Canadian businesses are abandoning their .com domains. The numbers tell the story: 3,392,885 .CA domains were registered by the end of fiscal year 2024, according to the Canadian Internet Registration
Canadian businesses are abandoning their .com domains. The numbers tell the story: 3,392,885 .CA domains were registered by the end of fiscal year 2024, according to the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA). This growth rate of 0.9% surpasses most North American counterparts. Behind this movement lies a combination of search engine performance metrics, consumer trust data, and regulatory frameworks that make the .CA domain increasingly attractive to Canadian companies.
The Economics of Local Search Performance
According to experts in domain registration and data analytics, as of March 2025, .CA domains earn Canadian businesses 40% more click-through rates from local Google searches compared to their .com counterparts. Country-code top-level domains like the .CA are recognized by Google's algorithm as primary indicators of Canadian geographic relevance, translating to higher visibility on Google.ca and a preferential ranking for location-based queries.
The performance gap increases significantly in mobile and voice searches. In searching for local services or products, Canadians see .CA domains higher in search results. This algorithmic preference comes from how Google treats country-code domains as location signals, particularly for searches containing "near me" or city names.
Consumer Trust Metrics and Purchase Behavior
According to the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA), .CA domains have 99% brand recognition with Canadians, which leads to positive outcomes for the business being run. On average, 23% more e-commerce websites that use a ".CA" domain name convert their visitors than the same website with a ".COM" domain name. Shopping carts are abandoned 35% less often by customers who visit a website with a ".CA" domain name. Email marketing campaigns sent by companies using a .CA domain achieve an average open rate of 42% more than email campaigns sent from companies using a .COM domain name.
These are the statistics of Canadian consumer preferences for local businesses. The .CA extension indicates that a business is operating within Canada, accepts Canadian dollars, and operates based on Canadian regulations. This perception affects purchasing decisions, specifically those first-time customers evaluating an unfamiliar brand.
Technical Infrastructure Supporting .CA Adoption
The typical Canadian businesses choosing to use .CA domains are those that would configure their servers to accommodate local hosting requirements and content delivery preferences. According to domain registrants, companies using the .CA extension more often pair them with Canadian data centers, reliable wordpress hosting providers based in Toronto or Montreal, and CDNs with Canadian PoPs in order to maintain faster load times for their end-users. This infrastructure alignment strengthens the technical rationale for .CA adoption beyond marketing considerations.
This is particularly relevant for Canadian-hosted solutions, given various provincial regulations around data residency and privacy laws. CA domains. Healthcare providers, financial institutions, and government contractors operating on .CA domains frequently choose hosting providers with servers physically located within Canadian borders to meet compliance requirements. These technical decisions reinforce the connection between domain choice and operational infrastructure, creating a complete Canadian web presence from domain registration through server location.
Regulatory Framework and Eligibility Requirements
CIRA enforces Canadian Presence Requirements for .CA domain registration. Only Canadian citizens, permanent residents, corporations incorporated in Canada, government entities, and registered businesses can hold these domains. This restriction creates exclusivity that .com domains cannot match. Any entity worldwide can register a .com domain, diluting its connection to specific geographic markets.
The eligibility rules serve as authentication for Canadian businesses. Customers can verify that a .CA domain belongs to a legitimate Canadian entity. This verification becomes especially valuable in those sectors where local presence is relevant: professional services, retail, and businesses requiring physical contact with the customers.
Domain Availability and Brand Protection
The .com namespace approaches saturation. Short, memorable domain names have been registered for decades. Finding an available .com domain that matches a brand name-even without adding hyphens or numbers, and with minimal awkward variations-is an increasingly difficult proposition for Canadian businesses. Better availability does exist within the .CA namespace: thousands of premium names remain unregistered and could allow many businesses to secure exact-match domains for their brands.
This availability reduces brand confusion. A Toronto bakery named "Maple Leaf Pastries" can register the domain mapleleafpastries.ca instead of settling for mapleleafpastriestoronto.com or maple-leaf-pastries.com. The cleaner domain improves brand recall and reduces typing errors that lead customers to competitor sites.
Marketing Campaigns and Provincial Adoption
As CIRA launched targeted campaigns to promote the use of .CA, this message of local identity resonated loudly in its "Quand c'est .CA, c'est local" campaign targeting Quebec, while the "Choose success, choose .CA" series aims at Generation Z and Millennial business owners across Canada. These campaigns explicitly urged businesses to showcase their Canadian legacy through domain choice.
According to CIRA's video series featuring Montreal small and medium businesses, making the switch to a .CA domain resulted in better local search rankings. Toronto technology entrepreneurs interviewed by domain registrars in early 2025 stated that .CA domains helped establish trust and connection with local customers. These testimonials appear in registrar case studies and CIRA's official documentation.
Dual-Domain Strategies for International Reach
Some Canadian companies operate under both .CA and .com domains. Shopify operates shopify.ca for Canadian-specific content and services while using shopify.com for international operations. This will allow corporations to take advantage of local trust but still enjoy international visibility.
Companies following this strategy commonly route Canadian traffic through them .CA domains, while international visitors serve up the .com version. This segmentation allows not only geo-specific messaging but also displaying currencies and taking into consideration regulatory concerns based on visitor location. Additional domain management is required, but this approach provides flexibility for companies serving multiple markets.
Financial Performance and Registry Investment
CIRA reports that cybersecurity and registry service revenues reached $8 million, according to annual documentation. These funds go toward infrastructure improvements and security enhancements for the .CA registry. Financial stability ensures continued reliability for businesses depending on .CA domains for their operations.
The registry maintains North America's leading per-capita adoption rate for country-code domains. Canada's 3.38 million .CA registrations far exceed the United States' .us domains and Mexico's .mx domains when adjusted for population. This adoption rate demonstrates Canadian businesses' commitment to local domain identity.
Canadian sites opting to use .CA over .com make decisions based on real, measurable results: higher search rankings, better conversion rates, and a deeper trust with prospective customers. These elements come together in a robust business case for .CA adoption, extending beyond patriotic sentiment to fundamental business performance metrics.
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