The Surprising Use of the .gg Domain

Every country around the world has its own domain name, or ccTLD, to use the technical term. There’s .us for the United States, .cn for China, .au for Australia, and so on. Some of these domains are well-known, and others less so.

Some of them also start small, associated only with quite small countries or territories, but go on to become surprisingly popular. They gain new, unexpected uses and niche audiences. The domain .gg is one such example, and in this guide, we’ll explore how and why .gg is quite a popular extension.

A Quick Intro to .gg

First, let’s look at what .gg actually is. As touched on above, .gg falls into the category of ccTLDs, or country-code top-level domains. It’s the ccTLD for the Bailiwick of Guernsey, which is part of the Channel Islands, situated between the United Kingdom and France.

Guernsey is not a country, but instead a Crown Dependency of Great Britain. It extends across 30 square miles of land and is home to less than 70,000 people. Yet, despite its small size, Guernsey’s domain name – .gg – has found fans and users all over the globe.

The Secret Behind .gg’s Success

So why has the domain name of a little group of islands proven so popular? Well, certain ccTLDs, like this one, can develop surprisingly bigger-than-normal audiences because of the letters that comprise them.

• .tv, for example, is the ccTLD for the small island country of Tuvalu, but also looks just like the abbreviation of television. So it’s popular with TV-related sites and streaming services.
• .ai is another example. It’s the ccTLD for the Caribbean island of Anguilla, but also looks like the short form of the phrase “artificial intelligence,” so is hugely popular in the tech sphere.
• .it, .io, .ly, and .in are other ccTLDs that have all proven popular far beyond the countries they were originally intended for, due to their associations or uniquely useful combinations of letters.

The domain .gg has followed a similar path as all of the above, and any gamers out there will instantly understand why. In the gaming world, “GG” is the abbreviation for “Good game” and is a message that many players send to one another at the end of multiplayer online matches.

Because of this, the .gg extension has seen widespread adoption in the gaming world. Video game websites, streaming platforms, esports organizations, and similar entities all use .gg at the end of their web addresses, with prominent examples like discord.gg and fortnite.gg.

This has all been a real boon to Guernsey, which has seen a big rise in .gg registrations in recent years, along with increased interest in the Channel Islands from those eager to learn more about .gg’s origins.

Funnily enough, the Guernsey man who actually created the .gg extension also has other ties to the video game industry. As a student, he co-created Multi-User Dungeon, the world’s first-ever multiple-user video game.

How to Get a .gg Address

If you’re setting up a video game website, are interested in video games, or otherwise have reason to feel that .gg is the right fit for your plans, you might wonder how to go about obtaining it. You may also want to know if there are any rules or restrictions that control who can set up a .gg site.

Fortunately, there are no such restrictions with this particular domain name. That means that anyone can create a .gg site. You don’t need to live in Guernsey, do business there, or have any ties to the area. You can be on the other side of the world and still make a .gg site without any problems.

Here’s how it’s done:

1. Decide on what name you want to use for your website.
2. Check that your chosen name is available with .gg, with the help of an availability tool.
3. Pick a trusted .gg domain registration partner to complete the process with.
4. Enter the details of your site and make the necessary payment.
5. Claim ownership of your new .gg site and start building it.

It’s that simple. But remember, the longer you wait, the greater the chance there is of someone else claiming your .gg website name before you can. So, if you have a name in mind, it’s best to register it right away and make it officially yours.