Should a digital company’s domain match its trade name, and how to choose .com or .com.tr?
In a digital company (dijital şirket), the law does not require the domain to match the trade name; customers and AI do. The trade registry records the trade name; another institution records the domain. No document is needed for .com; .tr extensions are allocated by accredited registrars through TRABİS, the system of Türkiye’s telecoms regulator BTK (TRABİS, accessed 17 October 2026). The Ministry of Industry and Technology’s digital company definition was unpublished as of October 2026; whether it will include a domain rule is unknown.
What this means for you: check the domain before querying your trade name candidate on MERSİS, Türkiye’s Central Registry System. If trade name, domain and brand carry the same core name, the company is read as one entity. If not, you pay for changing later. The whole topic sits on our digital company page.
Should the domain name match the trade name, and what does the law say?
The law does not ask for a match; the business does. The Turkish Commercial Code governs the trade name, BTK’s .tr system the .com.tr domain, the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office the brand. Three records, three institutions, none checking the others. The law side is in our guide what is a digital company in Türkiye.
Three separate records, three separate institutions
The trade name is recorded at the trade registry, the domain at the registrar, the brand at the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office. None looks at the others. Your trade name may pass while the domain belongs to someone else and the trademark to a third party. No institution ensures the match; you do.
Why the match is a business need
The customer searches the trade name, types the domain and recognises the brand; if the three differ, they see three companies. An AI system also looks for one name on the site, in the registry and in the accounts to build one entity. A scattered name means a scattered entity. AI SEO starts with this consistency.
How is the trio of trade name, domain name and brand built?
BU BÖLÜMÜN ÖZETİ
- Core name versus suffix
- Three queries on the same day
- How AI reads the trio
First the core name is chosen, then the three queries run on the same day. The core name is the distinctive word in the trade name; legal form suffixes stay out of the domain.
Core name versus suffix
In the trade name “Yıldız Teknoloji Limited Şirketi”, the core name is “Yıldız Teknoloji”; the domain becomes yildizteknoloji. The core name should be short and easy to say. In a domain, the Turkish letters ı, ş and ğ become Latin equivalents; keep this in mind when choosing the trade name.
Three queries on the same day
The trade name query runs on MERSİS, the domain query at the registrar, the trademark query on the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office’s online search. Run on the same day, they settle the decision in one sitting. If one comes back taken, the core name changes and all three are queried again. That is why the order matters.
How AI reads the trio
An AI system recommending a company wants the same name in more than one source: the site’s Organization schema, the registry record, the map profile and the social accounts. If the trio matches, the sources confirm one another. If not, the AI builds two entities and recommends neither.
.com or .com.tr, what should the choice depend on?
BU BÖLÜMÜN ÖZETİ
- .com.tr: trust in Türkiye, the TRABİS rule
- .com: bought first, transferred later
- Buying both
- Where the customer is decides the choice
On the customer, the timing and the registration. .com asks for no document and can be bought before incorporation. .com.tr in the company’s name asks for the trade name and tax number, so it follows registration. A company with foreign customers puts .com first; one working only in Türkiye, .com.tr.
.com.tr: trust in Türkiye, the TRABİS rule
.tr extensions are allocated by accredited registrars through BTK’s TRABİS system. The document requirement varies by extension; verify the current rule with TRABİS. Registration in the company’s name needs the trade name and tax number, so it follows incorporation. .com.tr signals a local, registered company to customers in Türkiye.
.com: bought first, transferred later
No document is required for .com, and it is recognised worldwide. A founder can buy it before the trade name is final and transfer it to the company after registration. For a company with customers abroad or a foreign partner, .com comes first. Skip the transfer and the domain stays in the founder’s name.
Buying both
If the core name is free, .com and .com.tr are bought together; one is the main address, the other redirects to it, so nobody else can take the name and confuse customers. The main address is chosen once and never changes; the redirected extension is only protection. Two extensions cost less per year than a later name change.
Where the customer is decides the choice
For a workshop, shop or consultant serving only Türkiye, .com.tr can be the main address. For an exporter or a company with a foreign partner, .com. The steps for a foreign partner are in our guide to remote setup and foreign founders; the domain is planned alongside those steps.
Why should the domain check come before the MERSİS trade name query?
BU BÖLÜMÜN ÖZETİ
- The right order: domain, trade name, registration
- Trade name accepted, domain taken: the typical mistake
- How to run the check
Because if the domain turns out taken after the trade name is accepted, going back costs. A trade name change needs a registry procedure; a domain change touches every digital record. The check order removes that risk.
The right order: domain, trade name, registration
Core name candidates are written down and the domain is queried for each. The free ones go to the MERSİS trade name query; the steps are in our guide to MERSİS, e-signature and KEP. If the trade name passes, registration follows and the domain is registered in the company’s name. The timing is covered in our guide domain name before or after incorporation.
