What does it mean if you see .cn as a top level domain?

About .cn domains

CNNIC is the sponsor and is our backend provider for the country-code top-level domain name (ccTLD) .cn extension that represents China.

Who can register .cn domains?

Anyone can register .cn, .com.cn, .net.cn, and .org.cn domains on a first-come, first-served basis.

• .cn - Intended for China businesses or individuals.
• .com.cn - Intended for commercial entities.
• .net.cn - Intended for network infrastructures, such as Internet Service Providers.
• .org.cn - Intended for non profit.

Registration restrictions

When registering a .cn domain, you must follow specific requirements.

• Must use: 2 - 63 Characters
• Can use: Letters (a-z characters), numbers (0-9) and hyphens (except in the 1st or last characters of the domain name)
• Cannot use: Special characters (e.g., & and #)
• IDNs: Supported (Chinese on only .cn)
• In order to complete registration, you must have passed real name validation.

Features

• Registration length: 1-10 years
• Renewal length: 1-10 years
• Expired .cn domains may be restored without a redemption fee within the first 15 days after expiration. They are then recoverable from the 15th day of expiration to the 40th with a possible redemption fee. After the 40 days, the domain will be removed from your account.
• Backorders: Not supported
• Transfers to GoDaddy: Supported
• Transfers away from GoDaddy: Supported
• Transfer Lock: Supported
• The domain cannot be transferred if domain will expire within 15 days.
• A domain cannot be transferred for 60 days following a registration.
• Cannot transfer a domain for 60 days after a transfer.
• Cannot transfer a domain after a change of registrant for 60 days.
• Transfers to another GoDaddy account: Supported
• Basic privacy protection: Not supported
• Protection plan upgrades: Not supported
• CashParking: Supported
• Contact Updates: Supported
• If your domain is not yet registered and you have not passed real name validation, contact updates can be made freely.
• If your domain registered and real name validation passed, you can only update your registrant organization, first name, and last name by completing real name validation for the new information. Other contact information can be updated freely.

Nameserver requirements

• Must use: 0-6 Nameservers
• Can use: IPv4, Unique IP address
• Cannot use: IPv6, DNSSEC

Refunds

Cancellation requirements

To cancel your .cn domain, contact our GoDaddy Guides for assistance.

.cn vs .com--which is better for Baidu?

Choosing a ccTLD is ideal if your business is exclusively targeting a local market or country. The TLD can signal to a search engine, assuming that search engine has worldwide reach, that you are trying to rank highly in its local version.

Since Google is not accessible in China, this might make little to no difference in signaling which market you want to reach. Therefore, choosing between a .cn and .com really boils down to making a business decision. However, a .cn website can add a little prestige to your website. Since the government has strict regulations for approving a .cn domain, it can make your business even more appealing.

Baidu, which is China’s equivalent to Google search, does not depend on TLDs alone to rank your website or ensure that your website will not be flagged by the authorities. Instead it is the content of your website that is most important, which is also the main basis of SEO. While a ccTLD may signal that your website is localized, it does not really provide a lot of context for you to have a high search ranking if your content--text and graphics—does not correspond to the search results you are targeting.

Reasons why retail businesses like Shopify use .cn

Some big businesses in China, such as Shopify, use .cn because they want to clearly designate their site for a location. This means their local sites in countries such as Canada and the Philippines, for example, use a .ca and .ph respectively, instead of a .com. This practice is quite common among global retail brands.

This also serves a purpose for big international search engines such as Google or Yahoo. It could be part of their search engine optimization efforts to signal to an international search engine the appropriate location for their rankings.

Another reason why Shopify uses ccTLD is to automate language options, which is also a common feature of retail websites. By using a ccTLD, users can quickly revert to a website language they prefer.

Do I Need A .CN Domain Name For China?

• Last Updated: Feb 11, 2021
• Baidu SEO/SEM
• 2 Comments

This is part 2 our our double bill on the world of domain names. If you missed out the intro and overview on this topic, check it out first – there’s a valuable overview of the TLD…

What’s a TLD? Oh, that’s the .com / .cn part of your domain name that’s found at the end. It’s short for top level domain. Why do you care? Because if you choose the wrong one, you will reduce the number of people coming to your website….Read on for the valuable do’s and don’ts!!

Should I Choose A .CN Domain Name For My China Website?

