By Richard Harroch and Andrew Miller

A domain name is far more than the address of a website. At its highest level, it can become part of the identity of a company itself: the word customers remember, employees rally around, investors recognize, and the market associates with the business. In the early days of the Internet, domain names were largely viewed as a technical necessity. That has changed dramatically, and we believe artificial intelligence is about to accelerate that change again.

Today, the very best domain names, particularly short, memorable, single-word .com names, are increasingly viewed by sophisticated companies as strategic digital assets. They are extraordinarily scarce: there is only one exact-match .com or category-defining domain asset for any word, and once a great name is acquired by an end user, it may never become available again.

That scarcity matters. The premium domain market has matured substantially. Individual names have sold for millions and, in exceptional cases, tens of millions of dollars. But it is important to distinguish truly exceptional domains from the broader universe of registered domain names. Domains are an extremely illiquid asset class, and the overwhelming majority will never command extraordinary values.

The value is concentrated at the very top. For example, Chat.com was acquired by OpenAI for $15.5 million; Rocket.com was acquired by Rocket Mortgage in a $15 million transaction; and Gold.com was acquired by Amark (now Gold.com) for $8.5 million. These are examples of two different but increasingly important uses of premium domains: an exact-match brand and a category-defining asset.

And the trend continues. Recently, AI.com was acquired for $70 million, and in September 2026, Shopify acquired Shop.com from Market America. The Shop.com purchase price was not publicly disclosed but has been speculated to be $100 million. The significance of the acquisition is difficult to miss: one of the world’s most important commerce technology companies determined that controlling the definitive Shop.com domain name had strategic value to its future.

The best domains combine scarcity, memorability, brandability, credibility, commercial relevance, and strategic utility. For the right company, controlling one can influence everything from customer acquisition and marketing efficiency to fundraising, recruiting, security, credibility, AI discoverability, and, ultimately, enterprise value.

AI May Make Great Domain Names More Important, Not Less

There is a natural assumption that artificial intelligence could make domain names less important. If consumers increasingly ask ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, or other AI systems where to shop, what software to use, which financial provider to trust, or which company can solve a particular problem, perhaps they will type out URLs less frequently. We believe the opposite conclusion may prove more likely.

AI is rapidly reducing the friction involved in creating almost everything else. Anyone can now create a sophisticated website. AI can create a logo, write marketing copy, generate advertisements, build software, develop product descriptions, and produce an enormous volume of seemingly professional content at little cost.

As those capabilities become commoditized, brand, trust, and authenticity become more valuable, not less. When ten or one hundred companies can offer similar products, similar websites, similar content, and increasingly similar technology, the question becomes: Which company do customers recognize, remember, and trust? That is where a world-class domain becomes increasingly powerful.

Your domain name is one of the few digital assets that is genuinely unique. There can be thousands of AI-generated websites selling a product, but there can only be one Shop.com, one Gold.com, one Chat.com, or one Rocket.com.

AI Search and Discoverability

Traditional internet discovery was largely built around blue links and search engine optimization. AI is changing that model. Consumers are increasingly asking AI systems questions and receiving answers, recommendations, and even purchasing options without necessarily visiting a traditional search-results page. In this environment, discoverability increasingly becomes connected to identity. AI systems need to determine which companies, products, and sources are authoritative. Consumers receiving AI-generated recommendations need to determine which companies behind those recommendations they trust.

A memorable, exact-match domain will not automatically cause an AI system to recommend a company. But a strong domain can reinforce the broader signals surrounding a brand: consistency, authority, recognition, citations, direct traffic, mentions, links, and a clear association between a company and what it does. In an AI-driven world flooded with near-infinite content, the scarce asset may no longer be information. It may be trust. And a company’s domain sits at the center of its digital identity.

The Domain and the Brand Can Become One

The most powerful domains are not simply descriptions of businesses. They can become brands themselves. Words such as Chat, Rocket, Universal, Icon, First, or Gravity can provide enormous strategic flexibility because they are memorable while allowing a company to expand well beyond a narrow initial product or service. For ambitious companies, this can be particularly important.

