Cyrillic domains: pros, cons and pitfalls

Contents

• Can I use Cyrillic domains?
• The advantages of using Cyrillic domains.
• Disadvantages of Cyrillic domains.
• Using Punycode.
• How to transfer a domain to Punycode.
• Conclusions.

Most sites are registered under domain names written in Latin characters. Until recently, this was the only option accepted worldwide. However, about 10 years ago it became possible to register a Cyrillic domain – the name of the site written in Cyrillic. The popularity of such solutions is increasing every year, but should we move away from common standards? In this article we will consider the advantages of using sites with Cyrillic domains, what troubles are at risk and how to deal with them.

Can I use Cyrillic domains?

In most cases, such solutions are resorted to for the convenience of the target audience. After all, it’s much easier for people who don’t speak English to type in address in the address bar of of your browser “chamomile.uk” than “chamomile.ua”. An additional plus – no need to switch the keyboard layout. As a result. users get faster access to the resource, which increases loyalty.

In the search engine results sites written in Cyrillic look like this:

The advantages of using Cyrillic domains

• Easy to remember, which is important when launching offline advertising campaigns: on television, radio, billboards, etc.
• Convenience for users of the Russian-speaking Internet.
• Many free domain names in Russian. Finding a usable Latin name is not easy because of the huge number of registered sites. Cyrillic in this regard is not yet so common, so it is easier to pick up a unique domain name.
• In the name of the site, written in Russian letters, you can write a keyword. Many SEO-specialists consider it a plus when promoting.

In addition, sites with Cyrillic characters are displayed quite adequately in all browsers, there are no problems with them problems in search engines.

Disadvantages of Cyrillic domains

Cyrillic domains problems:

• Coding. For a domain name to comply with Unicode standards, which only supports letters of the Latin alphabet, numbers and hyphens, decoding is required. The Punycode method is used for this purpose, and we’ll talk more about it next.
• Not every hosting company supports Cyrillic domains – problems may arise when searching for a provider.
• Suitable only for the Russian-speaking audience. Users from other countries are more accustomed to the Latin alphabet. If your project enters the international market with a name in Cyrillic, it is likely to lose to competitors who use the letters of the English alphabet.
• There may be difficulties with promotion. Cyrillic domains and SEO are still a controversial topic. For example, one way to attract users is the registration site in directories. But some services either support domains in Latin characters only, or display converted variants of domain names in Cyrillic. The promotion of links also has its own nuances. Anchor (link “hidden” in the word) does not cause questions, but with bezankornyh (link is inserted in the usual form) is not so simple, because they are displayed in the converted form, which is not visually appealing.

Using Punycode

Punycode is a method of converting Cyrillic domain into a character set that conforms to Unicode standards and is required to display the site correctly. What does it look like? You’ve probably noticed that when copying addresses In Cyrillic instead of beautiful “site.ukr” you get an incomprehensible set of characters like “xn-80rlfmilkjrud.xn--j1amd”. That’s how search engine crawlers see it and, by the way, don’t consider it in a human-readable URL. Convert a regular domain in Russian in Latin letters and numbers is needed, so that all browsers and search engines can understand the link and did not give out a 404 error. Another common reason is filling out the robots.txt file. It can only use letters of the English alphabet, numbers and hyphens. If your sites have Cyrillic domains, conversion will become a necessity.

How to transfer a domain to Punycode

There are many services for online domain name conversion. They are easy enough to use – enter the name of the site in Cyrillic in the field and click “Translate”. In the new line, you will see the Latin script, which you can copy and paste wherever you want.

As an example, take the well-known multifunctional service 2ip.ru. As implemented here conversion:

Lifecycle

Almost all modern browsers have Punycode built in. You can take advantage of this so you don’t have to look for a converter in the Google or Yandex. Enter the name of the site in Cyrillic in the search box, copy and paste it, for example, in a text document. You will get a link already converted by to the standard Unicode.

Conclusions

Cyrillic domains are gaining popularity in the Russian-speaking segment. They are easier to remember, there are more free options, respectively, the choice of name is easier. As for the promotion of sites with Cyrillic domains, there are subtleties, but global problems with them is not observed.

The only trouble you may encounter is that not all services provide the ability to registration domain name in Cyrillic. Tuthost works with domain zones in the national language, such as “.ukr”. When working with us, you also get protection of the domain from theft, DNS management, data hiding. Apply for registration by phone, online chat, or email.