Is there any particular advantage I will derive by registering a domain name that contains dot NG? I’m just curious. I’ve noticed that quite a good number of Nigerian hosting companies are wooing their customers to buy the NG tld domain names. Here are some of the arguments they put forth for the promotion of dot NG among Nigerian webmasters:
- Using dot NG will enable organizations and individual to use domain names that are otherwise not available. For example, while it might be impossible (or uneconomical, due to high pricing) to purchase short and memorable names that had already been taken up by the early birds, it is now possible to have same using .ng.com or .org.ng as the case may be. For example, you can’t get www.love.com, but you can easily purchase www.love.com.ng
- The use of NG will easily identify a domain as belonging to a Nigerian business or entrepreneur.
- Search engines may rank dot NG domains higher for subjects relating to Nigeria.
While those arguments sounds logical, only the first argument really holds ground. Even though this website is registered as .com, yet it is well identified as a Nigerian website because the content focuses on Nigerian Entrepreneurs and issues pertaining to Nigerians. Also, search engines will list Wikipedia first before any other website if it has sufficient content to cover an issue even if the issue is 100% Nigerian.
In order words, while it is desirable to have a short and memorable domain name, I don’t buy the idea that registering my website as .ng is of any advantage to ranking in SERP. In order words, calling your website www.nigeria.com.ng does not guarantee you traffic from Nigerian web users.
If you write or provide information that Nigerian web users need, they will come seeking for your site. It doesn’t matter if it was named www.nigeria.co.uk.
Also, many web users are “lazy” and “hasty” they often ignore the prefix that follows the dot. So they end up typing .com at the end of any url they put in their browser. So registering www.love.com.ng may not be an effective method of sharing from the traffic of www.love.com.
The only reason why I will subscribe to using dot NG is because it is Nigerian and I’m Proudly Nigerian. I won’t assume that buying a domain name that contains dot NG will increase my traffic. Well, that is my candid opinion. I’m waiting to hear your argument in favor or against the use of dot NG. Cheers.
Nice article but please permit me to make a correction. You .ng domain examples you give end with the wrong extension. You wrote love.ng.com but the correct thing should be love.com.ng because what is available are domains on the “third level”. This means that you can register names on .com.ng / .org.ng / .net.ng / .gov.ng /… etc .ng being the last digits.
But thanks once again for an insightful article.
Thanks for correcting the mixed up I did above. I will update it to reflect the correction you made. Thanks
Nice piece. You identify a problem with using the .ng especially since a lot of people that go online assume all websites are .com. This may be a drawback but as proud Nigerians, it is worth having.
I don’t know if you know how i can get a .ng without the .com or .org etc. Like havinga url like http://www.love.ng. Other countries have such eg .de.
i will appreciate whoever can give me such information
I think it is rather unfair that even places like Libya have direct domains (ie. .ly, .uk, etc.) because a .NG would be awesome, imagine the freedom and the power of naming that would provide (www.shoppi.ng anyone?)
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I quite agree with you that it will be much more fun if we are allowed to have http://www.naijaecash.ng 😉
You are allowed to but it comes at a price.
Google has bought googli.ng
Microsoft has bought bi.ng
Samsung has bought samsu.ng
Thisday Newspaper has bought thisday.ng
I don’t quite get it. When I checked NIRA website they are offering .ng at auction prices. And the starting price is 5million naira i.e. about $33,000. How on earth do they think small business owners or even individuals will purchase such domain names? Maybe I’m not getting something right here. I checked their accredited Registrar (since they claim they don’t sell direct) it was impossible to register http://www.naijaecash.ng because the registrar portal promptly changed my request to https://www.naijaecash.com.ng 🙁 Maybe you can give more clarification on how NIRA works. Their portal has scanty information.
Yes you’re quite right about the scarcity of information and the lack of clarity of the entire process.
.ng (First level domain) is considered premium and is not available at the normal domain rates. Some countries adopt this method (UK for example), offering domains on the 3rd level (.com.ng; .net.ng, etc) and keeping the 1st level premium. One reason is that the money made from selling the premium domains is what enables them keep the 3rd level domains cheap.
You cannot register .ng form a registrar’s website. The procedure for registering on the 1st level (.ng) is as follows:
1. The Registrar sends an email to NiRA stating the intent
2. Send details of the applicant
3. Send Letter of Authority and other supporting documents
4. Confirm you’ve read the NIRA Domain Name Policy and the Auction Policy and Process; and that you are ready to comply.
5. The request will be circulated to the Board of Directors
6. Approval from the Board
7. Payment
Hope this helps
Thanks so much for taking the time to spell out in layman terms what the procedure is. I believe anyone reading this article will have a full picture now. By the way, when this website “grows up” I might consider getting a http://www.naijaecash.ng 😉 That doamin name sounds better than https://www.naijaecash.com.ng 😉 Cheers.
