June 2020 Dot Brand Insights Report: How .SHARP Surged to the Top of the Alexa Rankings


By Connie Hon, domain product manager
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In our June 2020 Dot Brand Insights Report, we look into the increase in .BRAND domains being used by brand owners to communicate important messaging to their customers, investors, and employees in light of the COVID-19 global pandemic. And we share a story about how JP.SHARP surged to the top of the Alexa .BRAND chart for domain names when its subdomain was used for Japanese residents to obtain surgical masks.

We’ve seen an increase in domains under management that’s led by the 17% increase from .BRANDs within the automotive, tires, and other vehicles sector. Despite this, only 10% of .BRAND domain names have been set up with email security tools such as domain-based message authentication, reporting, and conformance (DMARC), domainkeys identified mail (DKIM), and sender policy framework (SPF) records. The lack of email security among .BRAND and legacy domain names feeds the problem of fear-based phishing attacks, which are especially effective in the time of quarantine.

We also continue to report on more Alexa statistics, including the distinct uptick in the activity surrounding .BRAND domain names like .GOOGLE and .CANON. The number of .BRAND sites from the finance and money industries have also risen sharply, as more turn to .BRANDs for business and personal banking.

In our In Focus segment, learn how .BRANDs can be used to manage third-party distribution, for the purpose of assessing ongoing behavior, performance, and risk, and achieve consistency in their website framework and content structure.

Download the full report now.