Using a .com extension for foreign language website?

[Marty S]

Has anybody tried to use a .com extension for a website that is entirely of another language?

The reason I ask is because I am thinking of duplicating one of my websites into German (due to a strong following in that country already), but wanted to avoid the common hurdles of registering a .DE extension.

[shaktimaan]

Originally Posted by Marty S

Has anybody tried to use a .com extension for a website that is entirely of another language?

The reason I ask is because I am thinking of duplicating one of my websites into German (due to a strong following in that country already), but wanted to avoid the common hurdles of registering a .DE extension.

There must be no problem using a .com domain. com, net and org are universal domains and can be used for any country. Even though .de would be a best choice in your case.

[Amitywill]

Hey Marty.

Using a .com extension etc shouldn't make a difference
if all the content is in German however it would make
ranking a lot easier if your got the .de domain.

Reason being is that Google will see the .de and know the
website is intended for German users. Trust me you'll rank
a lot quicker that way.

Also have you thought about either having a translate button
on your site because there are many plugins that can translate
webpages at the push of a button or translate based on the
location of your visitor without them having to do anything.

Or you could create a subdomain on your site for German users
so you could leverage off of the authority of your own domain
instead of starting a fresh with a new domain?

Will

[DireStraits]

Originally Posted by Amitywill

Hey Marty.

Using a .com extension etc shouldn't make a difference
if all the content is in German however it would make
ranking a lot easier if your got the .de domain.

Reason being is that Google will see the .de and know the
website is intended for German users. Trust me you'll rank
a lot quicker that way.

Also have you thought about either having a translate button
on your site because there are many plugins that can translate
webpages at the push of a button or translate based on the
location of your visitor without them having to do anything.

Or you could create a subdomain on your site for German users
so you could leverage off of the authority of your own domain
instead of starting a fresh with a new domain?

Will

You can of course always set your website to target Germany in Google Webmaster Tools, if you're using a .com domain (not Germany-specific) and a web host whose servers are not Germany-based.