Baidu has received official approval (in Chinese) from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) to be the managing entity of its top-level domain (TLD) .BAIDU. This means Baidu will be responsible for future registrations of domain names in the .BAIDU domain, as well as the operation, maintenance, and management of the .BAIDU server.
In the future, it is expected that Baidu-associated domains will be transferred to .BAIDU. According to the MIIT, as the new TLD’s manager, Baidu should continue to enhance and enforce rules to better regulate domain name registration activities. Baidu should also continue to improve the quality of its domain operation, maintenance, management, and services. The MIIT requires Baidu to provide quarterly reports on .BAIDU’s operation status, including the number of domain name registrations, business development, and security operation status.
The establishment of the new TLD comes as good news for the Chinese internet giant, as it is an effective way to improve its brand influence and increase brand awareness. The MIIT has given the green light to several other Chinese companies to manage and launch TLDs this year. Earlier this month, internet top-level domain operator Minds + Machines Group was granted permission to launch four new top-level domains in China: .FASHION, .FIT, .YOGA and .LUXE.
Top-level domains can be categorized into three types: country code top-level domain (ccTLD; for example, “.cn”), generic top-level domain (gTLD; for example, “.com” and “.net”), and new generic top-level domain (New gTLD; for example, “.top” and “.red”). Brand TLDs fall into the latter category, which allows corporates to use their name as their website’s top-level identifier, instead of using generic ones like “.com”. Brand TLDs not only allow for companies to create easy-to-remember web addresses but also offer a way to increase security against trademark abuses.