The internet domain name has just celebrated 25 years of existence - and the number of them is about to exceed 200 million.
Although some complain that many of the best domain names have already been taken, the tide of registrations shows no sign of letting up - after all, YouTube.com wasn't registered until as late as 2005. In 2009, approximately 3.7 million new domains were registered monthly.
The figures, released as part of the Verisign Domain Name Industry Brief, also revealed that the largest top level domains were - in order - .com, .cn, .de, .net, .uk, org, .info, .nl, .eu and .ru.
While many new domains are registered for SEO purposes - particularly those that include valuable keywords in the name - it's also worth remembering that older domains usually carry more authority in the eyes of the search engines. So, if you were responsible for domains registered in 1985 and 1986, like think.com, ibm.com and xerox.com, you should congratulate yourself.
Can you imagine letting one of those lapse by accident?
