.ORG Seo Weight vs .Com/.Net

34 replies
  • SEO
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I have a quick question for anyone who may have experience in this. I'm doing some keyword research and run across a nice pocket of domains with .org's available and easy to rank for. Do .org's rank as well as .com/.net or do they hold less "clout" in Google's Eyes?

Thanks!
#com or net #org #seo #weight
  • Profile picture of the author paulgl
    The almighty google could care less.
    Has nothing to do with anything.
    But you will hear people scream who say to
    never get a .net or , whatever. Pure hogwash.
    If you plan on doing anything SEO-related, it
    does not matter. People's feelings about domains
    has nothing to do with search engine feelings.

    Paul
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  • Profile picture of the author enigmanic
    I dont think Google cares one bit. If you do your SEO correctly, you should have no problem ranking high with any type of domain extension. However, real visitors may be more leery about clicking on websites that end in .info or .biz.
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  • Profile picture of the author jazbo
    Ask yourself, why would a search engine care if your site is .org or .net - anyone can buy them so why would they allow one a bonus over another?
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    • Profile picture of the author HCLee
      Interestingly I just came from a site which posted a survey result he conducted and here goes:

      What's the best domain extension ever?
      .com

      83.3%


      .net

      11.9%


      .org

      4.8%



      Which Domain Extension Ranks Higher?
      .net

      36.8%


      .org

      34.2%


      It's a myth...it's all about SEO - I think they both rank equally!

      28.9%
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  • Profile picture of the author deknem17
    I think it doesn't matter what you choose(.com, .org or .net). I just prefer .com
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  • Profile picture of the author claytons
    We did a study on this a few weeks ago. We looked at 72,000 keywords and the top 10 domains in the SERPS...so 720,000 sites.

    The idea was to get the % of .com, .net, .info , .org etc that are actively registered and compare that to the % that show up in the ranking. The thought being...if the #'s are about the same...then there isn't any favoritism. If 5% of domains are .org and around 5% show up in the SERPS...then ... it's reasonable to conclude that there's no impact.

    This obviously assumes that your sample is big enough (which it was) AND no other variables. Problem is...there are other variables...just one example... .com's may tend to be older in general...so, if they show up much more...is that a factor etc.

    So..this is not 100% scientific ...BUT...since it doesn't really impact you to pick a particular extension...if it DID show something...why not be safe and assume it's 'true".

    Here were the results:

    .com registered percentage at time: 74% , percentage found in SERPS: 88%

    .net registered percentage at time: 11% , percentage found in SERPS: 4%

    .org registered percentage at time: 7% , percentage found in SERPS: 7%

    .info .com registered percentage at time: 5% , percentage found in SERPS: < 1%

    For me...I'd avoid .net and .info if I can

    PLEASE ...before everyone starts yelling at me that there are other factors etc. I know... I know...I stipulate that...BUT...since it often doesn't matter much to you...why not be on the safe side...those percentage differences for .net and .info are pretty big.
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    • Profile picture of the author bgmacaw
      Originally Posted by claytons View Post

      Problem is...there are other variables...just one example... .com's may tend to be older in general...so, if they show up much more...is that a factor etc.
      That IS the big factor and why your research conclusion is flawed. Basically you used data that would skew toward older domains. Older, active, domains with a good backlink profile will outrank newer, less, established domains.

      So, if I have a 10 year old .com domain for a good keyword that I've had active and getting links for that 10 years it will easily outrank a brand new .info. However, if the 10 year old is parked or has virtually no incoming links, a .info, .net or whatever else will beat hands down.
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    • Profile picture of the author John Hixson
      Originally Posted by claytons View Post

      We did a study on this a few weeks ago. We looked at 72,000 keywords and the top 10 domains in the SERPS...so 720,000 sites.

