Australian internet users can now register ‘second level’ .au domains.
Until now, users in Australia have been restricted to only ‘third level’ domains i.e. domain.com.au, domain.org.au. Now, they are able to register domain.au.
Along with the introduction of second level domains in Australia, domain registrars are allowing a period of priority registration – this means that people who already own the .com.au or .net.au will have the first chance to register their corresponding .au domain.
The priority period will last until September this year, and you will only be eligible for an exact match on the domain name, i.e. bluemouse.com.au and bluemouse.au. AuDA, the .au registry operator, has also made allowances for conflict resolution in which one party may own .com.au and another may own .org.au or .net.au, for example.
Why Register Your .au?
The most significant reason is to ensure brand protection – so that someone else doesn’t register it sometime in the future and cause confusion for your online users.
You also may prefer to use it as your primary domain, since it is just that little bit shorter for users to remember. It also negates the confusion around ‘is it .com.au or .net.au or .org.au?’.