Dotless Domain By Google

Google has informed ICANN about its intention to turn .search into a “dotless domain. Last year, Google applied to manage the .app, .blog, .cloud and .search generic top-level domain (gTLD) names as part of a major expansion of the domain-name system.

ICANN, which is managing this expansion, hasn’t awarded any of the gTLDs yet, and the whole program remains controversial. But in May, Google sent a letter to ICANN telling the organization that it would soon provide some specific details about its plans for these top-level domain names. Now, Google has done so through its Charleston Road Registry subsidiary.

As per the plan, .search will be used to operate a redirect service on the “on the ‘dotless’ .search domain that, combined with a simple technical standard. Google plans to run http://search/ as a redirect service that “allows for registration by any search website providing a simple query interface.”

“The mission of the proposed gTLD, .search, is to provide a domain name space that makes it easier for Internet users to locate and make use of the search functionality of their choice,” Google writes in its amended application.

The .blog TLD, Google says, “should be simple and easy for .blog registrants to associate their second-­level domain with their blog on the blogging platform of their choice.

As for .app, Google plans to restrict this TLD to use by “relevant developer communities” without restricting it to a specific platform.

Adapted from: Google Wants To Operate .Search As A “Dotless” Domain, Plans To Open .Cloud, .Blog And .App To Others