It has never been more important for businesses to consider how they represent themselves online, with a recent study showing 99 percent of Australian adults spent time online in 2020 (up from 90 per cent in 2019).
The recent strong growth in online activity, is confirmed by our data, which shows the .au domain name system manages more than three billion website queries daily from people around the world connecting to Australian .au websites and email addresses. This astonishing figure represents three billion opportunities to drive engagement for local businesses.
Domain names (such as getyour.com.au) is a business’ digital address. It is a vital asset representing the predominant way customers, suppliers and consumers will find and connect with local businesses.
In an increasingly connected world, we have also seen the rise of online scams. This has led Internet users to seek out and connect with local sites they can trust. According to our research:
- 92 percent of survey respondents associated the com.au domain with local businesses and 70 percent of survey respondents said supporting Australian business is important when online shopping
- Businesses with com.au domain names were almost twice as likely to have their website considered as trustworthy and secure than those using other commercial domain names.
It is not surprising then that Australian businesses continue to choose a .au domain when planning and building their digital presence. In Q1 2021, the .au registry recorded an increase of 154,00 new domain names – an increase of 23 percent on the same quarter in 2020 and bringing the number of Australian domain names under management to more than 3.3 million.
This tells a strong story that the .au domain is trusted and valued by online users and why .au domain names remain valuable assets for Australian businesses.
Read more about the .au domain visit www.auda.org.au/blog, or to register a domain name licence for your business, visit www.auda.org.au/accredited-registrars to find an accredited registrar.
