: Differences between ICANN-Accredited Registrars and the others I'm planning to buy my first domain and i was just wondering what's the difference between ICANN-Accredited Registrars and not ICANN-Accredited

@Jamie184

ICANN-Accredited Registrars means that the registrar has signed the latest agreement with ICANN in 2009. It is possible that non-ICANN-Accredited Registrars have signed previous agreements with ICANN and not the updated agreement.

When choosing a registrar, it is important to choose a high quality registrar as well as a high quality host. Google rates the quality of registrars and hosts based upon several criteria including what sites they support, the network quality and up-time availability, and support that they provide users.

Google does build profiles of websites using database leaf tables (periodic captures of data throughout time) and builds trust scores based partly on the data they see. As part of this, registrars and hosts who have registered or hosted a low quality, scam, spam, compromised, or otherwise bad site, are given lower scores. If you register your site with a low quality registrar or use a low quality host, then Google assumes that your site is at least low quality and the trust score of your site will be lower. Using a high quality registrar or host will not result in a lower score at least for this metric.

Trust scores effect site scores which effect search performance. Low trust sites are pushed downward below sites with higher trust scores in the search engine result page (SERP).

It is vitally important, especially when registering and hosting a site has been historically affordable for well over a decade, to use a quality registrar and host.

Be aware of discount registrars. One of the lowest quality registrars/hosts is namecheap.com and eNom even though there are people who are very happy with the service. This is because of the vast numbers of low quality, scam, spam, compromised, and otherwise bad sites they register/host. It is not that the companies are bad. They are permissive and anyone who wants to get away with something knows they can use these companies repeatedly. These companies exercise little or few controls over knowing who their customers are and limiting bad behaviors.

I monitor these things. Namecheap.com and Enom represent 4% of all activity I see while no other company will reach close to 1%. Amazon and Google appear on my list from time to time. Amazon and Google had issues for a while during start-up but seems better these days. However, the one that I rarely see is GoDaddy which is why I recommend them. However, you can likely find a high quality registrar and host that could be more affordable. Prices vary. I say do not make price a priority over quality.

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