How COVID-19 influenced changes in .ME domain names and websites
With the inevitable changes across all industry sectors and private lives that have become a part of our reality as the result of the COVID-19 pandemic, here at .ME, we have witnessed changes in our audience’s behavior through recent domain name registrations. Right away, it became obvious that the online world began to grow and change as the result of the pandemic. Across the internet, there has been a significant increase in the number of registered domain names and, ultimately, new websites.
We’ll agree that the increase in these particular numbers has been expected and inevitable. Taking into account the economic crisis, however, we didn’t expect to see such growth in the number of e-commerce websites, for example, as a result of the partial or complete lockdowns across the world.
This is why Domain.ME compared activities on our registered domains. We looked at the domains created since March 16, 2020, and those created over the past 12 years. Here are some things we noticed.
Changes since March 16, 2020 (compared to the previous 12 years):
- There are 28.65% more .ME domains developed into websites;
- E-commerce websites are up by 85.36%; and
- 14.90% more websites used as blogs.
These initial numbers led us to believe that the unemployment rates, which increased throughout the world since the outbreak of the pandemic, have been one of the main driving factors in creating personal websites and blogs. Keyword research confirmed this.
Upon performing a keyword analysis of the registered domain names and created websites, we found that the number of freelance websites, along with personal websites, has significantly increased.
The increases of keywords used on the homepages of websites built since mid-March compared to websites created in the previous 12 years:
- “virtual” +5.73%
- “freelance” +6.85%
- “e-learning” +7.01%
- “developer” +8.18%
- “designer” + 9.58%
- “delivery” +10.61%
- “UX designer” +18,37%
- “at home” +25.18%
- “fitness” +29.06%
- “webinar” +32.87%
- “social distancing” +97.01%
It is remarkable to see how, both individuals and businesses, are adjusting to the “new normal,” pivoting the direction of their businesses and showcasing their skills through virtual means rather than physical ones. Here at .ME, we are always proud to see businesses and people on a global scale choosing our domain to personalize their online presence.
