Columbia has been pushing .co as an alternative to the overcrowded .com TLD, and now Google has given the registry a boost by agreeing to treat the name as a generic extension in search results. This means that .co domains will not be limited to the Google Columbia search engine and will rank well in any locale.

Other domains Google treats generically include .tv and .me. A Google spokesperson stated:

We will rank .co domains appropriately if the content is globally targeted. Webmasters will soon have the functionality to be able to specify this by using the geotargeting options in Google Webmaster Tools.

This news is very good for early adopters of .co as Google’s announcement will surely increase the market value of .co names .

Source | PC Pro
Photo | Wikimedia Commons

Continue reading: Google agrees to treat .co domain as generic TLDs

Columbia’s .co ccTLD, which opened up for public registration yesterday, has gone from 39,000 registrations to more than 194,576– in just under 48 hours. This is very good considering there is no clear idea of how much .co names are worth and registrations cost around £25 a pop.

Previously, Columbia only allowed second-level registrations on .com.co, .org.co, etc. It’s one of many countries in recent years to open up their domains to outside investors.

Source | Domain News

Continue reading: .Co close to 200,000 registrations

American Internet retailer Overstock.com has bought O.co for a whopping $350,000 USD. This is one of many “O” names the company has purchased over the years, including o.biz.

In my opinion, the Columbian ccTLD works well with company names because it is short for “company.” I doubt Overstock will develop O.co in the near future, however. The company is probably just trying to protect its interests.

The .co extension, which will become available for general registration tomorrow, has proven popular with domainers because of its similarity to “.com.” Many typosquatters are hoping to cash in with .co names.

Continue reading: Oh my! Overstock.com buys O.co for $350,000

In the aftermath of the e.co auction, you’ve got 24 hours to register a .co domain name via the .co registry founders program. Domain names registered in this way need to have sites up and running by July 20, otherwise other registrations can be applied for via registrars such as register.com, with general availability starting in July.

According to some internet commentary, the e.co acquisition could prove to be a good investment with the domain extension .co likely to take off in the future, especially for the US. Twitter will create its own one-letter domain t.co and the .co extension is already used in extensions like .co.uk and .co.il (Israel).

No official announcements as to the future of the e.co domain name - whether B52 media will sell it or not - have been made, but it’s just as possible that the company will use it for something more specific, rather than just cash in on the new acquisition. The .co extension could prove a widely used one by many companies in the future, and we will have to watch this space to see how big it gets.

Source | ElliotsBlog

Continue reading: .CO domains to take off in the future: e.co looking cheap at 81,000