Is .com the way to go or?

16 years ago

If you target only Australian customers then .au is better... but regardless of domain extension, your site will climb there at google's top if SEOed well..

I have some biz domains that ranked high on google... domain extension doesn't matter..

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Alexa Smith

Banned 16 years ago

Originally Posted by robsm69

the niches i will be targeting can be world wide

Don't go for the .com.au versions, then, I'd say.

In cases of doubt, probably the .com is best? If you don't register it, someone else might, and you can lose future traffic to them.

Domain extensions don't affect SEO at all, in any way, so "ranking" isn't a consideration either way (many people will tell you differently, and they're wrong). But two other things are:-

(i) Resale value (higher on a .com, normally, other things being equal)

(ii) Risk of loss of future type-in traffic to someone else (again, probably best avoided by using the .com).

I use a lot of ".info" domains, myself, for information sites, because I asked my customers and subscribers which they preferred/thought looked better, and the majority actually preferred ".info" for an "information site" (which mine are). So I use those, but also usually buy the .com too, and redirect it to the .info I'm using, just to make sure nobody else buys it.

Just my perspective.

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schttrj

16 years ago

Yes absolutely...dot com is still the best because of its popularity!

Originally Posted by Alexa Smith

Don't go for the .com.au versions, then, I'd say.

In cases of doubt, probably the .com is best? If you don't register it, someone else might, and you can lose future traffic to them.

Domain extensions don't affect SEO at all, in any way, so "ranking" isn't a consideration either way (many people will tell you differently, and they're wrong). But two other things are:-

(i) Resale value (higher on a .com, normally, other things being equal)

(ii) Risk of loss of future type-in traffic to someone else (again, probably best avoided by using the .com).

I use a lot of ".info" domains, myself, for information sites, because I asked my customers and subscribers which they preferred/thought looked better, and the majority actually preferred ".info" for an "information site" (which mine are). So I use those, but also usually buy the .com too, and redirect it to the .info I'm using, just to make sure nobody else buys it.

Just my perspective.

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BacklinkExcellence 16 years ago

If you think of going worldwide anyway, then grab the .com one. Always.
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jeehaa

16 years ago

Originally Posted by Alexa Smith

Don't go for the .com.au versions, then, I'd say.

In cases of doubt, probably the .com is best? If you don't register it, someone else might, and you can lose future traffic to them.

Domain extensions don't affect SEO at all, in any way, so "ranking" isn't a consideration either way (many people will tell you differently, and they're wrong). .

I don't agree that the extension doesn't affect SEO. Through testing I found that .com is the best to use followed by .org and .net, if none of those are free for my keywords, I leave it at that and move onto another keyword. I found that these three extensions requires less promotion than for instance .info or .nu to rank in Google.

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Alexa Smith

Banned 16 years ago

Originally Posted by jeehaa

I don't agree that the extension doesn't affect SEO.

Most people don't, I think.

For myself, I choose (partly on the basis of my own experience with testing .info and .com domains, and the knowledge that neither ranks better/worse than the other), to believe what Google's Matt Cutts says so repeatedly, in writing and on video, in his own blog and in Google's blog, and invites people to quote him on in a continual effort to get it across to people that the opposite's the case.

Although I do have some difficulty envisaging why people imagine that domain extensions should, could, might or ought to be relevant to SEO at all, I do recognise that there are people who think, for some reason, that Matt Cutts is very persistently lying about this issue, even though it could quite easily be exposed if he were ... not to mention the fact that Caliban, who posts on this subject regularly and has actually worked on the algorithms of several different search engines, is 100% certain that domain extensions could never possibly be relevant to SEO ... but I won't try to change your mind about it, if that's what you really want to believe.

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DireStraits

16 years ago

Originally Posted by Alexa Smith

Most people don't, I think.

For myself, I choose (partly on the basis of my own experience with testing .info and .com domains, and the knowledge that neither ranks better/worse than the other), to believe what Google's Matt Cutts says so repeatedly, in writing and on video, in his own blog and in Google's blog, and invites people to quote him on in a continual effort to get it across to people that the opposite's the case.

Although I do have some difficulty envisaging why people imagine that domain extensions should, could, might or ought to be relevant to SEO at all, I do recognise that there are people who think, for some reason, that Matt Cutts is very persistently lying about this issue, even though it could quite easily be exposed if he were ... not to mention the fact that Caliban, who posts on this subject regularly and has actually worked on the algorithms of several different search engines, is 100% certain that domain extensions could never possibly be relevant to SEO ... but I won't try to change your mind about it, if that's what you really want to believe.

Agreed (as you know, already).

