How to choose domain extension

[emarketmedia]

Hi!

What do you prefer between these domain name: harddiskreview.com or harddisk.biz?

This is only an example but i would like to know what is the best between an exact match domain with .biz extension and a .com domain without an exact match domain name.

Thanks.

[tspike]

It depends on the competition in the niche. If page 1 competition for "hard disk" is weak, I'd go for harddisk.biz. If it's strong competition, and "hard disk review" is getting decent traffic with weak competition, go for harddiskreview.com.

In the end, it's not your domain extension that's going to make or break your site. It's the quality of service you provide to your niche.

[emarketmedia]

Sorry but in the example the keyword which I want to rank is "hard disk".

[azmanar]

Hi tSpike,

Dead on !

That is a very good advice for me as well.

FYI. I heard rumours that Google is not in favour of REVIEW SITES anymore.
Not too sure about this, though. But people are complaining of their review
sites getting dropped.

IMHO, Exact Domain is a plus point. But it will not help much, unless the
content are unique and SEO'd properly.

EmarketMedia,

Have you analyzed the competition and market demand via these tools?
--> Google Keyword Tool
--> Spyfu
--> Alexa
--> Quantcast
--> Google Insights

Its worth it.

Thanks

[emarketmedia]

Thanks for the reply.

[Alexa Smith]

Originally Posted by tspike

If page 1 competition for "hard disk" is weak, I'd go for harddisk.biz

Interesting. Why?

Out of these two, I'd take the .com 100 times out of 100, without a thought, a flicker, or any interest in the .biz at all.

Nothing to do with SEO, of course (domain extensions don't affect that), but for a whole myriad of other reasons.

I wouldn't want to not own the .com myself, I wouldn't want to lose any future type-in traffic to a future owner of the .com, I wouldn't ever want to try to sell the site if someone else had the .com because not owning it myself would devalue my site, and so on and so forth ...

[TerranceCharles]

Exactly, I'm only for .Com domain names too - I would go with harddiskreview.com

[emarketmedia]

But not for SEO reasons?

[petelta]

I've always used this sequence:

.com > .net > .org

I have purchased 145 .com's, 2 .net's, and 0 .org's. If I can't find a .com for my keyword, I will move on to the next keyword. .Net's have only been purchased when the keyword is a hidden gem and the .com is purchased already with a crappy SEO owner.

[LaunchBrain.com]

Originally Posted by Alexa Smith

Nothing to do with SEO, of course (domain extensions don't affect that), but for a whole myriad of other reasons.

What?!

Extensions do matter...

a .com and .org is worth more than a .net or .biz, you only need to look at how scam and spam sites use these extensions including .info

[Alexa Smith]

Originally Posted by LaunchBrain.com

a .com and .org is worth more than a .net or .biz, you only need to look at how scam and spam sites use these extensions including .info

This gets fiercely debated here on almost a daily basis.

It's one of the most widely pervasive urban myths of internet marketing there is.

Google, and Matt Cutts, and many Warriors, and many authors of accredited SEO textbooks, all say that domain extensions don't affect SEO at all. Matt Cutts, in particular, says it on his own blog and on Google's blog, and has even released a video clarifying it and trying to dispel the popuarly believed misinformation on the subject.

Far more spammers and scammers use .com's than any other domain extension simply because there are far more of them than there are of any other domain extension.

This subject was discussed here at great length only yesterday, in this fine thread.

But long experience has taught me that if people want to continue to believe in, to perpetuate and to propagate this silly myth, then if Google can't convince them otherwise, I certainly can't ... so: "enjoy".

Originally Posted by emarketmedia

But not for SEO reasons?

Correct. Not for SEO reasons.

[LaunchBrain.com]

Cheers Alexa,

I'm going to take a look at what you've sent.

My personal experience is that I've outranked people with few, lower quality backlinks but just having the .org version of the keywords my competitors we're all sniping.

Better still, it's still winning in the engines and I've not touched it in months, no linking or content.

Really appreciate your input here though, Thanks!

[MikeFriedman]

Originally Posted by LaunchBrain.com

What?!

Extensions do matter...

a .com and .org is worth more than a .net or .biz, you only need to look at how scam and spam sites use these extensions including .info

Oh Christ. Here we go again.

[LaunchBrain.com]

MikeFriedman

LOL ... Cheers mate

I won't start the debate, all I know i've outranked several of my competitors when sniping products by nabing the exact same keyword with .com's and .org's

I'll back this up and publish a report... LOL

[gtk29]

I think .com is always a winner and .net come second. Also .info is a good. Others I have not seen ranking well in google.

[LaunchBrain.com]

I think it also depends on your goals, if your ranking a niche site you might not be looking for people to remember your domain name.

People remember .com's better than they do .net's or .info or .cc etc

[kiddoman]

You should consider the content of your website. If it focuses on the review stuff, you may use the first domain! While it is on the harddisk business, the second one is proper!

[LaunchBrain.com]

Originally Posted by kiddoman

You should consider the content of your website. If it focuses on the review stuff, you may use the first domain! While it is on the harddisk business, the second one is proper!

