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.