Internet grows to 299 million domain names in Q3 2015: VeriSign Report

NEW DELHI: NASDAQ-listed domain names and Internet security company VeriSign Inc has reported that, according to the latest Domain Name Industry Brief, approximately 3.1 million domain names were added to the Internet in the third quarter of 2015, bringing the total number of registered domain names to approximately 299 million worldwide across all top-level domains (TLDs) as of September 30, 2015.

The increase of approximately 3.1 million domain names globally equates to a growth rate of 1.1 percent over the second quarter of 2015. Worldwide registrations have grown by 14.8 million, or 5.2 percent, year over year.

The .com and .net TLDs experienced aggregate growth in the third quarter of 2015, reaching a combined total of approximately 135.2 million .com and .net domain names in the domain name base. This represents a 3.4 percent increase year over year. As of Sept. 30, 2015, the domain name base of .com equaled 120.1 million names, while .net equaled 15.1 million names. In the third quarter, Verisign processed 9.2 million new domain name registrations for .com and .net, as compared to 8.7 million domain names for the same period in 2014.

During the third quarter of 2015, Verisign’s average daily Domain Name System (DNS) query load was approximately 120 billion queries per day across all TLDs operated by Verisign, with a peak of nearly 593 billion. Compared to the previous quarter, the daily average query load increased 8.0 percent and the peak increased by 225.3 percent. Year-over-year, the daily average query load increased by 4.8 percent, and the peak increased by 86.4 percent.

The Domain Name Industry Brief also highlights research conducted by Verisign analysts on how to use domain registration trends to find great domain names. Domain names have shifted from very short to keyword rich and descriptive. The Verisign research detailed within the latest Domain Name Industry Brief illustrates this trend through an examination of d omain names that were registered in 2014 as compared against domain names registered prior to 2014 to determine common techniques for registering domain names. Read ‘Using Domain Name Registration Trends to Find Great Domain Names’ to learn more about the trends and techniques uncovered. Verisign publishes the Domain Name Industry Brief to provide Internet users throughout the world with statistical and analytical research and data on the domain name industry.