Domain question... .net vs .com

[Bondtana]

Is it harder to rank #1 with a .net (or other) domain, as opposed to a .com with the same keyword?

Does google care if you have a .com, .net, etc?

[waloosh]

.com and .net are just suffixes. .com means Commercial and .net means Network. Google finds both just as easily as they find other domains like .co.uk or .org, etc. The suffix of a website should only vary on what your site is. Commercial, Network, Organization, etc.

[midasman09]

ALWAYS use ".Com"!

".Net" is used by Systems and Server and Service people.

If you're trying to monetize your sites, stay with ".Com"!

And....the "Public: has become accustomed to ".Com"

Midas Man

[waloosh]

Ok, that's what I call a sterotype. I don't mean to be rude or anything midas... but .net could be used as a network of people, such as a large forum connected to other forums for multiple information about all sorts of things.

.com has become one of those things that people are attracted to because they don't know anything else.

It doesn't really matter what you make your website suffix, as long as you're happy with it and it's easy to remember. Search engines will still find it and you still have that chance of being at the top.

[FifthDimension5]

i would say only the content matters. The domain TLD doesnt matter, but other things being equal, the .com has more aged than the .net, so it comes up first in the engine results. Not because it is a dot com, but because it is more aged.

[dave147]

.net can be used for anything, if the .com is gone then you can use .net. Both can rank high with good SEO, but there is more recognition and trust with a .com

[Caragui]

The question's been bugging me too and was deciding to start a new thread until I came across this one.

.net and .com are top level domains and so are the others like .info, .org & other lesser known (new) extensions like .me, .ws, name, biz, etc. In theory the search engines should not differentiate between them and you should figure in the search results jst as well. But how true is this?

Another interesting point is that people has gotten used to the .com extension and usually uses this extension when typing in the domain name. Problem is with the millions of registered domain names out there our usual first choice, or second or third, .com name has been taken and we need to settle for another name.

One more question I have is about subdomains. I know they're not TLDs but would it be also feasible to use them in IM?

[SKWeaver]

From my experience, search engines don't seem to draw a difference between .com and .net -- but people do! And, that's why I always go after .com domains. There's no question .com is more popular, and it always will be. People are conditioned to typing .com. Yes, it's true can't always get the first name or two that pops into your head, but that doesn't bother me. With a little creativity, you can still get some kick-ass .com domains. Just 2 weeks ago, i got a great .com name in the diet niche that is catchy, easy to remeber and only 12 letters long. Just because something is hard, doesn't mean it can't be done!

[seobro]

midasman say ALWAYS use ".Com"! He is right. That way you can tell people go to my site - giantpurplewidgets. Other wise it is please visit my web site Giant Purple Widgets [DOT] net. And what do they do, some think it is dot info, others think dot org, others think dot biz, etc. Actually, it is terrible to have a dot net domain. It is the same story for hyphens. Do not use them either - one long word.

[rob6188]

I can tell you from everything I've read, .com is the only way to go. Search on just about any keyword and you'll find .com dominates the top rankings.

Although .net and .org get some love, just about every other tld is lost. I believe it's common knowledge that .info is penalized. Ask anyone who owns a .info. That's why they are on sale all the time at godaddy. Nobody wants them. .tv gets some help when the domain is tv show related, even though the tld is country specific.

Not to say there are not some clever uses of other tlds. like delicious. Some state governments have used .info to give out information as well with great success.

But unless you are ready to really put some muscle behind these other tlds, you best stick with a .com and only go with .net or .org if can't get the domain name you want in a .com. Also, avoid dashes in your domain name.

A quick search through this forum will justify most of what I have outlined. Hope that helps.

-Rob

[Jeff Henshaw]

.com has become one of those things that people are attracted to because they don't know anything else.

If .com is what the human traffic like then I'm going to stay with it.

I just wish that Warriors would use the search function. This type of thread has been posted so many times and is now so old that it has whiskers on it!

Regards,
Jeff Henshaw.

[Les Tatum]

I always go for .com domains mainly just because that's what most people remember. When someone types in a domain name they heard or read from memory they tend to try .com first if they don't remember for sure, and if someone else has that .com domain, you have just lost a visitor if you have a different extension. With a little creativity, there are still a lot of great .com domains available.

I would definitely stay away from .info domains.

[InternetMarketingIQ]

It's just as easy if you are grinding it out yourself. My .NET's rank just fine with the same effort. But you can not underestimate the value of the .com as that is what is in the minds of people.

So there are those people who will link to .com even though you have a .net name because they don't think about it at all. So the .com owner wins some of your links. So there is a little extra built in disincentive.

Having said that if I could find a really good keyword rich .NET I'd sure take that over a not as good keyword .com. Same principal with keyword domains. People's mind share.

Clearly .com is the way to go... but a good .NET is worth owning and promoting. I have at least half a dozen of them and I've made a lot of money from them over the years. Obviously I would have bought. COM's but even way back in the day most of those were taken.

[RevenueGal]

Originally Posted by Jeff Henshaw

I just wish that Warriors would use the search function. This type of thread has been posted so many times and is now so old that it has whiskers on it!

LOL ~ You're right, but that would make it too easy to get the answers to their questions.

[Paul Ho]

I don't think it affects the way Google ranks your pages but .com is way better because it's the first thing on people's minds..