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Welcome to our monthly Industry News Digest. Explore new online trends and domain industry news to stay up-to-date. Here’s a summary for January 2026.
Andrew Allemann, a domain expert, summarized the year 2025, discussing how artificial intelligence (AI) has impacted the domain industry.
He said AI is transforming domain searches by offering a wider range of results, which could stimulate primary market registrations or identify new domains in the secondary market. In 2025, AI tools like UnstoppableBot helped investors find available domains.
Websites dependent on Google traffic may face challenges, especially those related to advice. This could reduce future demand for domains for these types of sites. However, simplifying the creation of web products (websites and apps) could increase demand for domain names overall.
AI is also used in domain after-sales services. Aftermarket platforms are applying AI to improve domain discovery and visibility by optimizing listings, refining recommendations, matching buyer intent with domain names more accurately, and enhancing pricing insights. These tools help marketplaces surface relevant domains to potential buyers and improve conversion rates for sellers.
Artificial intelligence will remain an important topic in 2026 and will continue to influence the domain business.
Why should you care? The results of the year show that AI isn’t just transforming products and services but also influencing fundamental components of a digital presence, such as domain names. Growing interest in new automated domain selection tools reflects that domain selection is no longer just a technical step but is becoming part of a brand’s attention-grabbing and positioning strategy.
Source: Domain Name Wire
GoDaddy has switched from Google AdSense for Domains to Google Related Search for Content (RSOC) and Yahoo Ads.
The move follows Google’s decision to shut down AdSense for Domains, which forced parking providers to look for alternative advertising solutions. To ensure continuity of monetization for its customers, GoDaddy has adopted RSOC as its primary replacement, supplemented by Yahoo’s advertising feed. This transition allows GoDaddy to maintain monetization capabilities for parked domains despite Google’s withdrawal from the domain parking market and gives domain owners continued access to advertising revenue streams.
RSOC will become the primary monetization channel, redirecting traffic between RSOC and Yahoo based on projected metrics. If clients wish to display only traditional Yahoo pay-per-click ads, they can request this through support.
Why should you care? Parking allows you to keep your domain active, protect it from misuse, and potentially earn passive income in the meantime. Thanks to GoDaddy’s transition to RSOC and Yahoo Ads, it remains a viable option, even as major platforms change their policies. If you have a domain that isn’t yet in use for a website, you can temporarily place it on a parking page with ads. This not just preserves the address and protects it from hijacking, but also potentially generates revenue before the main project launches.
GoDaddy is providing new, secure opportunities for this by expanding its partner networks. They ensure that unused domains continue to generate value, giving companies greater flexibility in managing and monetizing their domain portfolios before launching a full-fledged website or product.
Source: Domain Name Wire
OpenAI plans to place advertising in ChatGPT, starting with the free version and the cost-effective paid subscription — Go model. Premium account users will be able to use the service without advertising. Ads won’t affect the quality of responses, and user data will be protected.
Ads will appear at the bottom of chatbot responses and will be labeled ‘Sponsored.’ The company emphasizes that the ads will not influence responses and will not be based on the sale of personal data. The initial advertising tests are expected to roll out gradually in early 2026, beginning with a limited audience in select markets.
Previously, the company’s CEO, Sam Altman, expressed concerns about user mistrust, but now the company has decided to test this strategy. However, as ChatGPT continues to scale and expand access, OpenAI has decided to cautiously test advertising as part of a broader monetization strategy, emphasizing transparency and user experience as key principles.
Why should you care? This is a significant change in the monetization model of one of the world’s popular AI tools. Advertising in ChatGPT means that AI assistants are becoming not just a source of responses but also a new channel for commercial communications, directly within the chatbot interface.
This opens up a new platform for engaging audiences, especially if advertising is tailored to user needs. However, it’s important to remember that the balance between commerce and user trust will remain critical: ads must be clearly labeled, not interfere with primary responses, and maintain privacy. Understanding how these advertising formats work and how they influence user behavior is already becoming part of marketing and content optimization strategies in 2026.
Source: OpenAI
Marketers are increasingly using generative AI to create content and advertising materials, but they face hidden costs such as implementation costs, staff training, integration, and legal requirements for content protection.
According to a Gartner survey, approximately 58% of marketers use AI for content generation, but many acknowledge that fully automated processes require a comprehensive approach and resources to deliver real value.
Legal issues related to copyright and compliance are also a concern for clients. AI can only operate based on a pool of already-loaded data, and in the last two weeks of December 2025 alone, lawsuits for piracy in the training of AI systems were filed against Adobe, Google, and other companies.
