United Kingdom Domains: .uk, .co.uk and More

Choose .co.uk for the long-established commercial form, .uk for the shortest address, and register both if the name carries your brand. The rules are identical: Nominet runs both, anyone can register, and the calendar after expiry is the same. Because the priority right of existing holders ended on 10 June 2019, the two versions of a name can belong to different owners, so holding both stops someone else from taking the other half of your brand.

Yes, you can register .uk, .co.uk and .org.uk names from anywhere in the world, with no UK company, address or representative. Nominet's rules say any person may register a .uk name, and .co.uk and .org.uk are open zones with no restriction on the applicant's status. No documents are uploaded either. What the registry does ask for is accurate registrant data: it checks names and addresses against third-party sources, and a name with significantly inaccurate details can be cancelled or placed in a special status.

The UK's extensions are .uk and its second-level zones such as .co.uk and .org.uk, plus the regional .london, .scot, .wales and .cymru. Nominet UK runs the .uk family as well as .wales and .cymru, while .london has its own registry, Dot London Domains Limited, and .scot is run by Dot Scot Registry Limited. All seven are available at Atak Domain, together with .uk.com and .uk.net. Those two are not part of .uk: they are names under .com and .net run by the private operator 8 Inc., whose own site states that it has no affiliation with the UK government.

No, you do not need to be a charity: .org.uk is an open zone and the registry asks for no proof of not-for-profit status. Its charter says the zone is intended for not-for-profit and public service bodies such as charities, trade unions, community groups and professional institutions, but the rules state that the registry takes no action against registrations that do not comply. In practice it suits organisations, while a commercial brand fits more naturally in .co.uk.

Yes, if you declare in good faith that you have an affiliation with or interest in London, for example by offering information, goods or services relevant to London or Londoners. A physical address in London, meaning the City or one of the 32 boroughs, also qualifies. You upload nothing at registration, but the declaration binds you: if the registry finds the requirement unmet, it can suspend, cancel or transfer the name with no obligation to refund the fee.

.wales and .cymru are open to everyone, while .scot is limited to the Scottish community. Nominet's rules for .wales and .cymru set no residence or connection requirement; Cymru is the Welsh name for Wales, so .cymru suits Welsh-language content. .scot asks for a cultural or business link to the Scottish community and a statement of how you will use the name; no Scottish address is needed, and the diaspora is included.

Yes: .uk and .co.uk both tell Google the site is meant for the United Kingdom, and because .co.uk sits under the same country code, the two send the same signal. Google treats country-code domains as a strong sign of the target country, and .uk is not one of the codes it handles like generic domains. The other side of that signal is that a .co.uk site serves the UK alone, so a business that also sells across Europe or in the US keeps a generic domain for those visitors.

Search your name, add the .uk and .co.uk versions to your cart, enter accurate registrant details and complete payment; no documents are needed. Nominet checks names and addresses against third-party sources, so use the company or personal details that match your official records. The first step is a search on the domain search page.