Trade name accepted, domain taken: the typical mistake
The most common mistake: the accountant gets the trade name approved on MERSİS, the company is incorporated, and then the domain turns out taken years ago. The company adds a long suffix or uses another name; the registry name and the site name drift apart. Customers and AI see two companies.
How to run the check
You type the core name into the registrar’s search; .com and .com.tr return separate results. For a taken name, you see who owns it and when it expires. Check social media usernames too; the 3 accounts should share the name. The whole check fits in one sitting.
What does changing the domain name later cost?
BU BÖLÜMÜN ÖZETİ
- The search history resets
- The AI’s entity record breaks
- The name is rewritten everywhere
Three losses: the search history, the AI’s entity record and the name everywhere. None can be bought back at once; all are rebuilt over time.
The search history resets
The search engine knows a site by its domain. When it changes, the impressions and clicks the old name earned do not move by themselves. Even with a redirect, the reading starts again; the 108 published articles are crawled afresh at the new address. In Search Console, the history stays as two properties.
The AI’s entity record breaks
An AI system builds the company as one entity from its name, address and site. When the domain changes, old and new records stand side by side. Working out which is current takes time; meanwhile it recommends neither. For AI SEO, this means starting over.
The name is rewritten everywhere
Business cards, invoice template, e-mail addresses, 3 social media accounts, WhatsApp Business, Google Business Profile and structured data are all redone. In each, a corner with the old name turns up, and those corners read as inconsistency to customers and AI. That is why the cost lasts.
In whose name should the domain be registered, and how is it delivered with incorporation?
BU BÖLÜMÜN ÖZETİ
- Registration in the company’s name
- Domain name proposal and planning
- Hosting and site set up under the same name
In the company’s name, with a corporate e-mail and the hosting. A domain in the founder’s personal account becomes a problem when partners change or the founder leaves. Ownership details are in our guide how to open the accounts in the company’s name.
Registration in the company’s name
In the registration, the owner field carries the company’s trade name, tax number and address. The admin e-mail is a corporate address. That way the domain is a company asset; in a transfer or a change of partners, it stays put. A domain in a person’s name is an address the company rents.
Domain name proposal and planning
Delivery starts with the domain name proposal: core name candidates, the three queries and the extension decision together. Then domain and one year of hosting are registered in the company’s name. This step is the first line of Adapte Dijital’s “My Digital Company (Dijital Şirketim Olsun)” package; the package is set up in one go for TL 36,000 + VAT.
Hosting and site set up under the same name
The hosting is opened in the company’s name; the website, built for AI and for users, goes live on this domain. The 108 articles and 3 accounts carry the same name. The Organization record in the structured data ties trade name to domain. We build this whole around a service logic in our website consulting service.
Quick Summary
- Trade name at the trade registry, domain at the registrar, brand at the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office; the three records do not check one another.
- .tr extensions are allocated through BTK’s TRABİS system; registration in the company’s name needs the trade name and tax number.
- .com requires no document; it can be bought before incorporation and transferred to the company afterwards.
- The domain check should precede the MERSİS trade name query; otherwise the company ends up with two names.
- The Ministry’s digital company definition was unpublished as of October 2026; whether it will include a domain rule is unknown.
Short Glossary
- Core name
- Core name is the name chosen so that the distinctive word in the trade name is shared by the domain and the brand.
- TRABİS
- TRABİS is the system operated by BTK to manage the allocation of .tr domains.
- Domain transfer
- Domain transfer is the procedure used to move a domain’s registered owner from a person to a company.
Frequently Asked Questions
Next Step
To see the delivery list covering the domain proposal, company-name registration and the site built under the same name, book a discovery call on our digital company page.
The definition and conditions of the digital company scheme are not final yet; support amounts and conditions may change. Check the latest information with the Ministry of Industry and Technology, KOSGEB and the Official Gazette before deciding. This is not legal or financial advice.
Sources: BTK, TRABİS .tr Network Information System (accessed 17 October 2026) · Ministry of Trade, MERSİS (12 May 2026) · Vircon Legal, is the digital company coming to Türkiye (18 June 2026) · Dünya, Ertan Barut: what should Türkiye’s digital company model look like (28 September 2026)
Updated: October 2026
Sık Sorulan Sorular
Unknown. The open questions the law firm Vircon Legal listed on 18 June 2026 do not include the domain; they include a virtual office’s status as a service address. The “company passport” idea in Ertan Barut’s column of 28 September 2026 describes sharing verified company data; the domain will be its counterpart on the internet.
Not by law. But customers and AI systems look for the same core name to read the company as a single entity. The trade name, domain name and brand should carry the same name.
Since registration in the company’s name requires the trade name and tax number, it is done after incorporation. The document requirement varies by extension; verify the current rule with TRABİS. .com can be bought first and transferred later.
Possible, but the search history resets, the AI’s entity record breaks and every account is redone. That is why the check should be done before the trade name query.