      The idea was to get the % of .com, .net, .info , .org etc that are actively registered and compare that to the % that show up in the ranking. The thought being...if the #'s are about the same...then there isn't any favoritism. If 5% of domains are .org and around 5% show up in the SERPS...then ... it's reasonable to conclude that there's no impact.

      This obviously assumes that your sample is big enough (which it was) AND no other variables. Problem is...there are other variables...just one example... .com's may tend to be older in general...so, if they show up much more...is that a factor etc.

      So..this is not 100% scientific ...BUT...since it doesn't really impact you to pick a particular extension...if it DID show something...why not be safe and assume it's 'true".

      Here were the results:

      .com registered percentage at time: 74% , percentage found in SERPS: 88%

      .net registered percentage at time: 11% , percentage found in SERPS: 4%

      .org registered percentage at time: 7% , percentage found in SERPS: 7%

      .info .com registered percentage at time: 5% , percentage found in SERPS: < 1%

      For me...I'd avoid .net and .info if I can

      PLEASE ...before everyone starts yelling at me that there are other factors etc. I know... I know...I stipulate that...BUT...since it often doesn't matter much to you...why not be on the safe side...those percentage differences for .net and .info are pretty big.
      Some very interesting data. What some people read into it is their business but I certainly appreciate you posting it.

      As with any data though it is important to consider as many factors as possible so you know how hoghly to weight it. I see a number of aspects that are a problem with just relying on this data that are not covered here, though teh age factor is certainly a good one.

      You should also consider you are comparing number of domains registered - now I don't know about anyone else but i have a bunch of .info domains laying around I just never got around to do anything with - simply registered as an idle thought as they are so cheap.

      Similarly I have to say that the .info domains that I have put up alongside sites have, in the main, been given less effort SEO wise than me. Not sure why, but mentally I seem to have less interest in these and I wonder if that is something that happens across the board.

      Also, I think, there are considerable numbers of .info domains that are spmmy sites, simply put up as autoblogs or link farms with no real effort or iinterest in really getting them to rank for anything.

      .net not ranking is far more interesting. Personally i have had just as much success with .net (actually more as i snipe keywords and usually find the .com is gone but not doing anything, and registering the .net gets me ranking quickly), but as you say it is a small number compared to the data you are using so it might be I am just being lucky.

      I also question again what people are doing with .nets. I know I have a couple of .com sites and the .net is registered and just redirects to my .com, I bet a lot of authority sites, as in the sites that will be ranking, have a similar method of protecting their domain from those looking to grab .nets.

      Certainly interesting data, until now I got the .net of the .com wasn;t available, but I shall certainly experiment with .org now and see if it makes much of a difference for me. I suggest everyone sees this data the same way, not as an authoratitive rule (and the poster never once suggested it should be used as such), but as a guiding stone to make you question what you 'know' and see if there is any truth in what they are saying or if the data doesn't work for you.

      The Greeks became powerful thinkers by questioning everything around them, the Renaissance happened because people started to question the 'accepted' knowledge and to test it, this data should allow you to step up on the same playing field, to give you a kick to start questioning yoru assumptions. Don't take it blindly on faith but don't dismiss it without testing either.

      SEO is like science, advertising or many other markets/niches, never stop testing.

      Again i thank the poster for the data, very interesting.
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  • Profile picture of the author eaglechick
    I really think it does'nt matter. Our .org sites rank just as well as the .com. In fact one .com site fell off the wagon and is at nr 14. It has nothing to do with .com .net or .org but about SEO and keywords. Most gurus prefer the above instead of .info and the others.
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  • Profile picture of the author claytons
    @eaglechick you really need to look at a ton of data , not just a couple of sites to see if there really is a pattern.

    I'd say it's VERY clear that Google doesn't like .info

    Again...we looked at 720,000 domains in the SERPS...not just a couple of our own sites here and there.
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  • Profile picture of the author Bertil Jenner
    It does not matter.

    Most people who will try to make some comaprison get it all wrong as Dot coms are registered far more often.

