Google spends more than $9 million on top-level domains

Google has applied for more than 50 top-level domains that include obvious choices like .google and .youtube while also including other, more interesting choices such as a .lol domain.

Google applied for TLDs in four general categories that include its trademarks, words related to its business, like .doc, domains that will improve user experience, and others that it thinks have interesting and creative potential, which is where the .lol came in.

With Google applying for more than 50 TLDs, according to Ad Age, and each application costing $185,000, that means the company spent more than $9 million on domains.

“We’re just beginning to explore this potential source of innovation on the Web, and we are curious to see how these proposed new TLDs will fare in the existing TLD environment,� said Vint Cerf, the company’s chief Internet evangelist, on the company’s blog Thursday.

“By opening up more choices for Internet domain names, we hope people will find options for more diverse — and perhaps shorter — signposts in cyberspace,� he said.

Top-level domains are the parts of Web addresses that come at the end, such as .com or .net. Recently, the group that is responsible for the organization of TLDs, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, began an effort to allow companies to apply for their own TLDs.

The application for new TLDs closed Wednesday, and ICANN received more than 1,900 applications, according to the organization. ICANN will publish a list of all the TLDs that were applied for on June 13.

Google did not confirm what other TLDs it applied for or how many. A company spokeswoman also said Google doesn’t currently have specific plans for the TLDs.

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