Google Inc. has applied for its own top-level domains, including .google and .youtube, under a program to expand the number of Web suffixes.
The owner of the world’s largest search engine also applied for suffixes such as .docs and .lol under the program run by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, the nonprofit that manages the Internet address system.
The company is applying for domains that reflect its trademarks, relate to its core business, or will improve user experience, said Vint Cerf, Google’s chief Internet evangelist.
The .youtube domain could make it easier to identify channels and genres on Google’s YouTube video-sharing website; the .lol domain, mimicking the text message shorthand for “laugh out loud,” has interesting and creative potential, he said.
Google is one of the first large companies to state an interest in the top-level domain program, which is opposed by more than 40 companies, including General Electric and Coca-Cola.
They say it will increase costs, confuse consumers, and spark Internet fraud.
Shares fell to $580.86.