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Dr_Boo
Member
Joined: 12 May 2009
Posts: 46
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# Posted: 12 Jun 2009 16:19
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Hi All,
How important is it to get a ".com" domain name as opposed to one of the less popular top level domains like .us or .me? I know these days ".com" carries a sense of legitimacy or professionalism, and is certainly the most familiar. People would probably be most likely to accidentally stumble across a website by typing a keyword followed by .com, but probably would never think of trying one of the other extensions. But what about search engines? Would "keyword.com" rank higher than "keyword.us" with all else equal?
Thanks for your time!
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A8ch
Joined: 24 Jun 2005
Posts: 643
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# Posted: 12 Jun 2009 17:26 · Edited by: A8ch
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Dot com is the default top level domain most people automatically associate with the Internet, and for the reasons you stated. But that fact doesn't play such a big role in determining search engine ranking.
Dr_Boo: Would "keyword.com" rank higher than "keyword.us" with all else equal?
Adding the with all else equal certainly makes that an interesting question.
I don't know the answer. But I do know that if two sites accumulated identical scores one would rank above the other.  Which one and why, would be anyone's guess I suppose.
Hermas
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getagrip
Joined: 20 Feb 2006
Posts: 1965
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# Posted: 12 Jun 2009 19:35
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I always get the dot com if I can. If it is not available, I get the dot net, and if that is not available, I get the dot org.
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Vishal P. Rao
Joined: 23 Jun 2005
Posts: 1049
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# Posted: 15 Jun 2009 07:02
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Dr_Boo: Would "keyword.com" rank higher than "keyword.us" with all else equal?
This can be debated but I think yes. One of my sites, thought a .com extension, ranks well in local search (google.co.in) than google.com. This shows that Google indeed does take geographical location of the site into consideration. That being said, if you were to buy a .us domain name, it clearly suggests to Google that your site is regionally targeted.
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ateamfuntimer
Joined: 22 May 2007
Posts: 757
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# Posted: 15 Jun 2009 10:39
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I hope to see more post in this thread. The one part of internet marketing Im still a newbie at is SEO. I have learned how to direct traffic to my site via online advertising but I can only imagine the traffic that will result when I learn SEO. A big part of that SEO is whether to have a dot.com name or not. I have seen the debate for years and would love to see how many others posters answer this thread.
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VictoriaNTC
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Joined: 12 Mar 2008
Posts: 608
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# Posted: 15 Jun 2009 19:22
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Does anyone have an opinion, or advice about .biz?
Thank you!
Victoria
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innerpeace
Member
Joined: 9 Mar 2009
Posts: 57
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# Posted: 15 Jun 2009 19:40
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I think '.biz' works fine, Victoria.
I had a domain name with '.biz' and it ranked 8th and 18th for a couple of keyword terms.
Though there may be some mumbo jumbo about its legal use - i.e. being related to commercial activity (biz => business).
If I remember correctly, I had to tick a box for some form of agreement when I purchased the domain extension. Think it was to do with site purpose and whether you intended to use the '.biz' as part of your company name (think you need special permission for that).
Anyway, this whole 'domain extension' versus SEO debate is really quite interesting.
In fact, this whole SEO thing is a big topic of interest.
The word on the street that I've heard is that high quality backlinks are the key, whatever the domain extension may be.
Though how important is the whole geographical aspect... maybe we should all apply for a job with google...
Good luck guys!
IP
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Newbie Shield
Joined: 22 Sep 2007
Posts: 2232
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# Posted: 16 Jun 2009 13:24
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Hi Dr_Boo,
It's not so much a question of how well the popular domains rank in search engines as it is how poorly some of the least popular domains rank.
The .info and some of the other extensions have a reputation of having a higher chance of being spammy and/or fly-by-night operations. As such, they may (or may not) rank worse than the other extensions in search engines.
The other puzzle piece is how visitors perceive an extension.
Whenever possible, choose .com.
Otherwise, choose .net, .org, or .biz as the best alternatives.
Additionally, if your domain contains more than one word and the non hyphen version is taken, you might try to reserve a .com with dashes in between words.
.us, .ca, .uk, and .au are good choices for marketing to English speaking visitors if the above extensions are spoken for.
If that fails, consider a relevant domain name that has some demand but little or no competition.
If you've spent a lot of time and effort yet all of the good names seem taken and/or there is too much competition, you'll have to drill down farther into your niche and then choose a domain name.
Keep in mind that over-saturation is a myth. There is only having to drill down far enough. Alternatively, you may have to create a new sub-niche.
If you really know and love a topic, find a way to make it work. Don't ever listen to nay-sayers.
~Newbie Shield~
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