The video is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=yJqZIH_0Ars.
However Cutts, head of the web spam team at Google, says Google recognises exceptions. One example he gives is .io (Indian Ocean). There are very few domains registered relevant to this area, and as some start-ups began to use the ccTLD, Google revised how its search engine targeted the ccTLD and so it came to be recognised as a global ccTLD.
Occasionally Google revises the list of ccTLDs, and may decide that it is being used as a global TLD, rather than regionally specific.
Other examples Cutts gave were .li (Lichtenstein) and .ky (Cayman Islands). For the former, there were registrants wanting to use the domain to represent the US state of Long Island, however Google took the view that the primary use of domains registered under .li was for Liechtenstein. For .ky, which he gave as an example, saying registrants might want to use the ccTLD for the US state of Kentucky, Cutts advised caution. It may work, and it may not work, he said.
But in advising caution in this area, Cutts advises “if you go and pick a really weird novelty domain that nobody else really uses, and mostly is used by this other country, we’re still probably going to assume it’s most relevant to that particular country.”
Overall there are 19 ccTLDs that Google classifies as “generic country code Top Level Domains”.
To check out the list, go to https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/1347922.
