Industry News Digest: October 2024
- by Ilona K.
Table of contents
Welcome to our monthly Industry News Digest. Explore new online trends, platform features and domain industry news to stay up-to-date. Here’s a summary for October 2024.
Is .IO in Danger of Extinction?
The popular .io domain extension, which includes approximately 1.6 million domain names, may be withdrawn as a result of the UK’s handover of the British Indian Ocean Territory to Mauritius, as when countries cease to exist ICANN usually closes their domain zones.
All two-letter top-level domains, including .io, are country-code TLDs (ccTLDs). This one represents the British Indian Ocean Territory.
After much pressure, the UK has agreed to a deal that will transfer control of the territory to Mauritius. This means that the British Indian Ocean Territory may no longer exist, which could create technical issues for .io domains.
According to existing ICANN policy, if a country ceases to exist, the domain extension must be removed.
However, .io domain owners have no cause for alarm yet. ICANN’s goal is to maintain the security and stability of the domain name system. The removal of a popular top-level domain could have a negative impact both on the system and the domain market.
According to Domain Name Wire these are the two likely outcomes:
- ICANN may allow Identity Digital, the private company that operates the .io extension, to continue using the name. This would mean the name won’t be transferred to Mauritius.
- The domain may be transferred to Mauritius, or the country may make a deal with Identity Digital to receive a share of the revenue. This option could affect domain owners, as they may have to pay more for registrations and renewals in the future.
Why should you care? In spite of that ICANN has limited control over ccTLDs, allowing each country to set its own rules, major decisions such as whether to keep or remove an extension still lie with the organization. Until now, there have been no cases where ICANN has preserved a ccTLD if a country stops existing.
Although the situation with the .io zone may be the first of its kind and the extension will continue to exist, domain owners in this zone should be cautious.
If you have a domain in the .io zone, you can park an identical domain in a different extension. This way, you will have a backup plan in case something happens to your current domain. And, of course, when choosing a domain zone, it’s crucial to select a reputable and stable option that prioritizes the security of its clients such as it.com Domains.
Source: Domain Name Wire
New YouTube Feature Differentiates Real Content from AI-Generated One
The video platform YouTube has introduced a new feature called ‘Captured with a camera’ to help users identify original content from the one that was created by artificial intelligence (AI). The verification process is done according to the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA) standard, which checks the metadata of the video using special technologies from the Truepic service (a company that verifies the authenticity of content and is a Steering Committee Member of C2PA).
The ‘Captured with a camera’ label indicates that the sound and image haven’t been modified. To obtain this label, creators must use technology such as cameras, software, or applications from companies that support C2PA standards (for instance, Sony and Adobe) and attach protected metadata to the content. This data confirms the authenticity of the video and the absence of changes in the audio and video sequence.
Previously, YouTube started labeling content generated by neural networks, including videos where people’s voices or faces have been changed or realistic scenes.
Why should you care? Using AI to create content makes work much easier, allowing you to create amazing things without spending time and a lot of budget for a professional team. However, you shouldn’t use AI to mislead viewers.
Now AI can generate voices, images, and videos that are almost indistinguishable from reality. Unfortunately, scammers use this technology to deceive users by creating deepfakes and other types of false content. Platforms like YouTube are trying to make content more transparent to protect users from being tricked.
Source: YouTube Help
Google Explains How to Create Trending Content
Google Search Central published documentation on Google Trends, explaining how to use it for search marketing. The guide serves as an introduction for newcomers and a refresher for experienced marketers and publishers.
The guide has six sections:
- About Google Trends
- Tutorial on monitoring trends
- How to do keyword research with the tool
- How to prioritize content with Trends data
- How to use Google Trends for competitor research
- How to use Google Trends for analyzing brand awareness and sentiment
The tutorial explains how to monitor trends and prioritize content.
The Explore tool shows upcoming trends worldwide or in a specific country. Users can filter trends by time periods, categories and type of search.
The Content Calendar section describes how to use Google Trends to understand content topics to prioritize.
Why should you care? Google has shared a guide that will be truly helpful for anyone involved in content creation. The company has gathered valuable tips in Google Trends that can help you come up with content ideas, determine the best time to publish, prioritize topics to focus on, identify seasonal trends in data, and more.
By using this information, you can create high-quality content in advance and make it available on your site just before people start searching for it. This way, when they’re ready, your content will already be there for them.
Source: Search Engine Journal
‘MY’ Pushes ‘AI’ from the Top Domain Keywords
Afternic has released the top keywords in domain names sold on its platform in July. We can see that ‘my’ has replaced ‘ai’ in the first place, which it held for a long time. Also, ‘it’ rose in positions and took fifth place. This keyword shows stability and hasn’t left the top for many months. Overall, the list hasn’t changed much over the past few months.
- my
- ai
- bet
- real
- home
- it
- health
- new
- estate
- shop
- group
- tech
- life
- coin
- pro
- solutions
- your
- sports
- club
- us
Why should you care? IT-related keywords still maintain their positions, indicating their stability. Therefore, if your business is in IT, you can confidently consider them when choosing a domain name or domain extension. This approach will help you find a great domain name that not only reflects the essence of your company.
Source: X (ex-Twitter)
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