The Guardian to change domain to theguardian.com

The Guardian is to change its domain name to theguardian.com, reflecting a shift to a global digital approach and to further strengthen its presence worldwide. The UK site (guardian.co.uk), the US homepage (guardiannews.com), and the mobile site (m.guardian.co.uk) will be streamlined and all accessed via the new URL.

The news outlet made the announcement on its website this morning. In the post, Tanya Cordrey, Guardian News and Media’s chief digital officer, said: “Our audience is no longer primarily in the UK. Every month, our online content is accessed from almost every country around the world. In fact, UK users now represent just a third of our total audience.”

Audited circulation figures released yesterday show the Guardian had a global readership of almost 82 million, with 30 million of those readers in the UK. In the post Cordrey adds that “we’re ready to take the next step on our bold digital journey”. She says it “may be a small URL change” but it reflects the title’s evolution to “a leading global news and media brand”.

She adds: “Over the coming months ahead of the move, our in-house digital team, working closely with the team at Yoast.com, will be working on this ambitious and challenging project. The Guardian websites involve millions of URLs and around 15 years’ worth of content, so it will take some time.” The Guardian launched its US news operation in 2011, and is currently setting up a newsroom in Australia. (from www.journalism.co.uk)