what do people think of the .co extension?

[yoirqu]

what do people think of the .co extension?ranks worldwide right?

[miranon]

Originally Posted by yoirqu

what do people think of the .co extension?ranks worldwide right?

It's a country code top-level domain, so it's worse than generic top-level domains such as .com/net/org/info.

[yoirqu]

but is a country code that ranks globally like a .com or .net ?

[miranon]

Originally Posted by yoirqu

but is a country code that ranks globally like a .com or .net ?

No, it doesn't. It ranks only good in local searches like .de for Germany or .fr for France. Also, you can't change the geographic target in google webmaster tools with the country code top-level domains.

If you really want, you can rank high with .co, but it will take like 3x the effort as with .com/net/org.

[bgmacaw]

Originally Posted by miranon

It's a country code top-level domain, so it's worse than generic top-level domains such as .com/net/org/info.

Like the .tv (Tuvalu) and .me (Montenegro) domain extensions before it, Google now treats .co as a generic international domain.

[yoirqu]

bit confused about the ranking power of .co. Think I have settled on a dot com now anyways. Thanks for your help guys

[bgmacaw]

Originally Posted by yoirqu

bit confused about the ranking power of .co.

Domain extensions don't affect ranking unless they're country specific (and .co is no longer one). What matters is the authority and number of your incoming links.

[miranon]

Originally Posted by bgmacaw

Domain extensions don't affect ranking unless they're country specific (and .co is no longer one).

.co - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

.co is the country code top-level domain for the Republic of Colombia

[Rich77sm]

Ive read they are suppose to rank the same, but i have yet to see one in search results with google

[bgmacaw]

Originally Posted by miranon

.co - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

.co is the country code top-level domain for the Republic of Colombia

from the article you linked but didn't read...

At 2pm EST on July 20th, 2010, second level .CO domains became available to world, on a first-come, first-served basis.
---------------
Summary of .co's new policies:

* Any person or entity in the world can register .co domain names
* There are no domicile or burdensome documentation requirements
* Registration period is between 1 and 5 years, subject to renewal
* Registrants can easily transfer domain names to others

[miranon]

Originally Posted by bgmacaw

from the article you linked but didn't read...

I have read the article. The fact that any person can register a .co domain doesnt make the domain a generic top-level domain. For example everyone can register a .FR or .DE domain and as with .CO they all are country code top-level domains

However i have done a little research and you are right, it seems that in august 2010 Google changed their policy about the geographic targeting with .co domains. Now you can select custom geo targeting:

A very good news from Google to all the .CO domain owners. From today (August 05, 2010) .CO domains can be geotargeted in Google Webmaster Tools. Until yesterday (August 04, 2010), .CO was targeted to Colombia only. Although .CO is a premium top level domain now, it will never cease to be the country code top level domain (ccTLD) of Colombia. Here's a snapshot of what appeared today when I checked the Google Webmaster Tools. _earlybird.co

But, i have yet to see a .co domain rank in top 5 Google results for competitive keywords. Than i will believe that they are equal to .com/net/org.