.uk domain climbs up the league table

The .uk domain name has seen massive growth over the past year, making it the second most common domain in the world.

Nearly nine million registered domain names now use the .uk suffix, claimed Nominet's Domain Name Industry report, with over 200,000 new registrations in just one month.

Only Germany's .de domain overshadowed .uk and it pushed China's .cn domain to third place, with the Netherlands taking fourth spot.

"Trust and confidence in the .uk domain namespace is important for UK consumers and businesses alike," said the report.

The report claimed extra tools for registrars to protect against cyber crime have helped dangerous sites to be detected and removed. The .uk domain is now seen by many as a mark of a trustworthy destination, Nominet said.

"Trust and preference for .uk websites is increasing year on year sending an important message to UK businesses that consumers are most comfortable when dealing online with UK businesses on .uk websites," added the report.

There are now about 200 million registered domain names globally.

Jennifer Scott is a former freelance journalist and currently political reporter for Sky News. She has a varied writing history, having started her career at Dennis Publishing, working in various roles across its business technology titles, including ITPro. Jennifer has specialised in a number of areas over the years and has produced a wealth of content for ITPro, focusing largely on data storage, networking, cloud computing, and telecommunications.

Most recently Jennifer has turned her skills to the political sphere and broadcast journalism, where she has worked for the BBC as a political reporter, before moving to Sky News.