Category: Notícies

Your .barcelona domain takes no holidays, but you do!

Posted on by Comunicació

The summer is here, bringing with it the temptation to lower our digital shutters a little. Rhythms change and teams are smaller as people take holidays. Yet SEO does not go on holiday, search engines continue to index sites, users continue to look for content and the competition keeps on working.

Don’t fret! The good news is that with a little planning, your .barcelona site can keep working while you relax.

1. Schedule content before you leave

SEO thrives on regularity. If you stop posting content for a few weeks, search engines don’t know this and when you come back in September, perhaps the competition has got ahead of you.

The key is simple: create more content in the spring months and schedule content ahead. You might not be around, but your content is still there. 

2. Use August as an opportunity

If you’ve got less work that usual, it’s the perfect time for tasks that always get put off:

  • Update obsolete content: check old posts, check that links work and update any information that has changed.
  • Optimise content for AI: implement metadata and check your content is well-structured for AI systems.
  • Plan the autumn: which content do you want to publish when you come back from your holiday? Get ahead with this so that you have an advantage when the time comes.

3. Adapt your website to the summer reality

If your company changes the way it works in the summer, the website needs to reflect this:

  • Update customer service times and keep them visible.
  • Prepare automatic replies that indicate response times. 
  • If you offer summer discounts, give them visibility with a pop-up or a banner.
  • Redirect users to social media if this is where you keep your information up to date more frequently.

4. Think about mobile formats

In the summer, people use their mobile phones to look for information: from the beach, from their balconies, the airport or the train. Make sure your .barcelona is visible and working properly in small-screen format.

5. Create light and different content

The summer is a good excuse to move out of your comfort zone. Try formats that you don’t normally use. Assess the reaction that these new resources get and remember that in the summer you’ve got a bit more leeway to experiment. 

Relax, you’ve earned it. But leave your .barcelona domain ready to work!

Bring your business, organisation or project to life with a .barcelona domain! Register it here. 

Your city, your .barcelona

Posted on by Comunicació

Naturally, everything changes. And recent years have seen Barcelona become transformed to adapt to people that live here or experience the city in some way.

It’s ten years since the city started to have its own domain, .barcelona.

Having its own domain means having its own real space on the internet, a place that belongs to you, that bears your name and that identifies you.

The .barcelona domain is the way that people in Barcelona have of existing on the internet: of having our own place, of being able to show what we do every day and offering everybody a window to see it. From anywhere in the world, from any device and at any time.

And that’s no small thing, internet is a vast space, much of it unknown and full or noise, where it’s increasing more difficult to stand out. Yet there is a way to say who you are and where you come from right from the start: with your own .barcelona domain.

The .barcelona domain says it all:

It indicates a geoterritorial location that everyone recognises, people and search engines alike: Barcelona.

It shows that your business is linked to Barcelona’s values: a cosmopolitan city, welcoming and full of people, with plenty of sunshine, a Mediterranean diet and a great atmosphere.

It indicates a genuine project, with personality. Whether you run a business, form part of the social sector, manage a cultural space or are developing your own personal project, there is room for all this under .barcelona.

The domain has become a brand for our part of the world, a recognisable address, which thousands of people in Barcelona have chosen to exist online.

Barcelona is changing. The internet is changing. But the .barcelona domain continues, growing with the city.

Register your .barcelona domain now.

Ten years on, the internet opens up again with the arrival of a new round of ICANN domains

Posted on by bernat.lleonart

This year is a complete one for the .barcelona domain. We’re celebrating ten years on the internet, a decade when we have accompanied hundreds of companies, projects and communities that have opted for Barcelona as their digital address. Yet this anniversary coincides with a very special moment for the whole ecosystem of domain names: for the first time in a decade, the ICANN is opening up to new domains.

The .barcelona domain started life ten years ago

The last time the ICANN opened up to the creation of new generic domains (gTLD) was in 2012. That process led to more than 1,200 new extensions, including domains such as .bmw, geographical domains such as .berlin, and themed domains such as .shop and .eco. And of course, .barcelona, which marks its tenth anniversary this year.

That round transformed the internet. It showed that the network could be more diverse, more local and more representative of the global reality.

New window in 2026

On 30 April 2026, the ICANN officially opened the application period for the new round of the new gTLD programme. The window will be open until 12 August 2026, and any organisation, company, government, community or association can present their candidacy to manage a new domain extension.

The goal of this new round is to continue expanding and diversifying the internet domain name system, fostering competence, inclusion and the representation of communities with no presence until now on the internet. For the first time, applications in non-Latin alphabets are being accepted, a step to make the internet more accessible around the world.

How does the process work?

The ICANN has published the Applicant Guidebook, with full information on the whole process: requisites, assessment, resolution of conflicts between candidacies and contractual conditions with the ICANN.

