Buy aged .info exact match domain or register new .com domain with prefix?

[itsallwhite]

I am starting a website in a competitive niche and am currently looking at different domain names:

The aged exact march .info domain is available for sale at $60 US. It doesnt have backlinks but is indexed in Google and is over 5 years old.

Should I purchase this or would I be better to register a new .com domain with a suffix or pre-fix before/after the keyword phrase instead?

I know .info's are weaker but I have never done an experiment to know at which point they become the better choice.

Your advice would be appreciated!

[OpticalOut]

.info domains can rank on page one right next to .com, .net, and .org websites.
But...
.info domains have a lower perceived value because they are often
used for redirects, spam, etc...

I would personally never setup a long-term project on a .info.

[Rsberg]

Personally I would go for the .info because they can rank just as well as any other. Yes the previous poster is correct in saying they have a lower perceived value but as that implys...it's mostly just perceived that way and doesn't mean it really is that way.

Domain age is a nice thing if you can pick one up relatively cheap, especially considering it's exact match as well.

Best of luck!
Robert

[Coby]

Why not get both? its only what ten bucks more to register the .com domain?

I personally don't have a problem with .info when they are exact match.

If you get both you can make the .info a blog and the .com a sales/squeeze page

[JennSpencerIM]

I'd buy both and set-up a wordpress.org blog on one of them!

[paulie888]

If I had the choice of only one domain, then it'd be the .info one as it is an exact match domain, and nothing beats that. If I could swing it, I'd buy both domains and do what the others have suggested, i.e. build your main blog on the .info so that it'd have the highest chance of ranking, and use the other .com for a squeeze or sales page.

[Praney Behl]

I would surely go for a .info domain, they do rank as good as any other TLD with a little good SEO.

Praney

[itsallwhite]

Thanks for the advice, think I'll take the aged .info and then when I get time get a more 'sexy' .com name. Perhaps i'll do a test and see which works better - I prefer to know the science behind these things rather than just guessing

[PatriciaJ]

I would get the .info I've done well with the ones that I have, but if the intention is to sell the site at a later date I'd get the .com too for it

.infos only have a perceived lower value to Internet marketers. If you are marketing to the general public then they won't care about .coms and a .info would suggest information to them

[itsallwhite]

I've actually found the exact match .org domain but with hypens

keyword-keyword-keyword.org - also aged and a similar price <100

Do you think the .org is better than the keywordkeywordkeyword.info?

Appreciate your input on this one!

[Boris_yo]

If this is a long term project, i would purchase all of them redirecting everyone to exact match, old domain.

[LarryHaywood]

I'd get both and setup a blog on one(or both) as suggested earlier. It's just another 12 bucks or so and your time? In my eyes, you'd double your chances at obtaining the niche traffic with 2 different sites with different content. Just my .02.

[4morereferrals]

Here's my somewhat un-scientific take on all this ...

I have .us / .coms / . biz / .info .... well over 200 domains registered and 50% of them are "IN USE"


my .nets and .coms that are "close" exact matches - seem to enter googles index in the 50's and 60's when brand new and getting the same themes - similar amounts of content... or even less content - than my .biz and .info's. The .biz and .info dom's are entering the index in BFE! or mid 100's on avg.

Im also finding it takes me 3-5x the number of profile type links to increase the serps of my .biz and .infos - whereas my .nets and .coms take far less resources to get to the first 3 pages.

Ive ranked and CAN rank and WILL rank any tld type .us .me .wtf ... i really dont care - well i do now care ... but from now on Im not buying .info or .biz if I can get a close enough .com or .net


Close enough .... eKEYWORD[S].com / KEYWORDShq.net

Just 1 mans take ... Im in the midst of ranking 30+ various sites and emds of different tld type [ .biz / .us / .com / .info / .net ] right now and checking hte spreadsheets of how many backlinks runs Im doing and what the realtive comeptition for the varipous terms is ... it just sure seems to me that Google is smiling more on the .coms and .nets - and many are not even .coms/.nets that are "close enough".

Wonder if anyone else has noticed similar ?

[itsallwhite]

Originally Posted by 4morereferrals

Here's my somewhat un-scientific take on all this ...

I have .us / .coms / . biz / .info .... well over 200 domains registered and 50% of them are "IN USE"


my .nets and .coms that are "close" exact matches - seem to enter googles index in the 50's and 60's when brand new and getting the same themes - similar amounts of content... or even less content - than my .biz and .info's. The .biz and .info dom's are entering the index in BFE! or mid 100's on avg.

Im also finding it takes me 3-5x the number of profile type links to increase the serps of my .biz and .infos - whereas my .nets and .coms take far less resources to get to the first 3 pages.

Ive ranked and CAN rank and WILL rank any tld type .us .me .wtf ... i really dont care - well i do now care ... but from now on Im not buying .info or .biz if I can get a close enough .com or .net


Close enough .... eKEYWORD[S].com / KEYWORDShq.net

Just 1 mans take ... Im in the midst of ranking 30+ various sites and emds of different tld type [ .biz / .us / .com / .info / .net ] right now and checking hte spreadsheets of how many backlinks runs Im doing and what the realtive comeptition for the varipous terms is ... it just sure seems to me that Google is smiling more on the .coms and .nets - and many are not even .coms/.nets that are "close enough".

Wonder if anyone else has noticed similar ?

Thanks - that's really useful and good to hear from someone that's done it.

Does anyone else know about using hyphens

keyword-keyword-keyword.org v's keywordkeywordkeyword.info?

Cheers!

[perfect]

If adding prefix gives you what you want I suggest you go for it, besides people are not accustom to .info.

[MikeFriedman]

I would look at your target market.

.info's do have a lower perceived value, but really that is only the case in the IM world. The average internet user doesn't care what the extension is. In the IM world, we have seen them used often in spammy ways.

If you are marketing to IM'ers, it might be worth it to have the .com, even though it is not exact match. If it is the general public, .info will work just fine.

[itsallwhite]

Good point thanks, its not in the MMO niche and I won't be doing any social media or promotion other than organic search - my thinking is the .info might be the slightly better choice, although I also like the hyphen .org

[Praney Behl]

I would certainly go for a .info, as I also have a army of of .info domains, and they do a he'll of a job. To my information, it is your approach on how you setup your site, SEO, and the content plays a very big role.

Getting some good exposure to your, some bookmarks, and participation in forums in your niche can be amazing. If you can try get fresh content, nothing can beat that.

To close, I would say, to me the TLD of the domain has never mattered.

Cheers!

Praney

[pons_saravanan]

Originally Posted by 4morereferrals

Here's my somewhat un-scientific take on all this ...

I have .us / .coms / . biz / .info .... well over 200 domains registered and 50% of them are "IN USE"

Im also finding it takes me 3-5x the number of profile type links to increase the serps of my .biz and .infos - whereas my .nets and .coms take far less resources to get to the first 3 pages.

I too feel this but couldnt conclude that info tlds are bit hard compared to .com and .net. However the info domains i had are expired domain. So i am looking for a good fresh info domain to give a try. If you dont mind, can you share whether the info/biz TLDs which needed additional backlinks are expired or NEW domains.
Thank you