Solution Spotlight: New .med URLs deliver value by indicating source authority

Medistry LLC is the internet registry operator of the .med top level domain (TLD). Currently in a period of pre-registration that runs through August 2025, .med is a secure, premium TLD for the medical sector. Domain names ending in .med function as URLs on the internet for signalling to users source authority.

What problem or status quo deficiency are you solving?

Millions of people worldwide go online each day to discover information about medical products, find doctors, research drugs, and locate clinics and medical institutions. With low-cost barrier to entry, infiltrating this web traffic has become a big business. However in the Wild West of today’s internet landscape, misleading information often circulates freely – confusing consumers and potentially harming reputable brands. As such, legitimate sources are challenged to achieve separation.

Never before has the medical sector been provided with a secure, premium TLD with a higher barrier to entry. By actively engaging users with .med URLs, credible sources can differentiate themselves online, leading to greater consumer confidence when using the internet for medical related objectives.

What has made this problem challenging to address in the past?

As the internet grew, many organisations turned to low-cost .com (and .org) domains to establish their online presence. Today, this has evolved into a race to the bottom, with consumers forced to wade through countless website URLs to try to distinguish credible medical sources, from their deceptive or inaccurate counterparts.

Sophisticated actors manipulate SEO with low quality, if not misleading, content. Impersonators gravitate to low-cost .com URLs to deceive users, often damaging the legitimate brand’s reputation as a result. As a value-driven premium TLD, .med has a higher barrier to entry for producing a higher quality experience. The purpose of .med URLs is to enable medical offices, product manufacturers, doctors, and anyone else in the medical sector to differentiate themselves online and, just as importantly, to help consumers quickly identify sources that are authentic and trustworthy.

What new innovations does your solution bring to bear on these challenges?

URLs are how people navigate the internet and how search engines index websites. TLDs crafted to serve a market sector with higher barriers to entry have proven beneficial. Higher education, while limited to the United States, has long enjoyed its own class of URLs with the .edu TLD (e.g. www.rochester.edu). In recent years, banking institutions in the US – facing many of the same issues as the medical sector – were provided with the .bank TLD to enable users to easily identify them online (e.g. www.dollar.bank). Company recruiters use the high end .jobs TLD to navigate job seeker engagement (e.g. www.amazon.jobs).

As a premium TLD with higher barrier to entry, URLs ending in .med (e.g. www.yourbrand.med) is a new, innovative method to achieve separation in an environment today oversaturated with below-average quality. .med URLs provide a unique solution that is long overdue for one of the most critical industries consumers engage with online.

How does your solution work?

To become part of .med first requires registering a .med domain name. This is handled by authorised .med domain name registrars. It is a process most businesses, or anyone with a website, are familiar with. Once a .med domain is registered, it can function as a URL on the internet to direct people to a specific website location. Specific domain names in .med are registered on a first-come, first-served basis.

Due to demand, .med domain names are available only by pre-registration through 31 August from authorised .med registrars. Securing a pre-registration guarantees registration of specific .med domains when .med opens for the first time on 2 September 2025. Authorised .med registrars include 101domain and EnCirca. Many .med registrars also specialise in serving large brand clients. For a full list of registrars authorised to sell .med domains, visit www.medistry.med or email support@medistry.med if needing help finding one.

What makes your solution stand out in the market?

.med stands alone as the only premium TLD for the global medical sector. URLs ending in .med are like a high-end identification symbol. When people see them, they are more likely to engage for reasons having to do with authenticity. It is anticipated that millions of people will be engaging with thousands of .med URLs by the end of this year. Here are some examples of what is to come.

How would you quantify the economic ROI of your solution?

Companies across the medical industry spend millions of dollars for the very purpose of establishing credibility with users, to protect brand reputations online and to combat fraud. URLs ending in .med fit this objective by signalling to consumers source authority. When consumers can trust authenticity, engagement increases, having a direct impact on economic return that can be substantial. Companies using URLs ending in .med are for producing this outcome, likely to reduce other costs associated with establishing and maintaining credibility and reputation online.

How does your solution improve the experience for the end user?

Medical professionals and organisations using .med URLs improve consumer confidence by providing a clear, trusted, and streamlined way for people to locate credible medical information online. The higher barrier to entry for obtaining .med domains has the direct effect of providing consumers with a simple method to distinguish URL sources who are authoritative, saving them considerable time. By utilising modern security features, such as DNSSEC, companies assure consumers they are directed to the legitimate website or service associated with the .med URL and not that of a spoofer or hijacker.

What do your customers have to say about this solution?

The premium .med TLD is new to the internet, currently in a pre-registration period that runs through August. Large medical organisations, including Abbott, CVS, Stanford, Bayer, Mayo Clinic and Teva are already in. High-end, consumer-friendly names, such as Spa.med, Bio.med, Lifestyle.med, Therapy.med, and Weightloss.med, have been secured. Nearly 15,000 .med domains were pre-registered in May, the first month of availability.

By requiring a trusted name space, domains in .med provide a value-driven barrier to entry wherein users can come to find trusted sources for medical related information. As the operator of .med, our customers are the .med domain name registrars we have authorised to sell .med domains.

The 101domain registrar describes .med as providing “a significant advantage by enhancing online navigation, assuring users they are accessing trustworthy and authoritative medical content. It is a value-driven extension that helps establish brand authority, empowering healthcare entities to confidently connect with their audience online.”

About .med

Medistry LLC is the registry operator of the .med TLD under agreement with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), with technical support services provided by Nominet, based in the UK. Medistry manages and maintains the authoritative zone file of all .med domain name registrations relied upon by internet service providers (ISPs) located throughout the world. Medistry accepts .med domain name registrations from a network of authorised domain name registrars. As a premium TLD, .med URLs function as a key component for users navigating the World Wide Web for credible medical information, products, and services.