All this information can be found on the official page newgtldprogram.icann.org.

A forward-looking anniversary

The tenth anniversary of the .barcelona domain is a significant moment. It reminds us of where we come from and inspires us to keep working for Barcelona to have a strong and visible digital presence around the world. The internet is growing again. And we’re there.

You can find all the information from this article at www.icann.org.

Meeting point: CENTR Jamboree in Berlin

Posted on by bernat.lleonart

DENIC, the organisation that manages the de. domain, gave a presentation in Berlin to introduce the CENTR Jamboree, the annual gathering bringing together workgroups for European top-level domains, ccTLDs and associated members.

This year’s Jamboree was particularly important for the .barcelona domain: the team from Accent Obert, which manages the .cat and .barcelona domains, presented its international research project funded by ICANN Grants and putting the .barcelona domain and 10 other geoterritorial domains at the centre of current debate: how does AI affect the online visibility of geoterritorial domains?

The great change in internet searches

The project aims to respond to a question that is causing increasing concern in the sector: in an environment where internet searches are no longer just Google, Bing and DucakDuckGo, but also ChatGPT, Claude, Mistral and other AI systems, are territorial domains still visible?

So far, positioning efforts have focused on traditional search engines. Yet the eruption of language models and generative searches are changing the rules of the game. When somebody asks AI “what’s the best pizzeria in Barcelona?”, do websites with .barcelona domains appear? Are they treated the same as other domain extensions such as .com and .es?

These are the questions that this project aims to address.

How does the research work?

The investigation has two main lines of analysis:

  • Assessment of traditional search engines: how geoTLDs are indexed and positioned in conventional search engines.
  • Assessment of AI environments: how AI systems treat geoterritorial domains when responding to questions from users.

In addition, all the methodology uses open-source reusable software, meaning that other domains can adapt it and continue the research beyond this project.

The presentation of the CENTR Jamboree was by Beatriz Guzmán and Josep Masoliver, from the Accent Obert team.

Why is it important for you as a .barcelona domain holder?

If you have a .barcelona domain, the results of this research affect you directly. Understanding how search engines and AI treat geoTLDs can help you decide and act in connection to your domain: learning to treat content so that your page is more visible to both traditional search engines and AI models, enabling you to adapt to how users currently conduct searches on the internet.

We will provide updates on the progress of the project. Because the future of the internet is decided every day, and the .barcelona domain is present.

Discover the new website bringing together all the city’s museum options

Posted on by bernat.lleonart

This strategic project starts life with the aim of becoming the definite digital reference point for the city’ s heritage, addressing the current dispersion of information and offering for the first time a unique access point to the activity of over sixty museums, exhibition centres and heritage spaces.

The new museus.barcelona website brings together municipal, consortium and private facilities all in one place, breaking down administrative barriers to focus on user experience.

An active and dynamic cultural gatekeeper

The museum website has been designed to function as a specialised cultural agenda and point of reference. The platform allows users to intuitively browse temporary exhibitions, permanent collections and specialised family activities at city museums. It also operates as the backbone for the ICUB’s heritage programmes. Events such as ‘Museum Night’, the festival ‘Barcelona Dibuixa’, ‘Museu Endins’ and the special programmes for Christmas, Summer and La Mercè have their own centralised space. This means that once the specific campaigns are over, the information is retained structurally and not lost on temporary websites.

To guarantee quality and relevance, the website has a content generation and management team devoted to gathering information daily, ensuring that the agenda is a reliable and trustworthy source for the general public and cultural promoters alike.

Follow the Grand Départ of the Tour de France 2026 on its .barcelona website

Posted on by bernat.lleonart

This summer sees Barcelona host one of the most prestigious and outstanding professional cycling events in the world. On the website, letour.barcelona, you can find all the latest relating to the event in four languages: Catalan, Spanish, English and French. The website offers detailed information on the three stages in Catalonia, on 4,5 and 6 July 2026, with maps, altitude meters and technical data, plus a historical look at previous occasions when the Tour has passed through Catalonia.

The site also has specific sections on the three Catalan cities taking a prominent role in this edition: Barcelona, Tarragona and Granollers, with practical content and information on culture, tourism and access for visitors. Finally, in the section on the latest developments, you’ll find news relating to the preparations for the Tour and activities being carried out in the areas involved.

Registration open for volunteers

You’ll also find a registration form on the website to provide support for the organisers and inform people during the event. To take part, you need to be at least 16, speak Catalan, Spanish or French, and attend a training session. Each volunteer can choose the stage, municipality and availability.