First need to know why you choose your top level domain or TLD ( the .com or .nz part of your website).

As an internet marketer I have a general starting point for domain names outside China “Dotcom or bust”.
Why would that be? Marketing is all about what you do before the sales process – creating awareness, interest and action towards your way of helping people solve their problems. It’s the “getting to know you” phase, before anyone makes a commitment.
Anything you can do to make that process smoother is improving your bottom line.
In short – most people have a hard time remembering other tlds. If you had to put anything at the end of a domain name you heard but can’t remember clearly, you put .com

I have a lifelong friend with a .co.uk website and I still type it in wrong, using the .com instead of the correct web address. You don’t want that…

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Registering Top Level Domain names in China

Submitted by Alina Danieles…

Internet usage is truly booming in China, with more than 701 million ‘netizens’ (as of December 2016), China connects more people to the Internet than any other country. In fact, every fourth person on the Internet is from China. Facilitated by the increasing availability of broadband technology and the growing trend towards online shopping and purchasing, the Internet is an attractive business and marketing platform for many European SMEs. The China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) has also now removed barriers to overseas companies and individuals to register domain names in China, and it is recommended that European SMEs take advantage of this if they are planning on entering the Chinese market or are already in China.

Domain Name Requirements

From May 2012, .cn and .中国 domain name registrations became available again for private individual registrations (both Chinese and overseas). The process takes a few weeks and currently costs €50-€100.

The following steps are required:

• International registrars - .cn: http://cnnic.com.cn/IS/CNym/CNymzcfwjgsq/

• International registrars - .中国: http://cnnic.com.cn/IS/zwym/zgymzcfwjg/

These restrictions are both good news and bad news for European SMEs. The good news is that the removal of the local presence requirements enable European SMEs to register .cn and .中国 domain names, using their European company data and business certificates. This will enable European SMEs to register .cn and .中国 domain names, without needing to establish a local business unit within China. The flipside of the coin, however, is that after an immense effort by the Chinese authorities to make the .cn name clean from fake registrants, the same removal of local presence requirements may again make the .cn and .中国 domain names an attractive space for cybersquatters and other online criminals, now that these domain names have become easier to register. By keeping the requirement of copies of business certificates and passports for private individual registrations, one can hope that the .cn domain space will not be as attractive to cybersquatters as other completely automated top level domain names such as .com and .net. A cybersquatter is an individual or firm that registers a domain in bad faith, with the intent to sell it to the rightful owner at an inflated price.

The new .中国 (.China) top level domain

In July 2010, CNNIC launched the .中国 domain name which was then officially ready for use. According to CNNIC more than 90% of Chinese governmental departments and more than 95% of news websites had already activated .中国 domain names. The new .中国 top level domain name is also expected to further promote Chinese content on websites. Meanwhile, for European businesses, the new .中国 top level domain name (TLD) will provide an inexpensive and efficient way to reach Chinese consumers in their own language.

What are the rules for registering .中国 domain names?

Registrants of existing .cn domain names with Chinese characters, such as for instance 中文.CN, will automatically be granted the same domain name using the .中国 TLD in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

If SMEs wish to register a domain name containing Chinese characters both under .cn (中文.cn) and under .中国 (中文.中国) SMEs will have to file two registration applications.

Furthermore, it is possible to combine Chinese scripts with Latin characters, Arabic numbers (0-9), and the hyphen, ‘-’, when registering under .中国.

Take-away message:

Registering Chinese domain names is now a quick, cheap and relatively simple process. To reap the business rewards of reaching Chinese internet surfers in their own language, EU SMEs should take care to register their company and trade mark domain names as early as possible in China.

The China IPR SME Helpdesk supports small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) from European Union (EU) member states to protect and enforce their Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) in or relating to China, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, through the provision of free information and services. The Helpdesk provides jargon-free, first-line, confidential advice on intellectual property and related issues, along with training events, materials and online resources. Individual SMEs and SME intermediaries can submit their IPR queries via email (question [at] china-iprhelpdesk.eu) and gain access to a panel of experts, in order to receive free and confidential first-line advice within 3 working days.

The China IPR SME Helpdesk is an initiative by the European Union.

To learn more about the China IPR SME Helpdesk and any aspect of intellectual property rights in China, please visit our online portal at http://www.ipr-hub.eu/.

China IPR SME Helpdesk domain name registration

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