New tool can help prevent costly mistakes.
Domain Incite has launched Stringtel, a tool to help new top level domain name applicants analyze potential strings.
Stringtel uses the rules of the applicant guidebook and external domain registration data to identify both risks and opportunities for different TLDs.
For example, it identifies cases where a string will be rejected outright (e.g., as a blocked geographic name), is likely to be in contention based on proposed applications, or is at high risk of string collision.
Even well-funded applicants can make mistakes and submit applications for disallowed strings. Google submitted three applications last time that matched protected three letter country codes.
On the opportunity side, it analyzes how many second level domains containing the string are registered across 180 million already-registered domain names in popular legacy top level domains.
As an example, inputting ‘service’ as a string will show you it has market potential but has several issues, including having been identified as posing a high risk of name collisions and likely being the singular form of the existing .services top level domain.
Enter ‘eth’, and Stringtel warns that the string is forbidden because it matches the three-letter country code for Ethiopia.
Stringtel is free to use.
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