult but there is potential to confuse the search engines about which is your main domain name and cause issues with rankings. If you decided you would like to do this we can work through the specific requirements so far as Google Search Console and SEO are concerned or tak with your SEO provider. There is no rush to do this if ever and if your business is an eCommerce site or relies heavily on your website for new enquiries then a cautious approach is advisable. It is possible to change a website address and keep the search engines satisfied with the correct use of redirection rules and settings if done carefully.

Option 2b: Switch to .au as your primary email domain
Changing email to use the new domain similarly requires changes with the email hosting and might require correcting settings in your email program. You will need to discuss this with Jezweb and/or your email provider / IT company to make the changeover smooth.

Possible benefits of .au domains
 

1. The most obvious being that it will be shorter, easier to say, less dots and no com, than .com.au.

2. Becoming the norm internationally, eg .nz, .uk .fr .de etc is gradually standardising.

3. Might be able to get a completely different domain to your .com.au.

This last one is interesting because if in a years time there might be a generic keyword domain or acronym available. For example, lets say that we decide not to register newcastlewebdesign.au even though we have newcastlewebdesign.com.au.

There will come a point where if we don't secure newcastlewebdesign.au that a competitor could register that domain instead and use it for their own website. That could be confusing to vs the .com.au. It's not so much a worry with a distinct protected brand name because that could be legally protected or contested but with business names that are generic phrases it may provide some opportunities for businesses to secure a quite different domain but only as the .au.

Any Other Questions?