Domain names for landing sites - .us, .info and other TLDs ok?

If you want to build a brand then a .com is the best one to use. If you want the domain names purely for SEO purpose it doesn't matter what extension you use.

Thanks,
Adam

Adam - thanks for your response. These will be used primarily for CPL landing pages / microsites for things like zip / email / survey submits.

In my experience, .COM .ORG and .NET are pretty equal in terms of ranking on Google (assuming everything else is the same). Other TLD's like .US. .INFO etc will be substantially more difficult to rank (all else being equal).

I second what Gene said. If you're wanting to rank well then you want to have the exact keyword for the domain and only stick with .com .net and .org. If the domain isn't available move on to the next keyword.

Again, this is only if you're trying to get quick good rankings for keywords with under 100,000 exact match on the keyword. This is what works for me.

.COM First choice as it ranks well in comparision to other. Second choice is .ORG and .NET . However i personally feel that .org has some edge over .net. Where as for the other,esp .info, i had the a hardtime ranking for the keyword that i target.
Also as Gene and Jared said try to find the exact keyword for the domains as it will rank faster with less link building.

I would personally advise you to always stick with the .com - not only does this extension rank well now, it will always rank well, google may change their mind eventually on other extensions no one knows, but .com will always be top of the list in my opinion.

I've just spent time reading about 5 threads on .info domains, and I must say I'm now totally blown away with all the answers.

I can believe a .info is harder to rank than a .com, likely due to a slight Google adjustment.

BUT...Here's the real problem with almost every answer people are giving for the preference of .com over .info

What if you are marketing blue widgets and bluewidgets dot com is taken and your only option is to get mybluewidgetstipsblog dot com. Now compare that with the option of having bluewidgets dot info.

This is more of a reality situation, not what most of the answers are really reporting. Most times you cannot get the .com, so therefore you are seeking alternative extensions.

If I had a choice on the two above, I'd take bluewidgets dot info every time. Not just because of SEO ranking, because I can convince people to click it, because people do really read the domain names properly in videos, and it does not look nearly as much like spam as the crazy looking dot com option.

I may still get beat in rankings if the person with bluewidgets dot com is good at his game, but if I'm better at getting backlinks, producing content, and driving traffic from other sources other than Google, I'm going to kick his ................