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New Study Finds Key Factors Driving Domain Renewal Rates

Using CENTR's "Signs of Life" crawler, approximately 700,000 domains across 21 ccTLDs were scanned in March 2023, just before their renewal/expiry dates. Domains were classified into three categories:

• High-content (developed websites)

• Low-content (parked sites)

• No-content (no web presence)

Overall Results

As expected, domains with high-content websites have the highest renewal rates at 90.1%. The rate drops for parked domains to 78.5% and to 70.5% for those without content. Domain age also plays a role, increasing significantly after three years and growing steadily each year after that. However, the study found that web content is a stronger predictor of renewal rates than age. For instance, domains with developed content consistently outperform parked or no-content domains, even when the latter are older.

Renewal Aspects for the .ee Domain

The study included around 10,000 .ee domains, with an average renewal rate of 83.2%. Notably, .ee stands out with a higher-than-average renewal rate for domains without content (80.7% vs. 70.5%). Renewals of high- and low-quality registrations are on par with the average.

Additionally, .ee has a small number of parked domains, but also a lower average domain age. Along with the .sk registry, we are one of the only ones to report the phenomenon where renewal rates are higher for domains with no content than for low-quality websites. Thus, the .ee market is more dynamic compared to other European top-level domains and has not yet reached maturity.

Overall, the study conducted by CENTR provides valuable insights, not only for registry development but also for registrar services and communication. It's clear that additional services, especially web hosting and email, play a significant role in domain renewals by emphasizing the domain's importance and long-term value.