Record Number of New .ie registrations

Laois saw 733 new .IE registrations in 2020. That represents a 13.6% increase on 2019 and this closely mirrors what has happened across every other county on the island of Ireland. The O’ Moore County now accounts for a 1.01% share of all .ie registrations across the 32 counties. In addition to this there were 177 successful applications for the ‘Trading Online Voucher’ (TOV) in the county of Laois. This scheme helps local businesses either get online or upgrade their online presence. Administered by the Local Enterprise Office in Laois in 2020 the county saw local firms benefit to the tune of €412,386 under the TOV scheme.

65,113 new .ie domains were registered in 2020, the highest ever figure and an almost 30% increase on 2019. Peaks and troughs in new .ie registrations generally followed the Government’s restrictions on travel and business. The highest peak occurred in May, approximately 6 weeks after the closure of non-essential retail.

This peak began to drop off from June, as restrictions eased, but moved up sharply in October, peaking again in November corresponding to the announcement of the second national lockdown. Encouragingly, new .ie registration growth was strong across the entire country, not just in urban centres. For the first time ever, annual .ie domain registrations increased in every county on the island of Ireland.

At the end of 2020, the total number of .ie domains in the database was 309,853, a 10.3% increase on 2019. The database has grown 46.9% on the same period five years ago (2015).

• 65,113 new .ie domains registered in 2020, the highest ever figure
• New .ie domain registrations increased YOY in every county in Ireland for the first time ever
• Pandemic and health-related keywords common in new .ie web addresses:
• uses of “mental health” and “counselling” increased 105% year-on-year
• General health-related keywords, such as “doctor”, “pharmacy”, and “fitness”, increased 92% year-on-year
• .IE CEO: “A local .ie web address has been a lifeline. It has also advantageously positioned many businesses for a more digitally integrated post-Covid-19 economy.”

The .ie database’s strong growth in 2020 can be attributed to the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns that closed physical premises and restricted travel and social gatherings.

The .ie domain now accounts for 51% of all domains hosted in Ireland, followed by .com (32%) and .uk (8%).*

The Pandemic had a huge impact on the business model taken by many new and established businesses. For example 315 .ie domains containing the word “mask” or “facemask” were registered in 2020
compared to just 6 in 2019; 61 containing the word “remote” (e.g. remote work) were
registered in 2020 compared to 5 in 2019.

General health-related keywords, including “wellness”, “supplement”, “pharmacy”, and
“fitness”, increased 92% year-on-year. 178 .ie web addresses containing the words “mental health” or “counselling” were registered in 2020, up from 87 in 2019 (+105%). 89 .ie domains containing the words “doctor” or “nurse” were registered vs 62 in 2019 (+44%). Click here for the full report.

Partial Text Credit: weare.ie