Why should you care? AI is becoming a standard tool for business, but it’s not just about the speed of content creation. To ensure these technologies operate effectively and securely, companies should consider the costs of integration, staff training, and intellectual property rights. This is important when planning your budget, content marketing strategy, and choosing tools that will truly help you scale your processes.
It’s also worth considering that Google engines prioritizes human-created content when ranking. Therefore, it’s best to view AI as an assistant rather than a tool for fully automating marketing.
Source: Digiday
Google announced the Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP), which allows users to find products, place orders, and pay for purchases directly in a conversation with AI and without having to navigate to websites or traditional shopping carts.
UCP was developed in collaboration with major retailers and payment systems and enables AI agents to handle the full shopping cycle: from product search to order placement and payment, without leaving the chat. This approach opens new horizons for integrating commerce directly into AI interactions.
Users will be able to purchase products from US retailers through Gemini without leaving their browser, with integration with Google Pay, Google Wallet, and PayPal. Google competitors such as Shopify, Microsoft, and Copilot are also developing similar solutions.
Google will strengthen ad personalization and offer merchants tools for promoting products and chatbots. Gemini Enterprise for Customer Experience is available to corporate clients, increasing merchant website traffic by 700% during the holiday season.
Why should you care? The Universal Commerce Protocol is changing the traditional e-commerce user journey: purchases can occur directly in a conversational interface, rather than through traditional shopping carts and product pages. Product visibility will no longer be limited to brand website pages, marketplaces, and social media. This is a fundamental step toward agentic commerce, where AI agents act on behalf of the user, simplifying the journey from inquiries to purchases.
Companies should already be considering how their products are presented to AI assistants including how well their catalogs are structured, whether product data, prices, and availability are accurate, and whether their systems are ready to integrate with new standards. Adapting websites, APIs, and content for AI commerce is becoming an important step to avoid losing clients in a world where purchases are increasingly made through chatbots and generative search.
Source: TechCrunchStay up-to-date with digital trends and news - visit it.com Domains blog and follow us on social media.
Continue reading on the it.com Domains blog...
2025 Outlook: AI and the Domain Industry
Andrew Allemann, a domain expert, summarized the year 2025, discussing how artificial intelligence (AI) has impacted the domain industry.
He said AI is transforming domain searches by offering a wider range of results, which could stimulate primary market registrations or identify new domains in the secondary market. In 2025, AI tools like UnstoppableBot helped investors find available domains.
Websites dependent on Google traffic may face challenges, especially those related to advice. This could reduce future demand for domains for these types of sites. However, simplifying the creation of web products (websites and apps) could increase demand for domain names overall.
AI is also used in domain after-sales services. Aftermarket platforms are applying AI to improve domain discovery and visibility by optimizing listings, refining recommendations, matching buyer intent with domain names more accurately, and enhancing pricing insights. These tools help marketplaces surface relevant domains to potential buyers and improve conversion rates for sellers.
Artificial intelligence will remain an important topic in 2026 and will continue to influence the domain business.
Why should you care? The results of the year show that AI isn’t just transforming products and services but also influencing fundamental components of a digital presence, such as domain names. Growing interest in new automated domain selection tools reflects that domain selection is no longer just a technical step but is becoming part of a brand’s attention-grabbing and positioning strategy.
Source: Domain Name Wire
GoDaddy Updates Parked Domain Monetization After Google AdSense Shutdown
GoDaddy has switched from Google AdSense for Domains to Google Related Search for Content (RSOC) and Yahoo Ads.
The move follows Google’s decision to shut down AdSense for Domains, which forced parking providers to look for alternative advertising solutions. To ensure continuity of monetization for its customers, GoDaddy has adopted RSOC as its primary replacement, supplemented by Yahoo’s advertising feed. This transition allows GoDaddy to maintain monetization capabilities for parked domains despite Google’s withdrawal from the domain parking market and gives domain owners continued access to advertising revenue streams.
RSOC will become the primary monetization channel, redirecting traffic between RSOC and Yahoo based on projected metrics. If clients wish to display only traditional Yahoo pay-per-click ads, they can request this through support.
Why should you care? Parking allows you to keep your domain active, protect it from misuse, and potentially earn passive income in the meantime. Thanks to GoDaddy’s transition to RSOC and Yahoo Ads, it remains a viable option, even as major platforms change their policies. If you have a domain that isn’t yet in use for a website, you can temporarily place it on a parking page with ads. This not just preserves the address and protects it from hijacking, but also potentially generates revenue before the main project launches.
