You've settled on a business name — now which ending do you register? .co.uk, .com and .uk all point to the same idea, but they send slightly different signals and it's worth choosing deliberately.
What each ending says
- .co.uk — the long-standing default for UK businesses. Familiar, trusted, and instantly says "British". Great for firms serving a UK audience.
- .com — the global default. Best if you sell internationally or want the most recognisable, universal ending. Often harder to get for common names.
- .uk — the shorter, newer British ending. Clean and modern, and often available when .co.uk is taken.
There's no SEO penalty for any of them — Google ranks a well-built .co.uk site just as happily as a .com. The choice is about audience and availability, not rankings.
Protect your brand
If budget allows, it's common sense to register more than one ending — typically your .co.uk and .com — so a competitor can't grab the other and trade off your name. You don't have to build sites on all of them; you can simply point the spares at your main site.
Watch the renewal trap
Plenty of registrars lure you in with a cheap first year, then hike the renewal. We register domains at cost with a single, transparent setup fee — in your name, set up properly, with DNS and email handled for you.
The short version
Serving the UK? A .co.uk or .uk is a natural fit. Global ambitions? Secure the .com. Either way, grab the obvious alternatives to protect your name, and make sure whoever registers it puts it in your name.