.eu TLD audit hub
European Union TLD — eligibility tied to EU/EEA residency or incorporation.
The .eu TLD was created by EU regulation 733/2002 and went live to the public in 2006. Eligibility is restricted to EU citizens, EU residents, and entities established in the EU or the broader European Economic Area. Brexit in 2020 caused a wave of involuntary deregistrations as UK-based holders lost eligibility unless they had an EU presence — Nominet and the registry EURid coordinated a transition window but many .eu domains were ultimately released. The namespace has DNSSEC, registry lock and reasonable WHOIS controls aligned with European data protection norms. Adoption skews toward pan-European brands, EU institutions and Eastern European operators who specifically wanted to project an EU identity. Pricing is in the mid-tier. From an SEO perspective .eu is treated as a multi-country geotargeting signal — useful when a brand genuinely serves the entire bloc, but a single-country ccTLD (.de, .fr, .nl) usually delivers stronger geographic relevance for a specific market.