GoDaddy is providing new, secure opportunities for this by expanding its partner networks. They ensure that unused domains continue to generate value, giving companies greater flexibility in managing and monetizing their domain portfolios before launching a full-fledged website or product.
Source: Domain Name Wire
OpenAI Begins Testing Advertising in ChatGPT
OpenAI plans to place advertising in ChatGPT, starting with the free version and the cost-effective paid subscription — Go model. Premium account users will be able to use the service without advertising. Ads won’t affect the quality of responses, and user data will be protected.
Ads will appear at the bottom of chatbot responses and will be labeled ‘Sponsored.’ The company emphasizes that the ads will not influence responses and will not be based on the sale of personal data. The initial advertising tests are expected to roll out gradually in early 2026, beginning with a limited audience in select markets.
Previously, the company’s CEO, Sam Altman, expressed concerns about user mistrust, but now the company has decided to test this strategy. However, as ChatGPT continues to scale and expand access, OpenAI has decided to cautiously test advertising as part of a broader monetization strategy, emphasizing transparency and user experience as key principles.
Why should you care? This is a significant change in the monetization model of one of the world’s popular AI tools. Advertising in ChatGPT means that AI assistants are becoming not just a source of responses but also a new channel for commercial communications, directly within the chatbot interface.
This opens up a new platform for engaging audiences, especially if advertising is tailored to user needs. However, it’s important to remember that the balance between commerce and user trust will remain critical: ads must be clearly labeled, not interfere with primary responses, and maintain privacy. Understanding how these advertising formats work and how they influence user behavior is already becoming part of marketing and content optimization strategies in 2026.
Source: OpenAI
The Costs of Artificial Intelligence in Advertising: Insights from Marketers
Marketers are increasingly using generative AI to create content and advertising materials, but they face hidden costs such as implementation costs, staff training, integration, and legal requirements for content protection.
According to a Gartner survey, approximately 58% of marketers use AI for content generation, but many acknowledge that fully automated processes require a comprehensive approach and resources to deliver real value.
Legal issues related to copyright and compliance are also a concern for clients. AI can only operate based on a pool of already-loaded data, and in the last two weeks of December 2025 alone, lawsuits for piracy in the training of AI systems were filed against Adobe, Google, and other companies.
Why should you care? AI is becoming a standard tool for business, but it’s not just about the speed of content creation. To ensure these technologies operate effectively and securely, companies should consider the costs of integration, staff training, and intellectual property rights. This is important when planning your budget, content marketing strategy, and choosing tools that will truly help you scale your processes.
It’s also worth considering that Google engines prioritizes human-created content when ranking. Therefore, it’s best to view AI as an assistant rather than a tool for fully automating marketing.
Source: Digiday
Google Announces a Universal Commerce Protocol for Shopping via AI and Chatbots
Google announced the Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP), which allows users to find products, place orders, and pay for purchases directly in a conversation with AI and without having to navigate to websites or traditional shopping carts.
UCP was developed in collaboration with major retailers and payment systems and enables AI agents to handle the full shopping cycle: from product search to order placement and payment, without leaving the chat. This approach opens new horizons for integrating commerce directly into AI interactions.
Users will be able to purchase products from US retailers through Gemini without leaving their browser, with integration with Google Pay, Google Wallet, and PayPal. Google competitors such as Shopify, Microsoft, and Copilot are also developing similar solutions.
Google will strengthen ad personalization and offer merchants tools for promoting products and chatbots. Gemini Enterprise for Customer Experience is available to corporate clients, increasing merchant website traffic by 700% during the holiday season.
Why should you care? The Universal Commerce Protocol is changing the traditional e-commerce user journey: purchases can occur directly in a conversational interface, rather than through traditional shopping carts and product pages. Product visibility will no longer be limited to brand website pages, marketplaces, and social media. This is a fundamental step toward agentic commerce, where AI agents act on behalf of the user, simplifying the journey from inquiries to purchases.
Companies should already be considering how their products are presented to AI assistants including how well their catalogs are structured, whether product data, prices, and availability are accurate, and whether their systems are ready to integrate with new standards. Adapting websites, APIs, and content for AI commerce is becoming an important step to avoid losing clients in a world where purchases are increasingly made through chatbots and generative search.
Source: TechCrunchStay up-to-date with digital trends and news - visit it.com Domains blog and follow us on social media.
Continue reading on the it.com Domains blog...
