In THE END anybody got TESTED PROOFS that domain extension does NOT matter?

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Hello guys.

This topic has been debated a lot of times everywhere and many times in this same forum over and over. I went through most of the threads, but the answers all seemed to be either vague or just personal opinions.

I need someone who can provide me facts, it would be fantastic if you would tell me about your test results on this.

I'm going to make a few review sites, but most .com .net .org are not available even with a suffix like review, reviews. But I really want to get into these niches and I see most of them got .us available.

Now my target is United States.
And so I need someone to help me.

Does anybody have scientific test proof that .us or .com don't have a single difference in terms of SEO like google said? Or is google lying?

Thanks
Isac
#search engine optimization #domain #end #extension #matter #proof #scientific
  • Hi there yea I thought of testing it myself, but then it will take me some money and some time which I can't afford right now. That's why I'm trying to find someone who tested the results themselves.
  • Banned
    I have no scientific proof, expect none and need none.

    It's hard to prove a negative, and little stands up to my scientific scrutiny anyway, in my capacity as a skepchick.

    I've decided to believe Matt Cutts and Caliban Darklock.

    Matt Cutts says repeatedly and vociferously that domain extensions don't affect SEO. He says it in writing and on video. He says it on his own blog and on Google's main blog. He says it in the fields and in the hills, on the plains and on the beaches, at sea, in the air and on the landing-grounds. And he invites people to quote him on it.

    Caliban, who has worked on the algorithms for several different types of search engine, has further explained it to me in a way which helped me to understand that domain extensions shouldn't, couldn't and wouldn't affect SEO.

    And then of course there's also been my own former, albeit limited testing (which actually came before I learned about either of the above), which has certainly never suggested or implied the contrary.

    That's good enough for me. I have bigger fish to fry.
    • [ 10 ] Thanks
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    • Thank you Alexa for your reply.
      Very helpful.
      And that's the way I wanna believe it too.
      I want to believe in what Matt Cutts says and in terms of logic, there would be no reason for google to set a preference to .com's.
      But there are bunch of people who claim that com's rank better, get indexed better, etc etc... And I don't think all of these people are lying, so that's why I'm confused.

      By the way Alexa do you use .info's then? or us'?

      Thanks again,
      Isac
      • [1] reply
  • I need some more people to anwer this. Please help me if you tested this yourself.
  • Banned
    Isac,

    What Alexa is saying is that inasmuch as your site has good quality, fresh and regularly updated content, Google will fall in love with it irrespective of the domain extension. There's no preferential treatment.

    Your domain extension has nothing to do with your page rank. It has nothing to do with your being on the first page or not.

    You can have .com and not be found on the first 300 pages on Google Search while a .info or even a free blogger blog will be found on the first page.

    If you want to be there, you have to show some targeted commitment. You understand what I mean?

    Maybe I didn't explain it well but I think I tried my best.
    • [ 1 ] Thanks
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    • Thank you King I did understand
  • Back when I thought it mattered, I tested .com vs .net vs .org. result = no difference.

    I also tested the various UK extensions. Result = no difference.

    Then I stopped bothering. Why spend so much time worrying about something so volatile. What works best with Google today might be your downfall tomorrow if you rely on it.

    Country specific domains definitely make a difference. If you are pushing for the UK market, for instance, then get a UK domain.

    The .com, .net and .org are generic and non region specific so are always a good choice but not essential. You can easily rank these top level domains for any country. In my experience, a top level domain will easily compete with a local domain but not the other way around. So in other words, if I'm marketing for UK then a .co.uk or a .com will do about equal. But using a .uk domain to get US traffic is much harder. Still possible though. I have a UK domain that gets around 50K visitors a month, about 35k of those visits are from the US.
    • [ 1 ] Thanks
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    • Thanks a lot Wilson, I really appreciate it. Looks like domain extension does not have any effect then!

      Thank you so much!
  • To me personally I would only use the top level domains. For starters even if it doesnt make a difference in the search engines it does if you ever plan on selling the domain. The top level domains will get you the best prices in the long run.

    I really do not think it matters too much though. For I have actually seen my .net domains do better then some of my .com domains. This however is not difentive proof. If you do a little more scrubbing through keywords though you should beable to find a few high target keywords that are not taken yet. Another trick you can do when looking for possible domains is simply add an e to the front or a letter at the end. I have found several good keyword rich domains this way. And since you are only adding an extra letter it does not hurt it one bit in the eyes of the serps.
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    • yeah but Pete it doesn't like right in the eyes...
      I mean keyworde.com doesn't look good to me at least lol...

      Thanks anyway, maybe I'll try that one day.
      • [1] reply
  • This was a question that I had trouble getting answered too but I thought about it & came to the conclusion that it shouldn't matter.

    Google's all about returning the best & most relevant results for a keyword or keyword phrase.

    Wouldn't it be silly if Google favoured a .com over a .info?

    Just imagine for a second that someone types into google “weight loss” & Google returns a .com on page 1.

