2010 called and they want your .bc.ca domain!

Do you still own and use a .bc.ca domain or one of the other provincial ones like .ab.ca, .on.ca? Did you know that there is a .ca reserved for you? You can drop the provincial designation.

Geographic or third level domain extensions were discontinued by CIRA on October 12, 2010.  Existing ones were grandfathered and continue to be supported but they are no longer being issued.  The more time passes the less common and more confusing these domains will become. The process of making the change is quite simple.

1. Claim your .ca: Contact your domain registrar and they will get the process started for you. If you don't know who your registrar is or want some help, give us a call. We are happy to help.
2. Update the DNS for your Website: A DNS entry is like a phone book and tells computers where to find your web site.  Your web site can have multiple domain names that lead to it, but should only show a single address in the browser to avoid confusing the search engines.  You will need to make the primary domain the .ca but make sure that anyone coming in with the .on.ca will still get to your site. To do this your server should be setup to forward the users looking for pages on .on.ca to the .ca with a 301 redirect. This will also help search engines get the message that the site has moved.
3. Update DNS for your email: your email addresses should always match your domain names.  Most mail systems will let you run the same email addresses at multiple domains so this should be pretty seamless.
4. Update your "reply-to" email address in your email program.  It varies by program and device so you will have to Google this.
5. Tell Google: Register the new domain with Search Console and submit your XML sitemap.  Once that is complete you can use the change of address function under "Settings" in Search Console to let Google know that the site has moved.

Of course you will also have to update business cards and other marketing material but the sooner you get it done, the easier it will be.

Contact us to get started