UK surfers prefer British websites

British net users are more trusting and loyal to local domain names, with 72 per cent of surfers heading for a .co.uk domain name over a .com, according to research published today.

Some 62 per cent of those surveyed also believe that a UK suffix will mean that the site is more relevant to them, while a third believe that local domain names are essential in order to appeal to local customers.

For example, when looking to buy books online, seven out of 10 surfers would head straight to www.amazon.co.uk, with just five per cent of people saying that www.amazon.com would be their natural first port of call, according to the survey of more than 2,000 net users carried out by YouGov on behalf of UK domain registry Nominet.

"The findings show that British internet users are loyal to local websites and have higher levels of trust for the .uk domain name," said Lesley Cowley, Nominet's chief executive.

Maggie has been a journalist since 1999, starting her career as an editorial assistant on then-weekly magazine Computing, before working her way up to senior reporter level. In 2006, just weeks before ITPro was launched, Maggie joined Dennis Publishing as a reporter. Having worked her way up to editor of ITPro, she was appointed group editor of CloudPro and ITPro in April 2012. She became the editorial director and took responsibility for ChannelPro, in 2016.

Her areas of particular interest, aside from cloud, include management and C-level issues, the business value of technology, green and environmental issues and careers to name but a few.