Though I will say that there can be benefits to using a certain domain extension (namely a ccTLD) if your intention is to be relevant to (and rank well in) a particular country's index (for example, a .uk domain for Google UK, a .com.au for Google AU, and so on). But that's only about increasing relevance within a country-specific index and/or in relation to a searcher's geographic location - not about some universal preference/dislike of a particular extension on Google's part, and it's not strictly necessary to have a ccTLD for this purpose, anyway. Other factors, such as your site's IP geolocation, and (I believe) those of the sites on which one's backlinks reside, can also give Google and other search-engines the tip-off as to a site's relevance to a particular country's index.

So if you're looking to target a specific country for SEO, then consider going for a ccTLD, and/or host your site in that country, and/or get more backlinks from sites in that country; if you're not concerned about country-targetting, then it's more logical to use a "neutral" extension (.com, net, .org, .biz, .info, etc).

So yes, domain extensions can and do affect perceived relevance to the search-engines, sometimes - but in terms of certain extensions being intrinsically and universally better or worse "just because" ... well, that's just a myth.

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Underground SEO

16 years ago

Originally Posted by Alexa Smith

Most people don't, I think.

For myself, I choose (partly on the basis of my own experience with testing .info and .com domains, and the knowledge that neither ranks better/worse than the other), to believe what Google's Matt Cutts says so repeatedly, in writing and on video, in his own blog and in Google's blog, and invites people to quote him on in a continual effort to get it across to people that the opposite's the case.

Although I do have some difficulty envisaging why people imagine that domain extensions should, could, might or ought to be relevant to SEO at all, I do recognise that there are people who think, for some reason, that Matt Cutts is very persistently lying about this issue, even though it could quite easily be exposed if he were ... not to mention the fact that Caliban, who posts on this subject regularly and has actually worked on the algorithms of several different search engines, is 100% certain that domain extensions could never possibly be relevant to SEO ... but I won't try to change your mind about it, if that's what you really want to believe.

I don't think many people are going to care that "Caliban" has worked on alogrithms, as everyone knows they change and regularly. Also I know you feel quite passionately about this, but there is a difference between stating your case and continually trying to get people to agree with you.

If extension doesn't make a difference then why do no .info's rank for the highly competitive keywords? Questions like that and many more need to be answered first, and there is simply no way of knowing whether extension makes a difference, indeed many people have carried out tests which seem to prove the opposite, that .com's, .net's and .org's continually rank higher than their .info counterparts.

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Alexa Smith

Banned 16 years ago

Originally Posted by fryerben

If extension doesn't make a difference then why do no .info's rank for the highly competitive keywords?

1. Many do - what you're saying is simply factually wrong. There are long lists of them in other threads here, to prove the point. Try a Google search for "roman coins", "Noam Chomsky", "New York transit", "regular expressions" or "beg the question" and then tell me again that "no .info's rank for highly competitive keywords". :rolleyes:

2. Not as many do as .coms, because people imagine they don't, so when they want to rank highly they use a .com, in other words there are fewer of them in use for ranking purposes to start with, so obviously there are fewer ranking highly, but that doesn't even come close to being evidence in favour of your misguided belief. Your logic is just mistaken. :rolleyes:

Originally Posted by fryerben

Questions like that and many more need to be answered first

Well, that one's just been answered, anyway. Twice over.

Originally Posted by fryerben

there is simply no way of knowing whether extension makes a difference

Unless you choose to accept what Google says so publicly and clearly and repeatedly, of course.

I've said enough, anyway. Have the last word. Knock yourself out.

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SteveBagasao

16 years ago

Originally Posted by Alexa Smith

1. Many do - what you're saying is simply factually wrong. There are long lists of them in other threads here, to prove the point. Try a Google search for "roman coins", "Noam Chomsky", "New York transit", "regular expressions" or "beg the question" and then tell me again that "no .info's rank for highly competitive keywords". :rolleyes:

2. Not as many do as .coms, because people imagine they don't, so when they want to rank highly they use a .com, in other words there are fewer of them in use for ranking purposes to start with, so obviously there are fewer ranking highly, but that doesn't even come close to being evidence in favour of your misguided belief. Your logic is just mistaken. :rolleyes:

Well, that one's just been answered, anyway. Twice over.

Unless you choose to accept what Google says so publicly and clearly and repeatedly, of course.

I've said enough, anyway. Have the last word. Knock yourself out.

I agree with Alexa...

Personally I think everyone over thinks this SEO stuff with all their scientific algorithm mumbo jumbo.

The bottom line is, Google wants to serve the best, most relevant content for each keyword a "customer" searches. They wouldn't be serving their customer's properly if they said, "sorry Mr searcher, we found a really relevant result, but we're not going to show it because it is on a .info domain. So here's a crappy .com result instead."

Like I said previously, for me it's about perception. The main 3 extensions are typically thought of by the public in a higher regard, so that's why I stick with them.

Don't over think it people. Google is a business...Search is their product...they want to provide the best product to their customers. That's it!

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jeehaa 16 years ago

I looked at your example 'roman coins' and indeed there is a .info at the top. Looking at the backlinks it has close to 1,000. In place nr 7 there is a .net and it has 63 backlinks. Now, I didn't look at place 2-6 but it's interesting, or at least I think so...