    Lets say this .com has a crap 300 word article that's not very helpful on the subject of weight loss.

    But there's a site on “weigh loss” that sitting on page 10 of Google & it's the most Amazing 1000 word article ever written on the subject but it's been put on page 10 because it's a .info

    That wouldn't be to smart on Googles part - Googles just went against its whole purpose – to return the best results

    I think Great relevant content & quality back links are the most important things in getting ranked well.
    • [1] reply
    • Yeah I agree with all of what you said.
      Thank you. You added an extra to help me get this idea straight lol.
  • People talk, talk, talk about this non stop. The proof is in testing and seeing results.

    Unless people have solid proof that domain extensions don't matter then I'd completely disregard their opinions.

    Through doing SEO myself, I've definitely seen difference in ranking between .com's, .net's and .org's. The difference isn't incredibly huge but it's definitely noticeable on the rankings.

    To anyone here who says that the domain extension doesn't matter, then given the choice what would they rather choose a .com or a .me? If it doesn't matter, put your money where your mouth is.
    • [ 1 ] Thanks
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    • Thank you for your reply.
      Now I'm confused again.
      • [2] replies
    • I have a very desirable, two-word .me domain (one of a handful, actually) for which its equivalent across all other popular TLDs was taken. (And yes, I'm aware that .me is actually a ccTLD: the country-code for Montenegro).

      I've never had any problems ranking it for any keywords I've targetted. It ranks well in Google's US, Canadian, Australian, UK and all other English-language indexes in which I've regularly checked my rankings.

      I can't profess to having had the opportunity (nor the inclination, actually) to "scientifically" test whether it does in fact carry any "small disadvantage" in comparison to other TLDs, but to be honest I'm not even sure how I'd go about that. It's practically impossible to conduct these tests in a legitimate, fair manner.

      All I know is that when I carry out my keyword competition research, and target a particular term on that site, I usually rank for it on the first page of Google, just as I do on my other sites, whether they be .com, .net, .org, .co.uk, .info, or whatever else.

      If there is a discernable SEO disadvantage to using certain TLDs - which I don't believe for a second there is - then it's so miniscule (to me) for it to be an inconsequential factor in one's decision of what domain(s) to buy or avoid.
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    • The biggest convincers to me were the following sites...

      Beg The Question
      Noam Chomsky
      Regular Expressions (with a dash too!!! )
      Roman Coins
      Craft Ideas
      Google PageRank Checker
      New York City Transit

      ...as well as my own sites. (No, I'm not going to tell you my own sites because to do so here is to invite competition, bogus Webmaster Tools reports and other negative activity.)

      The base GoDaddy price on a .me is $16.99 while the .com base price is $10.99. Why would I, as a noted cheapskate, have any desire to spend more? I typically buy .com, .info, .net, .org, .biz or .us domains. It's not that I have any SEO preference, but that I'm looking at the best value for my money. I most often buy .info when I'm buying a new domain because (a) they're inexpensive the first year and (b) most of the other extensions are already taken. I also do other research to determine if the domain is a good one to buy or not.

      Why would I buy a .com over a .info? It's because I found a good keyword match (rare these days) that's available or that I have a branding idea, such as for a new product, where having the .com would be an advantage, particularly selling to the prejudiced IM crowd.

      Also, I'm not a big proponent of "exact keyword match or die" domain buying. As I mentioned in another thread on this Groundhog Day topic, I've gotten where I prefer unique site branding over exact matches. I even have generically named and personal name sites ranking for some nice, profitable, searches.

      Another thing that's being seen recently are some changes to Google's algorithm that even more strongly favor long established sites with strong authority links and perhaps some other factors. This change has made things more difficult across the board. This is why you'll see people saying that ".infos won't rank" or "my new .com got sandboxed" more often right now. Google did raise the bar but they raised it for everybody, not just one extension.
      • [ 1 ] Thanks
  • Step back and look at this for a moment.

    Is their any logical reason why Google or any search engine would discount a domain and therefor by choice rank it lower because of its extension?

    No there is not! And any one telling you otherwise with any type of proof is only providing anecdotal evidence, which means squat.

    There simply is no reason to get into a huge discussion about this.
  • The IMUMF (Internet Marketing Unsolved Mysteries Firm) has an extensive breakdown on this matter. It is an unsolved mystery that they're looking deep into.
  • About the only .info that ranks well that I know of is for a term that gets 6,600 searches a month and is a PR4 when I checked. Thing is, the URL is SO true.
  • Another way to look at this is that your content needs to be sticky any way if social media matters. Maybe all of this argument truly has a shelf life of 6 to 18 months. I believe that what is proven is that the SE will become less objective and more subjective due to 'competition' from Facebook, Diaspora and other networks. These networks already have in them a treasure trove of search-able results. As soon as somebody can make them available in a meaningful way, people will use them. Thus, the focus of .info vs. other stuff is really kind of moot for the long run anyway.

    Why is this relevant? Let me explain.

