I registered my domain with .ga (Gabon) just because it is free and i wanted a free domain for messing around and learning how to build a website without paying anything. Is there any risk with having .ga as a domain?
There are no risk (but rather few disadvantages) for having domain name, whether it is free or paid.
The only differences that by using free domain, you must ready at all time to get “kicked out” in case someone wanted to use the same exact domain name of yours and decided to pay for the domain name.
Simply put, ownership status of the domain name is automatically transferred and granted to the one who pay.
I see two main problems with those free domains:
- Search engines tends to penalize them quite badly. Free domains get abused a lot, so are ranked a lot lower than similar sites with other domain extensions.
- Paid domains are registered to your name. Free domains are not. This means the free domain may be taken away at any time. Like @Joo_Nath said, they may give the domain to someone else if they pay for the domain, and I’ve heard rumors of Freenom taking down popular domains and redirecting them to ads.
If it’s just for messing around and learning, then it’s no problem. But if you trying to build an online presence for a serious business, then a domain name is a good investment.
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