Useful Information

.za Domain Zone: Data-Driven Analysis for Investors & SEOs

The .za country-code top-level domain (ccTLD) represents South Africa's digital identity. With over 715.2K+ registered domains, it offers a mature yet evolving market for domain investors, SEO specialists, and developers. Understanding its composition—from average length (0.00 characters) to character frequency (top letter 'e' appears 793 687 times)—is critical for strategic decisions. This data-driven analysis covers historical context, current metrics, and 2026 trends to help you navigate the .za landscape effectively.

Historical Context of .za

Launched in the early 1990s, .za is managed by the .za Domain Name Authority (ZADNA). Its growth mirrors South Africa's internet adoption, now hosting 715.2K+ domains.

Infographics for .za

715,163
Total Domains
+0
New Today
−0
Dropped Today

Domain length distribution by number of characters

Domain Length Distribution: Key Metrics

The average domain length is 0.00 characters, with the most common length being 9 characters (65 293 domains). Maximum length is 63. A representative domain like 000.za (3 chars) illustrates typical patterns.


Average domain name length

10.75 characters
Representative domain: 000.za
Representative name length: 3

Character Composition: Letters, Digits, and Hyphens

Letters dominate: 92.11% of domains are purely alphabetic (660 076). Digits appear in 0.49% of all characters, and only 0.08% of domains are numeric-only. Hyphens are present in 4.83% of domains (34 597).

Popular Domain Zones

.foundation .life .cars .email .dk .bio .app .uk .restaurant .nl .international .tour .club .site .at .info .photography .energy .community .baby

Character frequency in domain names

# Symbol Occurrences
1 e 793687
2 a 678954
3 i 558820
4 s 558351
5 r 536978
6 o 533970
7 t 528965
8 n 502509
9 l 391354
10 c 346591
11 u 243408
12 d 241917
13 m 241024
14 p 227416
15 g 207123
16 h 205522
17 b 164546
18 f 125374
19 y 123445
20 k 114507
21 v 96666
22 w 96356
23 j 33207
24 z 32813
25 x 31649
26 q 14390
27 2 7667
28 4 6997
29 1 5732
30 3 4096
31 0 3951
32 6 2067
33 5 1992
34 8 1849
35 7 1842
36 9 1381

Top Symbols and Words in .za Domains

The most frequent character is 'e' (793 687 occurrences), while the most common starting letter is 's' (71 429 domains). The top embedded word is 'pro', appearing in 2.89% of all domains (20 729).


Most common first character in domain names

# First char Domains count
1 - 0
2 0 203
3 1 1373
4 2 1099
5 3 1300
6 4 1028
7 5 333
8 6 166
9 7 278
10 8 204
11 9 207
12 a 46883
13 b 44801
14 c 51837
15 d 33803
16 e 28812
17 f 25175
18 g 26928
19 h 23489
20 i 24107
21 j 14280
22 k 20313
23 l 29036
24 m 54539
25 n 21157
26 o 15073
27 p 40510
28 q 3509
29 r 28465
30 s 71429
31 t 47514
32 u 8926
33 v 15681
34 w 21333
35 x 2181
36 y 3872
37 z 5319

Numeric Trends: Digits and Numeric Tokens

Digits account for 0.49% of total characters (37 574). The most common numeric token is '4', found in 4 114 domains. Domains mixing letters and digits represent 2.98% of the zone.


Character distribution in domain names

Vowels (2932284 · 38.06%)
Consonants (4697258 · 60.96%)
Digits (37574 · 0.49%)
Hyphen (37899 · 0.49%)
Other (0 · 0%)

Vowel vs. Consonant Balance

Vowels make up 38.06% of all characters (2 932 284), while consonants account for 60.96% (4 697 258). This balance affects memorability and brandability.


Domain names with numbers and letters

Only numbers (578 · 0.08%)
Only letters (660076 · 92.11%)
Numbers and letters (21335 · 2.98%)
Other (34597 · 4.83%)

Why Statistics Matter for .za Investors

Data on domain length, character frequency, and word usage helps identify premium short domains, avoid hyphens (only 4.83% of domains), and target high-value keywords like 'pro'.


Most frequent word fragments inside domain names

# Word Domains count %
1 pro 20729 2.89
2 go 11653 1.63
3 car 9754 1.36
4 tech 9462 1.32
5 one 8399 1.17
6 my 8004 1.12
7 net 6172 0.86
8 online 4800 0.67
9 web 4281 0.60
10 life 3886 0.54
11 media 3810 0.53
12 shop 3709 0.52
13 lab 3473 0.48
14 app 3319 0.46
15 home 3039 0.42
16 new 2972 0.41
17 dev 2807 0.39
18 market 2521 0.35
19 top 2501 0.35
20 star 2483 0.35

Trends & Insights 2026

Short domains (under 10 chars) will remain premium: only 65 293 domains at the most common length of 9 characters.
The dominance of letter-only domains (92.11%) suggests brandable names are key; numeric domains (0.08%) are niche.
Hyphenated domains (4.83%) are rare and may lose appeal as users prefer clean strings.
The top word 'pro' indicates industry-specific clusters; similar niches may emerge in professional services.
With 7.7M+ total characters, the zone is data-rich for AI and SEO tools analyzing naming patterns.
As South Africa's digital economy grows, .za will see increased demand for localized, short, and memorable domains.

Hyphen usage in domain names

With hyphen (34597 · 4.83%)
Without hyphen (681989 · 95.17%)

Popular numeric tokens in domain names

# Token Domains count
1 4 4114
2 2 3727
3 1 2063
4 3 1880
5 24 1093
6 8 836
7 5 730
8 7 603
9 360 521
10 247 371
11 9 355
12 6 291
13 365 267
14 10 260
15 101 182
16 21 182
17 123 152
18 100 122
19 12 121
20 20 117