    I don't think Facebook and Diaspora will take visitors away from good SEO, but if you content is not sticky enough for somebody to share then you are probably leaving money on the table.

    When I share an article with someone on a social network, I am not looking at the extension. When something goes viral, it just has to not only be "good" and "fresh" but it should also be interesting.

    I can only guess that Facebook is working on its own search engine that will be social in nature. What happens when people begin searching for content on a subject that that other people in their network find interesting?

    Again, no reason to be alarmed, but just because you had the foresight to have some really boring content written by some folks in the Phillipines does not mean that it will meet the test of sharable.

    All that is to say is that being found in the search engines with a particular kind of extensions is and should be down on one's list of priorities. I think that as we step our game up as content marketers or information marketers, we need to get not only the search engine traffic, but that traffic that comes from having something worth somebody's time to read.

    Will Google kill made for adsense websites and content sites? I don't know and don't care really. If my website is properly structured, I will get my traffic. What I have turned my attention to is whether or not if somebody reads or sees something I write, would they or could they share it with somebody. Social networks have caused Google to retrench and you can bet that the SE will become more adaptable to that kind of model instead of a semi-objective process that they own of deciding what is worth reading. In that respect Google's monopoly has already been broken and at some point what they think will not be and should not be your only concern, yes?

    I realize this is off the topic a bit. I just think that if all of our focus is on this stuff, we could be leaving money on the table. Candidly, since my writing is my money, I don't want to leave any money that I could get, on the table.

    OK, back to your regularly scheduled debate and argument on search engine results.

    CT

    PS...to my point, you have no way of knowing how or whether or not your .info or .com shows up in somebody's personalized search results, which is just the first step in making search engines a little bit more subjective. So, to me, make your content findable, but also make it sharable.
  • And this whole discussion is why the .info matter will forever be an unsolved mystery.
  • The biggest unanswered question I have on the subject is
    why anyone thinks Matt Cutts has any reason to lie about it.

    What motivation could he possibly have?

    On the one hand, I have a gaggle of anonymous posters on
    various forums making unsubstantiated claims. On the other,
    I have Matt Cutts saying it doesn't matter.

    Like Alexa, I think I'll go with Matt Cutts for the win.

    Tsnyder
    • [ 3 ] Thanks
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    • There is no scientific evidence in the way that term is usually used.

      That would mean basically that a person had purchased a number of domains with various extensions and put up exactly the same content in exactly the same way at exactly the same time on exactly the same ip address and on and one with every other possible variable being the same except for teh domain tld.

      Like backlinks, fonts, meta tags, what time you put up the site. What font you used, really every single thing that could be diiferent would have to be the same and the only thing that could be different was the extension.

      And even then the only thing that would make the evidence of that experiement hold any weight in future situations would be if the experiment was repeatable with the same results (statistically speaking anyway) by anyone else anywhere in the future.

      If you don't do it that way, all you really have is a report of someone else's experience in a particular set of circumstances which may or may not have any relevance to your situation at all.

      I personally believe based on my own experience that ranking these various domain extensions is a process unrelated to the tld.

      As far as domains appearing to have some secondary meaning based on someone's opinion, you do not have control over what they think.
  • I have to disagree with what seems to be the majority in this thread. I will always sticks to hyphens and .com's, .net's and .org's simply because that is what you see in the search engine results 9 times out of 10. Yes, .info appears sometimes, but .me and all of those other country code domains (exception .co.uk) rarely get a look in.

    When someone can find numerous examples of .me's etc ranking highly for competitive keywords, I don't mean ridiculous long-tail keywords then I may start thinking about other extensions, as I've never seem them in my experience.

    p.s. I'm not actually asking someone to do that!
  • Banned
    [DELETED]
  • To answer the seller's actual question, yes, here is one test which shows com vs net vs org vs info:

    SEO Test 11: .com vs .org vs .net vs .info | Search Engine Optimization SEO Empire

    They mysteriously finish in the order that "rumor and speculation" would place them in:

    fulldragon.com at pos 2 25th of July
    fulldragon.net at pos 3 26th of July
    fulldragon.org at pos 5 3rd of August
    fulldragon.info at pos 10 28th of July
    • [ 1 ] Thanks
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    • That's interesting. What's surprising is that Google has identicle listings on it's first page. I once had a similar result with Yahoo. I thought I was the only one that was silly enough to test the com, net, org and info against each other
    • thanks for posting this, confirms many people's thoughts
  • Banned
    Why test to see if other extensions rank as well as a .com, when you can just buy a .com in 2 minutes.

    If you plan on having the domain in 3 or 5 years, get a .com. Don't know if you'll have it for 3 or 5 years, then get the .com.

    .info and .us extensions are for throwaway domains. At least in my book.
  • Thank you warriors.
    I appreciate all your inputs.

    Now I'll need some more time to decide lol
  • My advice is that you use a country specific domain extension if you are targeting a particular country, but if not.... use any domain and simply make sure you do the right on-page and off-page SEO work.

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