Is The Com Extension Best For Search Engine Rankings?
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Donna Fisher
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September 22nd, 2016
With over 850 million websites in use, it can be challenging to find a domain name that hasn’t been claimed. The government still uses .gov, and .edu is still mostly dedicated to educational institutions. Is .com the best extension for your business? At one time, businesses used the com extension on their domain names. Non-profit organizations usually claimed the .org extension. Yet, the choice of domain name is a crucial first step in establishing your brand. Your domain name will affect your SEO rankings and your social media marketing as well.
Is .com crucial for SEO?
Benefits of Com Extension
The .COM extension is by far the favorite for businesses. When people enter search parameters for a business, .com is the first one entered. In fact, .com is used for 75% of all websites in the U.S. It carries with it a certain impression of authority. The next most used extension for business is .net, followed by .biz.
As for SEO rankings, .com carries a lot of weight, but the most recent changes in ranking algorithms have leveled the playing field a little bit. Still, the TLDs (Top Level Domains) such as .com, .net, .org, and .gov will get attention first from search engines.
TLDs provide a smorgasboard of domain selections.
EMDs
EMDs are exact match domains. This is the perfect solution for your business as it perfectly matches your service, product, and business. “BuyWritingServices.com” would be a perfect domain name for a freelance writer. That’s why it’s not available.
The strengths of this domain name are the inclusion of the keyword in the domain name itself, and the possession of the com extension. A keyword domain has also been proven to increase the click-through-rate, or CTR, on SERP pages and advertisements.
Brand-able Domains
EMDs with a com extension still get the most traffic, but they can be quite expensive. The next most profitable alternative course is to buy a brand-able domain. Brand domains actually rank quite well with SEO and are competitive with EMDs.
Branding. We should be so lucky.
Your success in branding your website will be due partly to your particular niche. Your global presence is also an issue. The general consensus is the com extension is more important than an EMD, if you have to make a choice. A domain that can be branded is a good concession if you can’t get an EMD, but only if it comes with a .com.
Alternative Domains
You want your domain name to make sense. Honestly, most people simply enter the search terms, rather than the search term with the extension, but search engines still notice the TLDs first. Alternative domains change the dynamics of search engines and ranking algorithms. It is possible to overcome any imbalance with high-quality content and well-planned marketing.
Extensions such as .co, .tv, .info, .me, and .city can be used to create clever brands. Some webmasters recommend that you go ahead and grab up these domains, along with your branding, and add a 301 redirect to the .com website until you have established your brand. Once you have a strong brand recognition, you can make your alternative domain your primary choice.
In summary, using one of the TLDs is your best choice, and if your site is for a business, use a com extension. If you want to grab up alternative domains in order to do some clever marketing, much as join.me has done, go ahead and make it part of your marketing campaign.