    Dot coms are better because they are easier to sell and if the kw is good, you may get some type in traffic as well.

    Bertil J
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  • Profile picture of the author claytons
    @Bertil "It does not matter."

    Really?? I just don't get people sometimes...unless you work for Google and are privy to the confidential ranking algorithm and every single factor that's used...I just don't understand how you can throw these statements around as if they're fact.

    I come here and present research with a huge population sample and report results along with my interpretation...and please don't say "well you don't work for Google either"...I don't...and I never said my results were absolutely proof positive (in fact I said the opposite) ... BUT ... I do think they're a whole lot more valuable then a completely baseless generalization.

    There is certainly enough evidence in my data to at least CONSIDER that there is a bias...and act accordingly.

    It's one line responses with absolutely nothing behind them that make it less likely that people will take the time to share real data and analysis.
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    • Profile picture of the author paulgl
      Originally Posted by claytons View Post

      @Bertil "It does not matter."

      Really?? I just don't get people sometimes...unless you work for Google and are privy to the confidential ranking algorithm and every single factor that's used...I just don't understand how you can throw these statements around as if they're fact.
      It's called "common sense."

      People love dot coms. I love dot coms. People flock to dot coms.
      Chances are, people more adamant will be more adamant, as a whole,
      in the dot com camp. Ask me which I prefer, dot coms! But my feelings
      and personal preference have no bearing on SEO.

      It's like saying because all but one US president were married when
      elected, you had better be married if you want to be elected president.
      Complete hogwash. Marriage has nothing to do with it. It just so happens
      that most people over 35 are probably married.

      Most people pick dot coms to SEO. Of course more will show up in SERPS.

      Do a search for google pagerank on google and see which site shows up.
      Do a search on yahoo and see what shows up.

      What shows up? (other than wikipedia)
      On google, #1 is a dot info. (scary!)
      On yahoo, #1 is a dot net. (surprise!)
      Neither got the dot com memo.

      Paul
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  • Profile picture of the author claytons
    @bgmacaw totally agree that this is very possible...we're working on isolating age right now...and other factors...but in all honesty...it's likely impossible to isolate this one variable (domain extension)...I mean, you can isolate age, you could isolate number of backlinks...but what about the quality of the backlinks etc. It's a slippery slope that's probably not worth going down.

    although if you look at it...and see that there's only a 20% delta in the percentage of domains that are .com's and the % in the SERPs, and a 0% delta for .org...and yet...there's a 300% delta in .net and a 500% delta for info...I'm not sure you can simply ignore that...and say that just because you can't completely isolate that one variable there's nothing to be gained from looking at it.

    and, my only point is..if you have a choice of domains...(and often you do)....where it doesn't matter for any other reason what extension you pick

    Why not pick a com or org in case the extension is a factor...you haven't lost anything...and you may have gained...right?
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    • Profile picture of the author Shoaib
      .ORG just seems to have a more "cerdible" perception with your average internet users out there. If you have a halfway decent looking information website on a .ORG domain, the perception is that you must be some organization with authority on that subject. You are likely to gain more trust from visitors if you play it to your advantage.

      As far as search engines, I don't think it matters.

      That is some interesting data claytons!

      Was it done manually or with help of automation?
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    • Profile picture of the author bgmacaw
      Originally Posted by claytons View Post

      but in all honesty...it's likely impossible to isolate this one variable (domain extension).
      You can purchase new .com and .info at the same time that have the same keyword and run them in parallel with similar content and link building patterns. I've done this and the results have shown that there was no significant difference beyond the usual fluctuations in rank that new domains go through.

      Based on what I've observed, I don't think it is a significant SEO factor for new domains. I've got about 200 .infos in play right now so that's what I've notice across this population. I've also got about 200 .coms, 50 .nets and a smaller numbers of other extensions. I haven't seen anything that makes me think that the domain extension is a significant SEO factor although I've seen considerable evidence that keyword targeted names, anchored links and domain/link age are.

