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Why Google should make .im a gccTLD
Does anybody know the reason why the .im TLD (Isle of Man) is not a "gccTLD" -- and thus not geotargetable in the Google Webmaster Tools?
Here's Google's support article describing what "gccTLDs" are:
https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/1347922
The Isle of Man has about 84,497 inhabitants -- not that much. In contrast to this, there are tons of websites that use the .im TLD for other purposes, mainly messenger applications:
* ejabberd.im = XMPP server
* trillian.im = multi-platform messenger
* imo.im = mobile messenger
* whistle.im = secure mobile messenger
* plus.im = mobile messenger
* pidgin.im = XMPP messenger
* disa.im = mobile messenger
* peer.im = group chats
* prosody.im = XMPP server
* adium.im = messenger for Mac
* tox.im = secure messenger
* doit.im = to-do list / time and task management
* tweet.im = frontend for Twitter / messenger applications
* hosted.im = business communication
* blah.im = XMPP server
* coccinella.im = XMPP messenger
* oneteam.im = business communication
* delete.im = ephemeral messaging
* thenews.im = frontend for Hacker News / Designer News
Other TLDs (all of them belonging to larger countries) have already been made a gccTLD:
* .cd = Democratic Republic of the Congo = 77,433,744 inhabitants
* .co = Colombia = 47,425,437 inhabitants
* .la = Laos = 6,695,166 inhabitants
* .dj = Djibouti = 810,179 inhabitants
* .me = Montenegro = 625,266 inhabitants
* .sr = Suriname = 566,846 inhabitants
* .bz = Belize = 334,297 inhabitants
* .ws = (Western) Samoa = 194,320 inhabitants
* .fm = Federated States of Micronesia = 106,104 inhabitants
* .sc = Seychelles = 90,024 inhabitants