The right name should accommodate what the company could become, not merely describe what it does today. Chat.com is a good example. “Chat” is simultaneously a massive category, a universally understood word, and an intuitive description of one of the fundamental ways humans interact with artificial intelligence. OpenAI’s acquisition of Chat.com illustrates how an extraordinary domain can sit directly at the intersection of brand and category.

Amazon.com is another great example. How memorable would the company have become if it was originally named “BooksOnline.com?”

Category-Defining Domains

There is another class of premium domain that deserves particular attention: the category-defining domain. These are domains that don’t merely describe a company; they define an entire market. Gold.com is a good example. Gold is a globally understood asset class with thousands of years of history. No company created the word, and no competitor can invent an equally authoritative substitute. There is only one Gold.com. A company controlling a domain of that caliber has the opportunity to build the definitive digital brand around an enormous existing category.

That distinction is important. A domain typically asks consumers to learn the brand. A category-defining domain starts with a word the entire world already knows. Insurance.com, Hotels.com, Cars.com, Gold.com. and similarly exceptional category domains have an inherent strategic quality that cannot simply be replicated by adding another word, changing an extension, or inventing a spelling. These domains are exceptionally rare, which is precisely why they should not be confused with the millions of ordinary keyword domains that have little strategic value.

Trust, Security, and the Defensive Value of Owning Your .com

There is another reason we believe controlling your exact-match .com is becoming increasingly important: security. AI is making sophisticated impersonation easier. Phishing emails, cloned websites, fake executive communications, spoofed brands, and other forms of digital deception are becoming more convincing. As businesses conduct more sensitive communications digitally, the ability of customers, employees, investors and counterparties to immediately recognize an authentic digital identity becomes increasingly valuable.

This makes control of the matching .com more than a marketing issue. It can be a defensive business issue. If your company is Brand, there is significant strategic value in controlling Brand.com and communicating from @Brand.com. Employees know where legitimate corporate communication should originate. Customers know where the company’s authentic website resides. Investors and counterparties have a recognizable digital identity against which communications can be checked.

Owning the matching .com does not eliminate phishing, email compromise, or impersonation, and companies still need appropriate email authentication and cybersecurity controls. But failing to control your natural .com can introduce unnecessary ambiguity into an environment in which ambiguity is increasingly dangerous. As AI makes imitation nearly free, authenticity becomes scarce. Your domain is part of the infrastructure of that authenticity.

Memorability: Hear It Once, Remember It Forever

The best domain names pass a simple test: hear them once and remember them forever. In an environment in which consumers encounter thousands of competing messages, simplicity has enormous value. A short, intuitive domain name eliminates friction. Customers know how to spell it, where to find it, and how to return to it. That is an advantage every time the company’s name is spoken, advertised, emailed, shared, recommended, or surfaced by an AI system.

A Strategic Asset Rather Than a Recurring Marketing Expense

One of the most misunderstood aspects of premium domains is the difference between acquiring an asset and purchasing advertising. Advertising disappears when the campaign ends. A domain remains under the company’s control as long as it maintains ownership. A premium domain may also retain substantial resale value independent of the operating business. That does not mean every domain appreciates, nor should domains generally be viewed as liquid investments. They are not.

In fact, premium domains are among the most illiquid asset classes in the world. But that fact makes the extraordinary names more interesting, not less. Truly exceptional domains cannot be manufactured, and owners of them have no obligation to sell. For a company already spending millions of dollars annually on marketing, the relevant question is not simply: “Why would we spend this much on a domain?” It may be: “What is the long-term cost of not owning the name that naturally belongs to our brand?”

Defensive Strategic Value

There is only one exact-match .com. That creates an unusual dynamic. A company can defer acquiring an office building, advertising campaign, software system, or other business asset and generally buy something comparable later. A domain is different. If another well-capitalized company acquires the exact-match .com, the opportunity may disappear permanently. The September 2026 acquisition of Shop.com by Shopify provides a timely illustration. Market America confirmed that it sold Shop.com to Shopify after owning and developing the domain for approximately 15 years.

Whatever the undisclosed purchase price, Shopify now controls an asset that no competitor can acquire: Shop.com. This is why timing can matter as much as price. The relevant decision is sometimes not whether the domain seems expensive today. It is: “Can we tolerate never owning it?”