      Originally Posted by claytons View Post

      Why not pick a com or org in case the extension is a factor...you haven't lost anything...and you may have gained...right?
      If you're picking a flagship domain or a domain for flipping then, yes, go for the .com if you can. If you're going for a niche marketing site, it doesn't matter so much.

      I expect the domain extension to become less important in other ways over the next few years, given the shortage of one and two word, short, .com domain names.
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      • Profile picture of the author claytons
        Originally Posted by bgmacaw View Post

        Based on what I've observed, I don't think it is a significant SEO factor for new domains. I've got about 200 .infos in play right now so that's what I've notice across this population. I've also got about 200 .coms, 50 .nets and a smaller numbers of other extensions. I haven't seen anything that makes me think that the domain extension is a significant SEO factor although I've seen considerable evidence that keyword targeted names, anchored links and domain/link age are.
        I really think you need to look at a LOT more of a population sample to be sure but I agree that there's not much other evidence out there...and there's tons around links, age etc.

        but...you have to start somewhere! We'll keep taking a look at it and other things...and see what we find.

        I definitely don't think it's any kind of MAJOR factor in anyway...but, if I was going to have a niche site that I wanted to SEO...I'd go with .com, because if the data DOES show something real...I'm covered...and if it didn't ... no harm! :-)
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        • Profile picture of the author butters
          Personally I stick with .com, .net or .org... Any of them 3 and I am game for that url, if I can't get any of them I don't want it. Does .com have more of an advantage, probally not. What does google want, content and backlinks, if there are quality backlinks and quality content on your site then google couldn't care less about the extension on the end.

          You can go look at data in the serps, do all the surveys you want but why, whats the point in it...Your never going to prove that it helps to have a .com more then a .net or an .org.

          Just a thought, did you ever consider there are more .coms because people just generally like them more then the others
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  • Profile picture of the author claytons
    @shoaib - thanks...automation for sure :-) We've been building a huge keyword database for a few projects and realized we could be using it for other research ideas too..
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  • Profile picture of the author claytons
    "Most people pick dot coms to SEO. Of course more will show up in SERPS."

    you're completely missing the point here..and that's called common sense.

    We looked at how many of domains (%) are out there right now...and you'd expect to see a similar percentage in the SERPs

    So, of course we saw more .com's! 88% to be exact...and 74% of all active domains are .com so that seems right.

    But 5% registered are .info so you'd expect to see somewhere around there in the serps...but it was less than 1%

    Geeze...is this really that hard to see???
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  • Profile picture of the author claytons
    "Just a thought, did you ever consider there are more .coms because people just generally like them more then the others"

    This really seems to be an issue that people are confused on. I'm really not sure how to explain it any better.

    Of course there are more .com's

    So we didn't look to see the MOST of something...we compared what we saw in the SERPs with the % of overall domains that are the same extension

    SO...74% of all active domains are currently .com's (that was as of a few weeks ago)

    We expect to see around that same % in the serps..and we did..and for .org as well.

    BUT..the same can't be said of .net and .info

    It has nothing to do with people liking .com's better etc.
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    • Profile picture of the author butters
      I still don't see what your survey is even showing... You looked at the first page of google to get this data. You wasted your time doing this survey, these results are so dependent on what keywords you used and if a marketer got the .com because it was available. If you type in generic keywords, likely sites like amazon, next tag and all them type sites will pop up. If you picked a longtail keyword, well marketers first choice is to always get the .com if it is free and if it is long tail, 9/10 it is free. Please tell me what your data is showing.
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  • Profile picture of the author claytons
    I give up... I honestly do...no mas...you win

    all I was trying to do was a little share. that's it.

    I made really sure not to make any big conclusions from the data...and pointed out where it could very well be flawed...and tried not to say anything was totally concrete etc.

    I was just trying to show some real live data from a very valuable resource....for research.. and point out that...it's actionable even if it's not 100% definite because you often have flexibility in picking a domain name so why not cover your bases in case the initial data points to something that matters

    I promise I won't make this mistake again...and I'll keep our data and research to myself.
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  • Profile picture of the author nouseforaname
    #1 .com's
    #2 .org's
    #3 .net's

    This is what I trust based on the popularity weight on Google.
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  • Profile picture of the author James Le
    I agree with the post above, from owning lots of domains I would say .com works best, followed by .org or .net!

    However you might consider when picking...
    .com may seem like it only apply to the u.s. only (not likely, these days)
    .org may seem like a charity site
    .net may sound to general
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  • Profile picture of the author TheRichJerksNet
    It does not matter ... I find some of these answers funny ...LOL

    No search engine cares what ext you use for your domain name. A fact is .com will always be #1 as it is built into consumers mind to go to .com like a natural instinct. Even if they find your site advertised someplace with a .net many will still go check the .com after they visit your site.

    James
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  • Profile picture of the author eguynth
    it doest matter, you can rank higher for .net than .com or .org if you do your seo right.
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  • Profile picture of the author tayomismo
    IMO, you should not rank on popularity because it is obvious that most people uses .com . for me, google care less on the domain names.. it's on your effort of optimizing that matters. I see many .info's in #1 as well.
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  • Profile picture of the author nouseforaname
    If you create a similar sites .com's .net's .org's & .info's;

    - keyphrase.com
    - keyphrase.net
    - keyphrase.org
    - keyphrase.info

    The results usually will be;

    #1 .com's
    #2 .org's
    #3 .net's
    #4 .info's

    *All sites with same optimization and this is good for natural indexing.
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  • Profile picture of the author Anomaly1974
    While the bantering back and forth about the semantics and unknown algorithms is interesting, I would have to say that maybe we are overlooking the human factor here.

    If you register a .info or .net or .org or anything else and there is already a .com that exists, when people go to your site manually ... (Don't tell me you have never typed a domain name or URL into your address bar and let the browser complete the .com or whatever on the end) the people who remember your name may not always remember the extension and thus may be more apt to end up on that site instead of yours.

    As for SEO, I seriously doubt that it would be that much harder to promote but again, if you are the owner of the .info which is relatively new and you are competing against a .com that has been around for years, you may always be sucking the hind teat from that perspective. The human factor though, that may be the difficult part to overcome ... getting people to remember the extensions.

    Just my two cents thrown into the fray.
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  • Profile picture of the author jasonmorgan
    you're all wrong.... .info and .biz are the true kings of SE rankings :p followed by .mobi
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    • Profile picture of the author paulgl
      If your dot com is doing better than a dot net,
      you are working harder on your dot com, or
      you picked an easy target. Has nothing to do
      with whether it's a dot com or not. Period.

      The reason why I mentioned the search terms,
      google pagerank, is this market has been cornered
      by a dot info. You would think all those dot coms
      on google pagerank would be so much better. But
      they are not. AND...I guarantee there are a whole
      lot more dot coms on google pagerank than dot
      infos. And yet, the dot info rules the niche.

      According to people here, this should be impossible.

      Case closed.

      Paul
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  • Profile picture of the author claytons
    @John Hixson Be careful ! you may be restoring my faith in the sharing of data!

    All great points, and thanks for the thoughtful response.
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  • Profile picture of the author Diver Doug
    I've done a bit of research into what SEO coaches are saying. It's interesting to see that coach#1 will say get a .com, a .net, or a .org (in that order), whereas coach#2 will say get a .com, a .org, or a .net (in that order). And along the same lines, coach number #1 will say if you can't get a TLD, use hyphens, if not, use a suffix/prefix for your domain. Coach #2 will say if you can't get a TLD, use a prefix/suffix, if not, then use hyphens in the domain

    At the end of the day, does it really matter? It would be a great test to see someone use all three TLD with the same content and see which ones rank above the others..

    Diver D.
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