bizness thread time: Are certain domain extensions better for SearchEngine placements
 

There are some keywords that I would like to get some great placements for in the next few months, so part of my plan is to get the most optimal domain names for my work.

However the .com and .net are already taken for the variations that I am looking for, but most of the .org , .us , .info , and .biz are available.

I know google has had problems in the past with .biz and .info domains spamming, so I am expecting them to compensate for this in the future - but what do you guys know about .org domains? Are those just as favorable for obtaining search engine traffic as .com or .net domains? What about future expectations for google algorithms and especially in regards to .org domains?

Please, openly discuss and enlighten me! :adore:

Hi Kush,

Domain extensions have little - or no perceivable- effect on rankings. Content, as they say, is king. Go with whatever extension you like, but keep in mind that .coms still attain a higher re-sale value than other alternatives. Main reason for extensions is regional targetting and, as we're all finding, the lack of available .com domains.

Now I'll wait to be corrected LOL

No corrections... Just additions. Look at hyphenated dot coms as an alternative...

sex-for-5-bucks.com or something like that... (hehehe I should see if that's still available!)
:banghead:

hyphenated dot anything works as good as a dot com, as far as i have experienced

You can also check out expired domains...I check every day for google :)

kristian - dude that is a major no-no
google penalizes any domain that has EVER been expired now
i tried to find the thread over on webmasterworld but i didn't want to spend all day looking for it

Thanks, Jay. I didn't know about that. :)

I guess I'll have to wait until google.com comes up for sale. I'll start the bidding at 50 bucks! :rock:

Apart from that you also run the risk of picking up a domain that Google has consigned to the black hole because some se spammer was using it.

I agree 1000%

Do not get expired domains... you'll be wasting your money... I know it...:D

Oral out

What's up Kush! :D

just trying to earn a buck here and there ;)

I was reading somewhere that google has recently taken away the relavency of hyphenated in achieving top search rankings.

This could all be hearsay . . . maybe someone could eloborate.

-Blue_Spade

I don't know about that. I would be interested to see some confimed information about that. If that's the case then I can kiss my traffic goodbye - LOL!

Seriously, SE's parse a - or a _ as at space. So I'm fairly sure you can attribute that to a bunch of newbies of GFY!

XXXJay,

Didn't pick that up at GFY, it actually was an article that I had saved and it came out that it was talking about Yahoo's issues with hyphens and underscores.


Also, google actually does index the underscore ( _ ). They only parse the dash ( - ) into a space.

Which saves your traffic!

-Blue_Spade

I think you have to take everything you read about what Google likes and dislikes with a grain of salt until you actually see Google confirm it on its webmaster pages.

There is an aweful lot of bullshit posted out there as the absolute truth by people who want to think they know everything when in actual fact they know bugger all.

I know of at least one board where the resident SE expert doesn't know their arse from their elbow.

True - A TLD is a TLD is a TLD...................

False - They are not "punished". They just dont get any benefit from pre-exisitng link popularity. Expired domains are still valid assets.

True - but a little investigation can help you find out if it was... "banned" by Google.

Check it's previous existence - http://www.archive.org/,
Check existing Link Popularity - http://www.marketleap.com/publinkpop/ (Google aint the only SE out there.)

Not true in my opinion - Be careful what you read about Google.!!

Too True.:( Gday Steve

I dont believe that Google will punish an entire TLD for SE spamming.. believe me there are just as many .com/.net spammers out there.

JMO

DD

Nice post Dave :beer: