What Domain Extension Should You Choose for Your Website?
Generally speaking, the ultimate domain choice is a .com TLD (Top Level Domain).
There are definitely some other options that are "close" seconds, and these include .org and .net domains and in some cases, .info domains can also rank.
Typically when I research and look for domains, I will always seek out a .com domain. There are plenty of them out there and you can use a search like the one here at WA through the SiteDomains platform to see whether or not a website is available.
One thing you need to make sure of if you are going to choose a .org or a .net domain, is that there are not some significant brand presences already swallowing up those domains.
For example, a domain like WealthyAffiliate.org would stand very little chance of rankings because of the established nature of WealthyAffiliate.com. So if you cannot get a .com and you are going to buy a .org, just do a research on the .com to make sure that it doesn't have some massively popular presence online. If it does, it will limit your website success.
What about Country Specific TLD's?
Country specific TLD's absolutely have a time and a place. If you have a local business, say in Canada, and you want to rank under a term like, "pizza in toronto", a domain like pizzatoronto.ca might get some very high rankings...but ONLY in Canada (and more so in the Toronto market).
Elsewhere and definitely within the pizza niche worldwide, this domain will likely have next to no presence.
So if you are looking to gain rankings in a specific global market and that is it, a country specific TLD would be completely fine.
What about the new gTLD'S?
These are also know also generic Top Level Domains, in the last year many of these have been popping up as ICANN has opened up many new domain extensions. These are not new, they have been around for quite some time, but their popularity has just started to take off.
You can see a full list of these top Level Domains here:
ICANN Delated gTLD List
The problem with a .weather or a .rocks domain is that they haven't been proven to rank at all, quite the contrary. They simply are not gaining traction in search engines at this point and there are no signs indicating that they are going to be any time soon.
If you have an application for these types of domains that doesn't include SEO, then you can go ahead an purchase one, outside of that though these types of domains will not be of much use of your business.
As an online entrepreneur, you are likely going to own many domains over the course of your career, I know personally, as I have a portfolio of 100's of domains (could call me a bit of a hoarder).
It is important that you know how to properly choose domain names and it all starts with choosing the right TLD. A .com is the most natural choice, followed by either a .org/.net domain.
To start your domain search (and buy your domains), you can leverage the incredibly seamless platform here at WA called SiteDomains.
===> Search & Buy Your Domains Using SiteDomains
Hope this offers some clarity and if you have any questions about domains, please do let me know.
Recent Comments
169
Kyle It is great you can buy your domain names in WA Last month I bought 5 domains with namecheap and namecheap did not direct the to my site but to someone else's. A mentor of mind try to help me fix the probem and namecheap gave us trouble. Right now the domains are useless.
I was thinking when you said the final piece of your puzzle is finish. I said to myself no you don't have a auto responder yet. Do you plan on working on one? Brian
An autoresponder has crossed our minds, our approach to anything though is that if we cannot do something better than is already being done out there, then we won't do it.
I feel that the autoresponder industry is broken in the way it works, there can be some significant improvements brought to it and we have a very sophisticated understanding of email (and a team that does), but one foot in front of the other here. Definitely won't be a 2016 thing as our books are full, but perhaps late 2017 could be a slated release for something like this. Maybe?
Thanks Kyle! Again, your timing is perfect. I'm getting ready to purchase a domain. My issue is more about the domain name..I struggle with that. :)
When you choose a domain, you are going to want to choose something that is "brandable" versus something that has keywords within it. The reason this is the case is because as you build out your website, you can target as many keywords as you like within the content (that is how you will rank).
I have created a discussion here outlining the process and what to look for when choosing a domain name: How Do I Choose a Good Domain Name? This should help you out here and if you ever want to run any domains by me, simply let me know and I will give you some feedback.
PS. You can host up to 25 of your own domains here within the Premium membership on our state of the art hosting platform. :)
But bear in mind that Google says it treats all TLDs in the same manner now.
See: https://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2015/07/googles-handling-of-new-top-level.html
The reason to choose a .com ( or .org or net ) is now more due to users trusting a .com way more than a .space, .ninja, .io etc or other extension.
There is a lot of stuff the Google's talking heads "tell" people, and then there is what they are actually doing. For years Matt Cutt's has been herding the gaming crowd, telling them one thing, whereas the team behind the algorithms is doing something else.
From a sensical standpoint, it makes sense to give a higher rankings to a domain with the .com. The reason is that the BRAND owner for a given website, will almost always own the .com or seek out to buy the .com. This means, they can be trusted at a higher level.
What would you trust more as a visitor?
wealthyaffiliate.com
wealthyaffiliate.info
The latter loses credibility right away because of its domain extension.
Great information.
A short question:
I just bought a .net domain, because the .com was already taken.
I did check the .com and there is not even a site built yet.
So I won't have a problem there for now.
My question now is this:
If they decide to build their site one day, would they still have an advantage over my site, even if my site is already established at that time?
Or is it just important who got there first?
Cheers.
Moritz
Mark to market typically prevails, you definitely have the jump start and you will likely becoming the authority of that brand moving forward.
The .com also becomes significantly devalue if you do create an authority under this domain. :)
Thank you, Kyle, this is very helpful. I new domain I am interested in has a .com already taken but .org is available. So the tip on doing research is much appreciated.
Yeah, that is a common mistake people can make. By all means you an get the .org if you are set on that particular brand, just do avoid this if there is a very established and authoritative website on the .com extension already.
My domain... affiliatemarketipgtipstoday.com - Have I chosen a silly name? Am I setting myself up with a much more difficult job by choosing that domain name?
Incidentally - Site value...I clicked on to "worth of web" to see the "value" of my site...According to them, it is already worth $1,398 (yippee) not bad for a 5 month old website I thought...but...
I went to another similar website and that other website says about 91 dollars...Pwaaah!
Any insights greaty appreciated...
see attached piccy!!!
hehe it went up to 1403 since yesterday...
SiteValue sites are useless, so don't waste a minute on those. They are not solid indicators of anything. So for your sake, don't waste another visit to sites like those lol.
As for your domain, it is completely fine James. It is brandable, it is a .com, you are good to go.
Great information Kyle,
Thank You for sharing and also for launching the new website purchasing platform here on WA.
Tony
Gladly Tony, I just see too many folks either wasting their money on crazy gTLD's or settling for domains that are not .com's just because they are unaware of the repercussions of doing so (less authority in Google).
They most definitely are and that is for a reason. They are tied to the most prolific brands online (it is a way of declaring you as the brand owner) and they obviously rank the best in search.
Two huge benefits.
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Thanks Kyle, I realise the importance of securing a domain even if you are not ready to use it. They can have value to someone else or your self at some point.
Marty
Yeah, they are truly no different than real estate. They grow in value as you build on them, you can buy and own them, you can resell them at a profit, etc.
More ways to make a profit. I found a good key word the other day and I know I have it........somewhere. lol.