More than 1,500 activities set to fill Barcelona with architecture in 2026

Posted on by bernat.lleonart

Barcelona will be the global focal point for architecture in 2026, chosen by UNESCO and the International Union of Architects. The city thus becomes the only place in the world to host the UIA congress for a second time, which on this occasion is being held under the title “Becoming. Architectures for a planet in transition”. The programme of activities for the World Capital of Architecture 2026, to be held from Santa Eulàlia until Santa Llúcia, includes over 1,500 activities with the collaboration of 170 organisations around the city’s ten districts.

With the goal of reconnecting people with architecture and promoting the importance of this discipline in everyday life, a programme has been designed to appeal to all audiences: general, professional and educational, with activities devoted specifically to schools.

The inauguration was on 12 February, the day of Santa Eulàlia, and the closing day will be 13 December, Santa Llúcia. This ten-month period will see each of the districts taking monthly turns as the focal point for the World Capital of Architecture, promoting their own architectural and urban aspects and their pace of life.

The programme includes exhibitions, guided tours, lectures and workshops. Details can be found on the World Capital of Architecture website, with notable activities to include the Open Neighbourhood in Nou Barris, Sants-Montjuïc and Sarrià – Sant Gervasi, the workshop “The city we want”, for children aged from 8 to 12, the exhibition “Jujol” at the MNAC and the exhibitions at the former head office of the Gustavo Gil publishing company: “Barcelona: intense, diverse and complex”, and “Barcelona in transformation. 2035”.

A legacy for the city

The World Capital of Architecture will endure in the city through the legacy it leaves, materialised by a large scale model of Barcelona on display at the former head office of the Gustavo Gil publishing company and in the renovation of party walls on ten city buildings, the result of an international competition to enrich the urban landscape and improve the liveability and sustainability of the buildings. In the autumn, as a prelude to this event, the same venue will be inaugurating the exhibition “From party walls to façades”, explaining the process and the winning projects in this international competition that attracted 439 entries from 51 countries around the globe.

You can find full information on the World Capital of Architecture at capitalmundialarquitectura.barcelona.

The Reial Monestir de Santa Maria de Pedralbes celebrates 700 years with a special programme

Posted on by bernat.lleonart

On the occasion of the 700th anniversary of the Reial Monestir de Santa Maria de Pedralbes (1326-2026), various activities are being organised including exhibitions, concerts, tours, family activities, storytelling, workshops, lectures and the presentation of the project to study the tombs from the founding period.

The seventh centenary of the monastery, founded by Queen Elisenda de Montcada i de Pinós together with her husband, King Jaume II, centres on the figure of the queen and represents the culmination of the three programme areas that have defined the recent history of the museum: medieval heritage, spirituality and the figure of the woman.

The activities to mark the occasion get under way on Thursday, 26 March, when, seven hundred years ago the first stone of the apse of the monastery church was laid, and will go on until 3 May 2027, celebrating the consecration of the church and the entrance of the first community of Poor Clare nuns.

The Government of Catalonia has declared 2026 as Monestir de Pedralbes Year.

For more information on the programme of activities marking the seventh centenary go to monestirpedralbes.barcelona.

Guided tours of La Model now daily

Posted on by Lluis Ouro

If you haven’t been yet, you now have a new chance to visit La Model and discover all the secrets of the former prison in the Esquerra de l’Eixample neighbourhood. There are tours every day of the week until 31 July, with an increase in the number of free places to look around the inside of the prison.

You do need to book on the website lamodel.barcelona for any of the following slots:

  • Mondays to Fridays: 5 pm (Catalan) and 5.30 pm (Spanish).
  • Saturdays: 11 am (Catalan), 11.30 am (Spanish), 5 pm (Catalan) and 5.30 pm (Spanish).
  • Sundays: 10.30 am (Catalan) and 12 noon (Spanish).

Bear in mind that the site is closed on public holidays! Besides these guided tours, you can also visit La Model without a guide on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, making your way freely around the corridors, cells and panoptic tower.

You can check the times on the website for La Model. The City Council also offers guided tours for schools, with routes and activities especially designed for students in their last two years of primary school, or in secondary school or sixth form.

Technology as a common asset at the canodrom.barcelona

Posted on by Lluis Ouro

In a context shaped by our loss of capacity to build our own technology and the difficulty of defending digital rights, Barcelona hosted the first Open Tech Week, bringing together experts, companies and institutions to discuss open technology at the service of citizens.

The Canòdrom was the epicentre for the five-day event, hosting workshops and lectures on digital transparency, security and sovereignty. Coinciding with the meeting was the Decidim Fest, with activists, public institutions, organisations and communities from the technopolitical and digital sovereignty ecosystem, and the Mozilla Festival, which promotes alternative models to the dominant internet.

For its part, Barcelona City Council is working on a city pact for open and democratic technologies, the aim being to move towards a city committed to people, digital rights and public technologies.