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Which Do You Think Is Better: Exact Match .ORG or .COM With Suffix?

by WikiWarrior
10 replies
Need your opinion please, Warriors! I'm building a new niche website and trying to decide which would be more powerful & professional, an exact match .org such as mykeywords dot org, or a .com with a suffix like mykeywordspro dot com or mykeywordstips dot com?

I plan to use mostly paid advertising and affiliates to send traffic so I'm more interested in which you think looks more professional. I doubt the domain will ever rank high because of the search engine competition.
#exact #match #org #suffix
  • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
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    It's not necessarily a huge issue, but I think most people feel that a .com looks "more professional".

    If the concern is "how it looks to affiliates", then I'd certainly want a .com, because affiliates are obviously internet marketers, and they tend, collectively, to be rather less open-minded about such subjects than customers are. Sometimes it's appropriate to take "affiliate perceptions" into account, even if they might actually be mistaken.

    There are also a number of other reasons (not related to either SEO or "looking professional") why a .com might be better. If you're going to err, that's the side to err on.

    (In the long run, it surely doesn't make much sense to build a business on a domain-name of which the .com variant already belongs to someone else? That's all downside, however you look at it?)

    .
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  • Profile picture of the author alvinhy
    I would go for .com but it doesn't really matter about having keywords on the domain.

    More importantly the information and keywords on the site itself.
    If your domain is purely keywords, it can be a turn off for a lot of users.
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    • Profile picture of the author Niche Blogger
      It doesn't really matter either way but I would tend to go for a .com for the simple reason that it would be worth slightly more (perceived value) if I ever decided to sell the site. Otherwise I would be quite happy to use a .org
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    • Profile picture of the author kilgore
      Originally Posted by alvinhy View Post

      I would go for .com but it doesn't really matter about having keywords on the domain.

      More importantly the information and keywords on the site itself.
      If your domain is purely keywords, it can be a turn off for a lot of users.
      Agreed. Whenever I see a keywords-only domain, my immediate thought is that it is going to be a low-quality website (I certainly don't remember the last time I saw a high quality website named with keywords!) Real companies have memorable names, names that become their brand. Coca-Cola didn't call themselves "The Brown Carbonated Sugar Water Company", Google didn't call themselves "BestSearchEngine.com", Amazon didn't call themselves "OnlineBookStore.com".

      A more brandable name is also more flexible when your business changes or grows over time. Sticking with the examples above, Coca-Cola sells a lot more than brown sugar water, Google now does a lot more than search, and Amazon does a lot more than sell books. It's also worth noting that you may have hard time getting a trademark on a keywords-based name if that's a road you ever want to go down (I did!).

      But to the OP's original question: I also vote for .com!
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      • Profile picture of the author WikiWarrior
        Thanks for all your thoughtful responses guys, much appreciated. Great to get a unanimous vote too. I have one more question based on something a few of you mentioned, regarding branding being more important than keywords.

        I actually have a brandable domain related to this product, so I wonder would it make more sense to put the product on my main site in a folder such as: mybrandedsite dot com/product name (?).

        That would solve the need to buy a domain name at all. Lots of big companies do this of course with all their products on one site but for the little guys running small operations, most product sites I see are niche sites devoted to one product with the standard setup of sales page in the root domain etc. Would it not put affiliates off promoting if the product wasn't on the home page? Would that be considered a "leak" to affiliates? Plus if the product has its own site it's an asset that can more easily be sold in the future.
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        • Profile picture of the author SEO Power
          Originally Posted by WikiWarrior View Post

          Thanks for all your thoughtful responses guys, much appreciated. Great to get a unanimous vote too. I have one more question based on something a few of you mentioned, regarding branding being more important than keywords.

          I actually have a brandable domain related to this product, so I wonder would it make more sense to put the product on my main site in a folder such as: mybrandedsite dot com/product name (?).

          That would solve the need to buy a domain name at all. Lots of big companies do this of course with all their products on one site but for the little guys running small operations, most product sites I see are niche sites devoted to one product with the standard setup of sales page in the root domain etc. Would it not put affiliates off promoting if the product wasn't on the home page? Would that be considered a "leak" to affiliates? Plus if the product has its own site it's an asset that can more easily be sold in the future.
          It can go both ways and still be successful. If your branded domain already has a lot of traffic and authority in Google, and you intend to use SEO as your primary promotion method, then promoting the product on your branded domain can help you get more sales faster.

          However, if your branded domain has no existing authority or traffic, it might be better to start a new website on a new domain for the product or just promote the product on the homepage of the branded domain you already own instead of using a sub-page.
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          • Profile picture of the author WikiWarrior
            Originally Posted by SEO Power View Post

            However, if your branded domain has no existing authority or traffic, it might be better to start a new website on a new domain for the product or just promote the product on the homepage of the branded domain you already own instead of using a sub-page.

            Thanks for your suggestion. Yes, my branded domain is pretty new so I think I will start on a fresh domain then to keep things clean and, as you say, I can still promote it by linking from the home page of my main site.
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            • Profile picture of the author cborgrx
              From everything I have read, exact match domains do not carry the weight that they once did. I have even read one report that says it could even be detrimental. But that's when you are going after SEO. If you don't give a hoot about SEO, by building your own list, than what does it really matter?
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  • Profile picture of the author Mark Davison
    I would go for a .com as it is perceived better overall and it's not as important to have an EMD these days. I think it's more important to think more about the overall branding or your site/business.

    Mark.
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  • Profile picture of the author brutecky
    It amazes me that some people still cant understand that keywords in a domain name mean nothnig.
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