Thanks for the insight. It brings light into the dark!
I do believe in .com.ng domain names if the content there within is targeted @ Nigerians. Never underestimate the power of geo-targeting. It does help boost traffic.
Just like you rightly stated the only wahala here is that folks are pretty used to typing .com in their browsers and not .com.ng
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one of the reasons I will use a .ng domain is if my website is targeting mainly Nigerian audience. if I am an expert in a domain and people are searching for information on what I do online from Nigeria, it will give me high visibility in search engine. i.e. if I have a product that helps company to maximise their profit and I use a .ng for my domain. When someone in Nigeria searches for product that can do this, the search engine will list my website as one of the first sets of displayed results on the first page
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Good point, especially now that search engines are providing geo-location specific results.
Please can someone here assist me with legitimate money making online program site, not a get rich quick scheme. Preferably, the one that can pay through Alert pay. I have been scammed severally in the past with mouth watering offers that left me high and dry.
You can always register a .com domain, create a Google Web Master account, add the domain and set the Geographical Target to Nigeria. That way your website will be optimised in Google searches for Nigerian internet users.
Sadly, Google is just one search engine out of the many. I don’t believe bing, yahoo and the others have this functionality.
Great information, i was thinking about buying any .ng domain, so i was looking for the same information that u have provided here, now i m going to buy a .ng domain, thanks for the great information… it was really helpful…
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Search engine (especially Google) algorithms change frequently. A few years ago, the only way Google would determine that a website is “Nigerian” is the IP address of the hosting server and/or domain extension – in this case .ng
Things have changed. There are more ways to detect the geographic target of a website. Your example of Wikipedia is a bit mute. SEO is complex. Wikipedia is a leading international website. There is no Nigerian website that can beat it for the foreseeable future. They have millions of incoming links.
Not withstanding, embracing .ng is a good idea – whatever your personal reasons are.
Quite a long time you visited. Nice to have you around.
What do you mean by “Your example of Wikipedia is a bit mute.” If you mean the example is dumb, then how come you are stating the same fact I stated above. I was pointing out the fact that Wikipedia has already established itself as an authority site that many web-user rely on for information. That is why Wikipedia has many websites linking to them even though they don’t solicit for such links.
While I won’t say it is impossible to beat Wikipedia (since change is the only permanent thing under the sun) it will be a herculean task to bit them.
So it will be foolish to assume that geo-targeting by using .NG will make a Nigerian website rank better than Wikipedia for a keyword.
I agree that SEO is complex. But then, there are some basic principles that still works irrespective of changes in search engine algorithm. I’m saying this from experience. Irrespective of how the major or minor search engines change their algorithm, they will always give preference for Quality Information. So content is still King. Cheers
LOL 🙂 I was in a hurry when posting the comment this dawn and so could not explain further.
I meant – your reference to Wikipedia is far-fetched. No Nigerian individual/company can beat them any time soon.
I take it for granted that the website offers quality content but I assure you for free that using .ng can give you a slight edge if you are targeting a Nigerian audience. Believe it or not. 🙂 I don’t agree with your down-playing of points 2 and point 3.
SEO has gone far and is close to being an exact science. So, facts are facts – opinion not withstanding.
If I was to target a Nigerian audience, I’d rather cross all ‘T’s and dot all the ‘I’s. A little bit of this-and-that would always give you an edge.
Again, you don’t have to agree with me. So long my bank account agrees with me, I’m okay. 🙂
Interesting article. Dot NG Domains are expensive to get this days.
I rather add NG at the end of my domain name and move on. For example loveng.com
Cheers
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Thanks for the information. To the best of my knowledge, having .com.ng or only .com does not really matter. What matters most is the contents and anchor texts of your website.
If the above 2 relates to Nigeria, google and the other search engine will rank you high.
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I don’t think there is any significance in search engine rankings if your domain is not optimized for search engine rankings. But there is a truth in the easy identification of domains from Nigeria with .ng
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The .ng extension allows you to focus on Nigerians as a target audience
Google’s Algorithms are frequently updated and will surely make .ng domains rank higher in Google Nigeria.
It depends on the vision you have for your site. Remember it’s always good to buy these names before they become attractive to domain hijackers