Google has announced a new domain extension type, which could be another way to generate more interest and traffic for some brands.

The new domain extension is .ing, which will enable you to construct various adverb-inspired URLs for your business.

As explained by Google:

“This top-level domain is ready for whatever you're interested in, whether it’s mak.ing a fun website, giv.ing to a good cause, design.ing something beautiful or edit.ing an existing document. If you’re go.ing on an adventure, ink.ing a tattoo, enjoying a dumpl.ing or adapt.ing to something new, .ing is ready for action. So who’s already on .ing?”

So, cool, right? Now you can come up with interesting wordplay for your URLs, which could make them more memorable, and drive more traffic to specific sites, or sub-sites dedicated to more specific offerings.

It’s interesting to see Google still experimenting with these unique domains, after it sold Google Domains to Squarespace earlier this year, as part of its broader cost-cutting efforts. With that, it seemed like Google had probably had enough of messing around with novelty URLs. But evidently not, with this new push showing that the Big G still has the capacity to come up with unusual URL extensions for businesses, via Google Registry.

But are they worth investing in?

There’s no definitive evidence that suggests that custom URL names like this drive more traffic, while they could also be a negative in some respects, because most people are more accustomed to the usual .com and similar, and are therefore less likely to be entering in other three-letter combinations.

But maybe, as an experiment for a new product, or an element that you want to bring more focus to, they could be worth trying. It’s something different, which could grab attention.

But I would say that it’s a fairly big maybe.

If you are interested, Google says that website admins can now register .ing domains as part of its Early Access Period (EAP) for an additional one-time fee.

“This fee decreases according to a daily schedule until December 5. On December 5 at 16:00 UTC, .ing domains will be publicly available at a base annual price through your registrar of choice.”

You can find out more information by visiting get.ing.