Originally Posted by Alexa Smith

I've said enough, anyway. Have the last word. Knock yourself out.

I hope you haven't, I'm here to learn and if I can save a buck from using .info instead of .com,.net or .org , I'm happy
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DireStraits 16 years ago

Originally Posted by fryerben

If extension doesn't make a difference then why do no .info's rank for the highly competitive keywords?

They really do, if the sites/pages in question have amassed enough authority and backlinks.

See this post by bgmacaw for a list of search-terms for which "alternative TLDs" rank highly.
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robsm69

16 years ago

Awsome answers Alexa I will take heed of your advice and thanks to you also Adie.

Cheers Rob

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faysal969

16 years ago

.com is best for the world wide traffic.

If you do not use this type of domain you must lost a lot of traffic from all over the world.

Alexa Smith is absolutely right. I like that post. It is really fantastic.

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iAmNameLess

16 years ago

The extension doesn't matter at all in regards to SEO. The search engines don't care one bit if it is .com or .info. or .co. It just doesn't matter in regards to search engines.

What it does matter though is in terms of PEOPLE that are using the search engines. So your .info may be discriminated against by people, but not search engines.

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Alexa Smith Banned 16 years ago

Originally Posted by iAmNameLess

your .info may be discriminated against by people, but not search engines.

Absolutely.

And specifically by people buying complete, income-producing websites. You're likely to get a higher price for a .com than for a .info, purely because the myth that .coms are "easier to rank" is so pervasive. But to that nice Mr Google, it's entirely irrelevant ...

(My own customers, and list subscribers, when I asked them, actually prefer .info to .com, partly because they think it looks more "information-based" and less commercial, even though they buy things through my sites. Go figure.)
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dadamson

16 years ago

Originally Posted by robsm69

I will be registering a few domain names soon and are debating whether to register .com .au .org or even possibly .biz domains. I do live in Australia so .au seems to be in the running. But I am guessing its more important to match the domain to the particular market I am aiming for but that is hard also as the niches i will be targeting can be world wide so I am confused.

Any tips or advice would be great.

Rob.

I am in Aus too, I mainly use .com but if you are targeting only other Australians a .com.au is the best option.

For SEO, .com is the best to target the global market, .net is another good one (if the .com is taken). Even the .org and .info extensions work very well.

I can't comment on .biz as I haven't personally tried it, but I do know people that optimize .biz domains so they must be ok.

Hope this helps,
Dave

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SteveBagasao

16 years ago

There's a lot of speculation about whether one extension ranks better than others, but I've not found much difference in my experience.

I think it is more a public perception thing... Domains with .com, .net, and .orgs just seem to have a better trust factor than .biz, .infos and the like. And perception should be a major consideration.

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iAmNameLess

16 years ago

There are more .coms that have been registered than .info so of course you see more .com rankings.

But by your logic and way of thinking, there are more .com sites that ARE NOT ranked, than .info

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MikeFriedman

16 years ago

Originally Posted by iAmNameLess

There are more .coms that have been registered than .info so of course you see more .com rankings.

But by your logic and way of thinking, there are more .com sites that ARE NOT ranked, than .info

I love this answer.

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Alexa Smith Banned 16 years ago

Originally Posted by MikeFriedman

I love this answer.

Yes, I appreciated that one a lot.

I'm just waiting for someone to try the "theory" that Google doesn't like .info domains because they're cheaper to register and "therefore used by spammers", the reality, of course, being that far more spammers are using .coms than any other domain extension, again simply because there are more of them.
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patmiller27

16 years ago

I guess .com is the best way out to get more traffic

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astnpwrz

16 years ago

dot com, dot net, and dot org for SEO purposes. Dot TV if you have a ustream or youtube channel hehe. just thought id throw that in there for fun.

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alcymart

16 years ago

Dot com as long as you can find your keywords in it

But I think a day will come when Dot com will become obsolete. I have no reason to say this but lets say it's a premonition I had. It will be numbers with no extensions, all web sites will be numbers, not like an IP... like site number 296677749906.

Take care,

Bernard St-Pierre
Marketing Consultant
Copywriter/Teacher

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Shirlyn 16 years ago

To run perfect geo based business you need to ahve domain related to for example if you want to target UK for your online business then go for .co.uk domain and for US go for .com but don't forget to do SEO to have a reputed image online.
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Thomas De

16 years ago

I prefer com, org, net domains. If I target a specific country I would go for the country tld if available.

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GeorgR.

16 years ago

It doesn't matter AT ALL for Google, in fact i ranked *.biz or *.info VERY HIGH

This is an ancient "SEO myth". The extension doesn't matter.

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Sharon Lai

16 years ago

I think you should try to get .com for your domains because your niches are worldwide

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Is .com the way to go or?

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