ICANN New gTLD Question: How will a new TLD affect SEO (Search Engine Optimization)? Paul Twomey (Argo P@cific & former ICANN CEO) — You raised an issue which I think is worth teasing out a bit more. It is actually about search engines and you are quite right that people use search engines a lot to find things. The search engines have not said anything about the new TLDs that I am aware of. David Rogers (Columbia) We asked Google, they said that they are officially neutral on the topic (ie, new TLDs and SEO). Paul Twomey (Argo P@cific & former ICANN CEO) – They don’t talk about the algorithm. The interesting thing we should think through is that all of the search engines have remained objective which is to ensure that a searcher finds a site relevant to their needs. If I really want to find Deloitte and it is dot Deloitte it would be my common sense expectation that the algorithms will somehow reflect that this is the authoritative TLD of Deloitte and that a second level domain related to that is of more relevance and accuracy. I think the search engines haven’t talked about this because they don’t want to talk about their algorithms. If one is to think about their objectives, I would expect that the implications of the new TLD’s is that people who have registered the new TLD’s will do better in the Search Engine Optimization SEO side of things. William Barrett (Deloitte) – Primarily because you are in the root of the Internet. Karl Isaac (Landor) – Also, I think I saw …