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    • .ws

    Country-code top-level domainsDNSSEC

    Overview

    • .ws is the country code top-level domain (ccTLD) assigned to Samoa.
    • The letter pair "ws" is derived from "Western Samoa", the country's name when two-letter codes were standardized.
    • Registrations are made directly at the second level and the domain has been marketed as usable worldwide (branded as "world site", "website" or "web service").

    History

    • Introduced on 14 July 1995.
    • Administered by SamoaNIC / Computer Services Ltd. on behalf of the Government of Samoa (Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Trade).
    • Prior to 14 March 2008, .ws domains could not be transferred between registrars; transfers have been permitted since that date.
    • In 2016 .ws was one of the first registries to offer emoji domain registrations; by 2018 there were approximately 25,000 emoji domains registered under .ws.

    Usage and Audience

    • Intended for entities connected with Samoa, but widely used internationally.
    • Common uses include:
      • Domain hacks and creative brand domains (marketing the "ws" as part of words or phrases).
      • URL shortening for news organizations (notably using patterns such as "ne.ws").
      • Emoji and internationalized domain name (IDN) registrations for creative or brand purposes.
    • Mentioned use-cases include sites related to WorldStarHipHop and other global audiences rather than primarily local Samoan use.

    Registration Rules

    • Most second-level .ws domains have no geographic residency restrictions; special third-level spaces such as .org.ws, .gov.ws and .edu.ws are restricted.
    • Registrants must warrant legal rights to the name and that use does not infringe copyrights, trademarks or service marks.
    • The registry may refuse names deemed vulgar, obscene or generally offensive and may suspend or disable domains used for illegal purposes or obtained fraudulently.
    • The registry enforces a strong anti-spam policy and may terminate accounts used for sending spam.
    • Allowed characters include any that can be represented via Punycode (supporting internationalized domain names and emoji). ASCII characters and emoji may be mixed.
    • Pricing is tiered by name length: shorter (one-, two-, three-character) domains fall into higher pricing tiers compared with longer names.
    • Dispute resolution follows the UDRP.

    SEO and Brand Impact

    • Google treats .ws as a generic top-level domain (gTLD) for search-targeting purposes, i.e., not geo-targeting it specifically to Samoa.
    • The registry's global marketing ("world site"/"website") positions .ws as an option for global brands, creative domain hacks and novelty domains (including emoji), rather than exclusively a national namespace.

    Notable Cases or Examples

    • Early adoption of emoji domains: one of the first registries to offer emoji registrations, with ~25,000 emoji domains reported as of 2018.
    • Popular for domain hacks and URL shorteners used by news organizations (frequently using patterns such as "ne.ws").
    • Cited real-world associations include sites connected to WorldStarHipHop and other globally oriented web properties.

    Operator

    Government of Samoa Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Trade

    Whois

    % IANA WHOIS server
% for more information on IANA, visit http://www.iana.org
% This query returned 1 object

domain:       WS

organisation: Government of Samoa Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Trade
address:      P.O. Box 1861
address:      Apia
address:      Samoa

contact:      administrative
name:         CEO
organisation: Computer Services Ltd.
address:      Lotemau Centre
address:      Apia
address:      Samoa
phone:        +685 20926
fax-no:       +685 20932
e-mail:       admin.contact@csl.ws

contact:      technical
name:         CEO
organisation: Global Domains International
address:      701 Palomar Airport Road #300
address:      Carlsbad CA 92011
address:      United States of America (the)
phone:        +1 760 602 3000
fax-no:       +1 760 602 3099
e-mail:       tech.contact@csl.ws

nserver:      A.DNS.WS 194.146.106.146 2001:67c:1010:37:0:0:0:53
nserver:      NS2.DNS.WS 64.70.19.80
nserver:      NS5.DNS.WS 64.70.19.70
nserver:      S.DNS.WS 2a01:3f0:0:311:0:0:0:53 77.72.229.248
nserver:      US3.DNS.WS 64.70.78.70
nserver:      US4.DNS.WS 64.70.78.80
ds-rdata:     36454 8 2 7db7c8f0faed1ff118c3f081487cec39cec5c89fe647adc1e2d3643d1bc1f77d

whois:        whois.website.ws

status:       ACTIVE
remarks:      Registration information: http://www.website.ws

created:      1995-07-14
changed:      2021-05-26
source:       IANA

    Registrars