.PRO’s Impressive Growth

Publication date of the article: February 26, 2016

The .PRO extension is gaining popularity, showing dynamic increase in the number of registrations.

The .PRO domain, first launched in June 2004, is an extension dedicated to professionals. Since its introduction until recently, its availability was restricted to a few industries and countries. .PRO addresses could be registered by lawyers, accountants, doctors and engineers from the following countries: the US, Britain, Canada and France. However, the restrictive registration protocol did not prove very effective – in fact, it prevented thousands of professionals, including policemen or firefighters, from registering domain names within this meaningful extension. In 2008, the .PRO Domain Authority reported mere 6.9 thousand registrations.

In September 2008, the .PRO Registry re-introduced the domain and extended the potential customer base, but its availability was still bound by limitations. Registrants had to evidence that they were government certified experts, but access to the .PRO domain names was no longer dependent on the registrant’s country of origin. Further changes on the management level took place in 2012, when the total number of domain names registered within .PRO was about 160,000, dropping to 120,000 in July that same year. But it was not until restrictions on .PRO registrations were lifted in November 2015, when the domain was made available to all professionals and things turned around.

At the beginning of 2016, the number of .PRO registrations skyrocketed and the domain gained over 50,000 new domain names. The apt illustration of this dynamic growth can be seen on the graph below (adapted from data at RegistrarStats.com).

This jump is even more impressive given the fact that .PRO domain names are not widely available at all registrars across the globe. Thus it appears to be a good time to obtain a professional Internet address with the meaningful .PRO extension. It can certainly help to set your website apart among thousands of .COMs on the web.

Whether you are a CPA, an attorney, a real estate agent, a web designer, or a specialised auto technician, a short and memorable .PRO address will be a good fit. It will attract visitors who want to work with a professional.

To check if the name you are looking for is available, please use our search tool. If you need assistance, contact us at support@europeid.com.