The wondrous world of domain names: what was hot in 2024?

Surprising newcomers always appear between these mainstays. ‘Elektricien’ (electrician) is one such example which in November was suddenly at number one, dutifully followed by its French variant. Remarkably, most of these domain names were registered by the same person using a pattern that combined the word ‘electricien’ with a place name, such as electricien-leuven.be. 

It could be a deliberate strategy to use multiple spellings, ensuring that end-users always find their way to either electricien-leuven or elektricien-leuven. ‘Do you spell it with a k or with a c?’. You know what, just to be sure we'll register two domain names in one fell swoop. Better safe than sorry.

However, many of these newcomers will not be in our rankings for long. Often these trends disappear as quickly as they appeared. For instance, in the spring of 2021, ‘slotenmaker’ (locksmith) experienced an unprecedented peak, but the term now seems to have vanished from our rankings. In 2024, ‘radiator’ and ‘radiatoren’ experienced a similar fate. In April they appeared in our rankings out of nothing, only to totally disappear in May.

Periodic November peak

Electrician is quite a long word. If it appears frequently in the November list of domain names, it's not surprising that the average length of a domain name reached an unprecedented peak that month (12.49 characters). The last peak of such magnitude (12.50 characters) was exactly two years earlier, also in November. A very logical explanation for the sudden increase in length was easy to find at the time. 'Asbestattest' (asbestos certificate) is a twelve-letter word in Dutch (and only uses five different letters).

However, this periodic November peak cannot prevent the average length of domain names from steadily decreasing year after year. In January 2017, we recorded an average of 12.4 characters per domain name, but by the end of 2024, it had dropped below 12.1. Only professional groups with very long names seem to be counteracting this trend.

Incidentally, the longest domain name was registered in March: 63 characters. We won't give the exact domain name but it includes the term ‘incheonkoreanfriedchicken’.

Good intentions… but short-lived

Something we see every year in the world of domain names, and you might recognise yourself, is the struggle with holiday weight. In August, 'fit' was 8th in the ranking of most commonly used terms in new domain names. ‘Coaching’ was at 26. 

During the holidays, we also seem to question our professional lives. We have time to reflect on whether our job still makes us happy and if it might be time for a career change. 'Jobs' always gets lots of hits in August, and 2024 was no different (17th). Let's hope we stick to the job search better than our fitness intentions. In September, 'fit' was 26th in the ranking, by October, it was 68th. 

Certainty in turbulent times

Donald Trump won the US presidential elections in November. The fact that his re-election was seen as a harbinger of instability is reflected in the domain name trends. What do people do in politically and economically uncertain times? Indeed, they invest in gold, which maintains its value better than uncertain stocks and shares over the long term.

‘Goud’ (gold) jumped from 6687 in October to 22nd in November in the ranking, and the unexpected rise of ‘inkoop’ (purchase) (72nd in November) was undoubtedly related to this trend. 

Another old man made a comeback in November. After his late entrance in 2023, Sinterklaas learned his lesson. In 2023, he showed up very late in December in the rankings of newly registered domain names (49th). In 2024, Saint Nicholas was better prepared: in November, ‘sint’ was already 27th in the ranking with no fewer than 47 new domain names. It's all about the preparation.