Yeah, great points.

[dangsta]

I would choose the .com one.

[cheesee]

Harddiskreview.com because .com for me is always better.

[Tuffy22]

Go dot com, and don't look back. Happy adventures!

[faysal969]

My vote goes to .com extension. I believe .com domains get some extra benefits than any other.

[HN]

I think a lot of you are missing the point. He's asking if he should get harddisks.biz (exact keyword match)
like: keyword.biz or keywordsomething.com
He's targeting hard disk, now hard disk reviews
Get the exact keyword match domain no matter what the extension. Or do you really have to choose? Get both and test to see which is better. Don't rely on any advice. Everyone has a different opinion.
Me personally, I am investing in short generic exotic TLD's like SEO.HN | Search Engine Optimization by High-Needs.LLC
Why? All other seo domains are taken, no matter what the extension, so it must be valuable, the only one still available is seo.ki which costs $1000 per year to own.

[UMS]

I would get harddisks.biz or harddisks.info over harddiskreview.com anyday.

[Paleochora]

This debate raises a question regarding exact match domain names in my mind which I have never had a good answer to.

In fact ...two questions.

To ask the first question I need to make up a niche. Lets assume that someone wanted to develop multi page review sites about cities. Lets also assume that the domain 'cityguide [dot] com' was available and that this phrase with the name of a city in front got traffic from exact searches.

Rather than buying hundreds of domains like 'londoncityguide[dot]com', 'newyorkcityguide[dot]com would the SEO benefits be the same by simply buying the root and adding the cities as sub-domains? For example ' london.cityguide[dot]com' etc. etc.?

Second question I always wanted the answer to.

Is the word order critical?

What I mean by that is if keyword phrase 'cure acne today' is getting a ton of searches but is taken, would the EMD 'today cure acne[dot]com' get a shout in the serps for the 'cure acne today' phrase?

[azmanar]

Originally Posted by Paleochora

This debate raises a question regarding exact match domain names in my mind which I have never had a good answer to.

In fact ...two questions.

To ask the first question I need to make up a niche. Lets assume that someone wanted to develop multi page review sites about cities. Lets also assume that the domain 'cityguide [dot] com' was available and that this phrase with the name of a city in front got traffic from exact searches.

Rather than buying hundreds of domains like 'londoncityguide[dot]com', 'newyorkcityguide[dot]com would the SEO benefits be the same by simply buying the root and adding the cities as sub-domains? For example ' london.cityguide[dot]com' etc. etc.?

Second question I always wanted the answer to.

Is the word order critical?

What I mean by that is if keyword phrase 'cure acne today' is getting a ton of searches but is taken, would the EMD 'today cure acne[dot]com' get a shout in the serps for the 'cure acne today' phrase?

Hi,

You're talking about :
1. Subdomains
2. Word Order in EMD

1. Subdomains

- Current
I have a subdomain that is quite popular with visitors in my niche. The
subdomain name is the keyword but the domain isn't any keyword at all.
When anyone does a search for the niche in in Google, Yahoo and Bing ...
my site is always at No.1 until today. Of course, the content helps.

- Previous
2 years back, I experimented with subdomains for 3 EMDs, just like what
you planned. The SERPs were favourable. There must be content matching
the subdomains.

2. Word Order

If you use Google Keyword Tools, you might have noticed how jumbled
keywords have exactly the same number of search results. For example:
"Jewelry Stores Online" and "Online Jewelry Stores" will give the same
exact number of searches.

If you use Google SE, you will notice the same. How jumbled keywords
in SERPs are displayed. But mind you. Most keywords that get the top ranks
are from Page Titles and Descriptions, EMDs are much lesser.

Hope that helps a bit.

[Red Mist]

.com, all day of the week. Good luck with it.

[goldhome]

I would go for .com extension without a thought. I love to type the domain name and hit Ctrl + Enter

[HN]

Originally Posted by Paleochora

Lets also assume that the domain 'cityguide [dot] com' was available and that this phrase with the name of a city in front got traffic from exact searches.

You are thinking the same way I do. I have tested this on exotic country level TLD and this shows that, having keywords in subdomain + domain no matter what the domain extension may rank high. I am on page 3, but I haven't put any effort in this. Just 1 backlink from PR2 website.

[johnkaainth]

According to my reviews, extension dont matter, matter is what you are sharing with others means content of your website, if you are sharing best content then everyone will find you, although you are into .biz or .com. As the time passes, .Biz popularity is increasing day by day. This represents Business domain and Google understand it very wisely. So think if you are getting your keywords in .biz domain then dont hesitate to buy these domain, these works like .com ext.

[paulgl]

Originally Posted by gtk29

I think .com is always a winner and .net come second. Also .info is a good. Others I have not seen ranking well in google.

You mean like, um, dot org?

Paul

[GrowTraffic]

I'd choose the .com over the .biz

I'm just experimenting at the moment with an exact match .biz domain I've got -and not having much luck with getting it to rank in a fairly weak competitive search market.