The business name: X&X Business. However, the domain name x&xbusiness.example is just not possible.
Is there a formal alternative or is there a convention so it can be used instead of the character "&" for the domain names?
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"formal" and "convention" are very different. Formal would mean that a specification says what to do. Convention means that pretty much everybody does it a certain way or that it defaults to a certain way. I'm not sure either of those apply in this case. It is probably just a matter of opinion about how to best say your business name when you can't use the ampersand symbol.– Stephen Ostermiller ♦Commented Mar 28, 2022 at 13:04
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I improved the question based on distinction you mentioned. Formal alternative or convention; , I was not sure whether there was a general chosen pattern in such a case. There is no "formal" alternative as far as I could find but I'm curious whether there is a "convention" that can be opted.– AsqanCommented Mar 28, 2022 at 13:20
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1 Answer
You have a few options for an & in a domain name:
- Leave it out:
xxbusiness.example - Spell out the word "and":
xandxbusiness.example - Spell out the word "and" plus use hyphens:
x-and-x-business.example - Replace it with an allowed character like
-:x-xbusiness.example - Change the name of your business to be more domain-name-friendly (advocated by the answer to Is an ampersand (&) in a company name not ideal for Google or SEO?)
In most cases that I've seen, businesses just leave the & out of the URL. Here are a few famous examples:
- AT&T:
att.com - B&H Photo:
bhphotovideo.com - M&M'S:
mms.com
But there are exceptions, maybe because the shorter domain name without the ampersand wasn't available:
- C&A:
c-and-a.com
answered Mar 28, 2022 at 13:45
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"maybe because the shorter domain name without the ampersand wasn't available:" two letters domain names are often reserved, and especially if they represent a country ISO code, like
ca. Of course things are slightly different/more complicated forcomwhere anyway all short combinations were taken long before the rules were set up. Commented Mar 28, 2022 at 14:10 -
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Now 2 letter .com new domaind are reserved, but many were already registered, and still in use. X.com fb.com– DavChanaCommented Jun 9, 2023 at 3:01