If you own or operate a domain name ending in .eu, then there are important changes ahead.
Depending on what happens with Brexit, you may lose this domain name. Assuming that Britain does economically shoot itself in the foot and leave the EU with no deal then UK businesses must have an address registered within the EU to continue to be eligible for a .eu domain. If not, then the domain name will be cancelled and inoperable. That could be at the end of October 2019 (at time of writing – this could of course be put back again).
If you have a European address, you’ll need to update your domain name’s details in the hosting company’s control panel.
If you do not have a European address, you will not be able to keep your .eu domain name after the UK leaves Europe. In this case we recommend that you plan ahead for business continuity and redirect your .eu address to a UK domain like .co.uk or .uk. More of a pain may be email accounts linked to your .eu domain.
Or you can set up a European business address and transfer ownership of your .eu domain to that.
Currently our understanding is that two months notice is to be given before the cancellation of any .eu domains. But that’s not far off – potentially 31st August 2019.
We say it’s important also because of risks to your search engine rankings (SERPs). If you redirect traffic now then Google and other search engines will have time to digest the change, and your rankings shouldn’t drop. Planning ahead will also mean you can adjust your marketing accordingly – changing your website and email addresses on printed collateral, updating any paid advertising like Google AdWords and so on.
Don’t say you weren’t warned!
