Trust is not about SSL. It's about domains
At ComplianceAndPrivacy we've been running a study on domains to trust. We don't mean "trustmydomain.com", we mean the thing most people call the 'domain suffix' but is really the 'Top Level Domain'; the little thing that you choose when buying "myfabulousdomain".
Do you choose .com, or do you think, incorrectly "That is for the USA"? Do you choose .biz? Is .org for you? What about .info?
So we asked, on a pretty normal website, this question: "Some domains seem to feel more trustworthy than others. This survey is about the .com .biz .info .org and other domain suffixes and which put you most at ease. OK, there are iffy nations, but we are lumping all national style ones under one entry. Tick all that say to you 'Trust this domain'"
We expected nothing significant. After all it was a website for Joe Q Public, but this is what we got:
The conclusions are pretty easy to draw, but we were surprised by the 77% of .org until we realised that the site we mounted the survey in is a .org, so that has skewed that bar unreasonmably highly. We suspect it shoudl be about level with .net in reality.
We did a little research:
- .biz is the home of spam and scam, it appears.
- .info is badly understood.
- .eu is pretty pointless - a mere affectation.
- .mobi: why? Just why?
- .name says that you want your name in lights.
So, if you want to be trusted, got for mainstream national coverage like .com, .co.uk, .de. Go for .net and .org if relevant to you, and avoid the others like the plague. No-one cares about them. Well, except not to trust them, that is! |
