If you’ve ever browsed the internet in Australia, you’ve no doubt come across websites using .com.au. It’s extremely hard to miss as some of the most popular websites in Australia use .com.au domain names.
But just what is a .com.au domain? Simply put, it is a second-level country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Australia. Okay, maybe that wasn’t so simple but let’s break it down to make it easier to understand:
- Second-level refers to the .com part. The intended usage for any domain that uses ‘com’ is for commercial or business purposes, but this rule isn’t ever enforced so there’s nothing stopping you from using a .com.au domain for something like a personal blog.
- Country code (cc) means that the domain is used to denote a country. Most countries and territories around the world have been issued their own domain extension, and for Australia, that extension is .au, which brings us to…
- Top-level domain (TLD) refers to the .au part of a domain. It’s here where the domain establishes which country the website represents and for .au, that’s Australia.
There’s much more to .com.au domains than just explaining how it works within the confines of the domain name structure so let’s delve a little deeper.
Which Country Uses .com.au Domains?
The .com.au domain is the most popular domain name you can register in Australia, meaning .com.au is a great choice of domain if you’re looking to reach or target an Australian audience.
In general, a country’s domain name is a little like a country’s flag. As soon as you see the Australian flag on an athletics star’s outfit, you know it means the person is representing Australia. The same can be said for a .com.au domain. When you see a website ending in .com.au, you know it means the website primarily focuses on Australian users.
A Brief History of .com.au Domains
It might be hard to believe but Australian domains first existed in some capacity in 1986, when the .au top-level domain was first created and delegated to Melbourne University.
Initially, services for .com.au and other Australian domain names were free of charge but in 1996, when the idea of being on the internet really started to gain traction, and domain names became more sought after, the commercial arm of Melbourne University took over registration operations exclusively and began to charge rough $150 AUD for .com.au domain name, a massive difference to the $15 AUD we currently charge at OnlyDomains.
In March 1997, there were plans to delete all the .com.au domains that had been registered for free, so they could charge them again, but this was aborted due to a class action lawsuit by the existing .com.au domain registrants.
Those early phases of .com.au operations do come across somewhat like the Wild West, where people were flying by the seat of their pants. It wasn’t until the late 90s that things started to resemble how everything operates today.
In 1999, the .au Domain Administration (auDA) was formed to manage the operations of all .au domain names and to protect the integrity of all top-level and second level .au domain names. auDA still manages all Australian domains to this day.
Can I Buy a .com.au Domain?
It can be quite tricky buying a .com.au domain name, even if you’re an Aussie.
The main issue is that to buy a .com.au domain, you need to be a ‘commercial entity’ based in Australia, provide an ID number as proof and ensure that the domain you want is a close or exact match to the entities name, whether that be your sole trading or business name.
The most common ID numbers used to meet the proof requirement are:
- Australian Business Number (ABN)
- Australian Company Number (ACN)
- Australian Trademark Number
Note that if you’re using an Australia Trademark Number as your ID Number, which is how overseas businesses tend to buy .com.au domains, then your Trademark name must be an exact match of the domain. As in, if you’re trying to register ‘iwantanaussiedomain.com.au’, your Australian trademark must be ‘I want an Aussie domain’. If you have that trademark, but find someone already has your domain, then you should talk to auDA about filing a dispute.
If you can supply an appropriate ID number, then you’re good to go and should have no issues buying a .com.au domain name.
If you’d like more information about .com.au domain requirements, please read our how to get a .com.au domain without an ABN article. You can also see how to buy a .com.au domain, if you meet the requirements and are ready to make your purchase.
Start Your .com.au Search
The Benefits of Using a .com.au Domain
If you’re making the choice between using a .com.au domain or another domain, here are some benefits to using .com.au to help make the decision easier:
- When using a .com.au domain, your website will be instantly recognisable as Australian. This is the biggest benefit you can have if the purpose of your website is to reach an Australian audience as you’ll immediately have credibility and gain the local trust of internet browsing Aussies.
- Despite there being roughly 3,000,000 registered .com.au domains, this still pales in comparison to the likes of .com, which is in the hundreds of millions of domains registered. This means you’ve got a much higher chance of finding the domain name you truly want when choosing .com.au.
- Due to the domain requirements of .com.au, it’s hard to use them for fraud or other dodgy purposes, so they’re considered a very safe and secure domain.
- Using a .com.au domain will make it easier for you to rank in search engines like google.com.au, as companies like Google tend to prioritise local websites for searches from their area.
- There are other Australian domains you can register, such as .net.au or the recently released .au, but in terms of mindshare and marketability, .com.au is still the king of Australian domain names.
For an expanded overview of the benefits of using .com.au, check out our is .com.au a good domain? article.
How Does .com.au Differ from .com?
The ‘com’ part is about all that .com and .com.au actually have in common. We provide an expanded head-to-head analysis in our .com vs .com.au full comparison, but here’s the tl;dr on how .com.au is different to .com:
- .com.au represents Australia as a country domain, whereas .com doesn’t represent any country and is classified as a generic domain.
- A generic domain like .com doesn’t have any inherent search engine or marketing benefits, but you will see benefits when using .com.au within the Australian market.
- Typically, only Australian citizens with business connections to Australia can register .com.au domains whereas anyone can register a .com domain.
- .com.au has around 3 million registered domains, while .com has over 100 million.
- The managing entities for both domains are different, with .com.au managed by AUDA (.au Domain Administration) and .com managed by VeriSign, Inc.
What About Other Australian Domain Names?
The .com.au domain is just one of many Australian domains that someone can register. In total, there are six publicly available Australian domain names, each with the unique intended usage:
- .com.au – for businesses
- .net.au – also for businesses
- .org.au – for non-profit organisations
- .au – for anyone
- .asn.au – for special bodies like trade unions and sporting entities
- .id.au – for individuals
Each domain name has its advantages and disadvantages, which we go over in our .com.au vs .au and .com.au vs .net.au articles.
Popular .com.au Websites
As of the publishing date, according to SimilarWeb, a leading authority on website traffic data, these are the most popular websites that use a .com.au domain name:
google.com.au – The Australian version of the popular search engine.
news.com.au – An Australia online news publication.
amazon.com.au – Online retailer Amazon’s Australian website.
realestate.com.au – A good website to visit when looking to buy a home in Australia.
ebay.com.au – Australian version of the popular online auction website.
The Final Word on .com.au
If you’ve made it this far, we’re hoping you now know what a .com.au domain is, the country it represents, if you’re eligible to buy one and the many benefits of using .com.au as your domain of choice. In our opinion, it’s the best domain you can register if you’re looking to target an Australian audience, even better than .com.
Since you’re now armed with sufficient knowledge, why not take the next step and do a free .com.au domain search? Who knows, maybe you’ll get lucky and find the perfect .com.au domain name for you.
