A country-code top-level domain (ccTLD) is a two-letter TLD assigned to a specific country or territory. France gets .fr, Germany gets .de, the UK gets .uk. These codes follow the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 standard, with a few historical exceptions like .uk (instead of .gb).
How ccTLDs work
Each ccTLD is managed by a designated registry in that country. AFNIC handles .fr, DENIC runs .de, Nominet manages .uk. Registration rules vary wildly. Some ccTLDs like .de are open to anyone worldwide. Others like .fr used to require a local address (though that rule was relaxed in 2011). A few, like .us, still restrict registration to residents.
Some countries use second-level structures. The UK has .co.uk for commercial sites and .org.uk for organizations. Australia uses .com.au, Brazil uses .com.br. These function like sub-categories under the country code.
Why ccTLDs matter for expired domains
Google treats ccTLDs as a strong geo-targeting signal. A .fr domain will naturally rank better in France than a .com, all else being equal. That makes expired ccTLD domains particularly valuable for local SEO campaigns. An aged .de domain with German-language backlinks is a shortcut to authority in the German market.
CatchDoms tracks 49 ccTLDs across Europe, the Americas, Asia-Pacific, and Africa for its regfree (deleted domain) pipeline. You can filter domains by TLD or browse the full TLD index to see what's available in each country extension.