There is another category of domain names worth considering: brandable domain names. These are names that are not as expensive to acquire as category-defining or exact-match domain names, but can be cost-effective and worthwhile for a particular business. The following characteristics indicate a higher-value brandable domain:

  • Short names that are easy to type and remember
  • Names that evoke a positive reaction
  • Common, recognizable dictionary words in .com format
  • Names that inherently convey credibility
  • Names that immediately communicate what the business does
  • Names that are easy to pronounce and spell correctly the first time
  • Names without hyphens, numbers, or confusing character combinations
  • Names that are not overly limiting as the business grows and evolves

Examples of Brandable Names for your Business

There are tons of catchy brandable domain names available for a wide variety of businesses. Here are some of our favorite names we are affiliated with:

  • Trounce.com (great for a gaming or mobile gaming business)
  • Surmise.com (great for a software or AI company)
  • Recuperate.com (great for a mobile app or web-based service to help people recuperate)
  • Negligent.com (great for a personal injury attorney website)
  • Canny.com (very catchy name for a business)
  • Forfeit.com (great for a gaming company)
  • Tying.com (many potential applications, short catchy name)
  • Administer.com (great for a software company or benefits administrator)
  • Emanate.com (evokes a positive image and is suitable for many businesses)
  • Resemble.com (great for a gaming, AI, or app company)
  • Synopses.com (great for an AI or tech company)

Conclusion: The AI Era Could Be the Domain Era

It would be easy to conclude that AI will diminish the importance of domain names. We believe there is a strong case for the opposite. AI will make websites easier to create, software easier to build, content virtually unlimited, and competitors easier to launch. That means the things AI cannot manufacture become more important: scarcity, identity, recognition, authenticity, and trust.

There may eventually be millions of AI-created businesses and billions of AI-created pages competing for attention. But there will still only be one Chat.com, one Rocket.com, one Shop.com, and one Gold.com. For founders and corporate leaders, the most important question is therefore not simply whether a premium domain is “worth” its asking price. The better questions are whether this is the name we want to build our company around, whether it can define our category, whether customers and increasingly AI systems will immediately understand and recognize who we are, whether controlling it strengthens the security and authenticity of our digital identity, and what happens if someone else acquires it first.

For companies with genuine ambitions to lead their categories, the right domain should be considered alongside capital, talent, technology, and brand strategy, not after the company has already spent years and millions of dollars building around a compromised name. In a world of infinite AI-generated content and increasingly commoditized technology, the importance of a truly great domain may rise exponentially because trust, brand, and authentic identity become among the few enduring competitive differentiators. There is only one exact-match .com.

Once the right domain name is gone, it may be gone forever.

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Richard D. Harroch is a Strategic Advisor to CEOs, management teams, and Boards of Directors. He is an expert on M&A, venture capital, startups, and business contracts. He was the Managing Director and Global Head of M&A at VantagePoint Capital Partners, a large venture capital fund in the San Francisco area. His focus is on internet, AI, legaltech, and software companies, and he was the founder of several internet companies. His articles have appeared online in Forbes, Fortune, MSN, Yahoo, Fox Business, and AllBusiness.com. Richard is the author of several books on startups and entrepreneurship as well as the co-author of Poker for Dummies and a Wall Street Journal-bestselling book on small business. He is the co-author of the 1,500-page book “Mergers and Acquisitions of Privately Held Companies: Analysis, Forms and Agreements,” published by Bloomberg Law. He was also a corporate and M&A partner at the law firm of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, with experience in startups, mergers and acquisitions, and venture capital. He has been involved in over 200 M&A transactions and 250 corporate financings. He is an advisor to Stella Legal and a number of legal and tech companies. He can be reached through LinkedIn .

Andrew Miller is Founder and President of ATM Holdings. He previously founded CreditCards.com and InsuranceQuotes.com, operating companies he built and successfully exited that remain market leaders. Over more than 25 years, Miller has acted as a principal, founder, investor and advisor in prominent category-defining and exact-match domain transactions, including Chat.com ($15.5 million, OpenAI), Rocket.com ($15 million, Rocket Mortgage), Gold.com ($8.6 million, A-Mark), Universal.com (NBCUniversal), Green.com (IAC/Green), Club.com ($10 million) and Home.com ($15 million, Fairway). He can be reached through LinkedIn .