Does the extension matter for SEO and minisite creation?

[Brian D]

I own almost all .com domains and have started to create mini sites. The sites are doing really well in google and with earnings. I would like to make more sites and I have seen tons of great high paying keyword domaind in non .com.

Does google care that it is not a .com? I do not think so, but I am not an SEO expert.

When building a minisite does it matter if it is not a .com?

I know people will not likely remember the non .com name and the sale to endusrs will not be good at all, but is it worth it to make the minisite?

Thanks

Brian

 

[owntype]

I have sent Google support an email regarding this question a year ago. They said in the reply that Google doesn't discriminate against domain extensions.

But from my own experience, .ORG > .COM > .NET and .NET equals to ccTLDs (.GOV and .EDU has higher priority than .COM), this is baseless though. Actually, it still depends on the keywords and factors such as how the site being built, how popular it is and how long it runs.

Just FYI.

 

[DotWeekly]

I would do some searches on SE's and see what TLD's show up best for when you do the searches.

I would say .com and .org seem to rank well but .net does at times also.

content, content, content

do some good with the site

fresh content

and it will rank (with a little seo and I mean a little seo) and it can rank well.

P.S. I would let you in on a secret, but I would put myself in trouble if I told you.

 

[Jeff]

Content and standard SEO techniques matter the most ... its usefulness and content updates always matter within the Google formula, and based on my experience I do think that the .COM (in addition to how long it has been indexed (generally, .COM's would have been indexed longer) and even domain name age (older) & expiration dates (the farther out, the better) matter - of course, Google is pretty hush-hush with the exact algorithm, IMHO. :gl:

Best of Luck.
-Jeff

 

[DotWeekly]

expiration dates (the farther out, the better) matter - of course

Matt Cutts from Google said this was not the case yesterday...

http://www.dotweekly.com/2009/04/20/expired-domains-lose-link-credit/

Matt also made some remarks towards Expired domains that have links in place.. as in the old links will likely get nofollow tags.. this is some pretty big news if you ask me.

 

[JoshuaPz]

Matt Cutts from Google said this was not the case yesterday...

http://www.dotweekly.com/2009/04/20/expired-domains-lose-link-credit/

Matt also made some remarks towards Expired domains that have links in place.. as in the old links will likely get nofollow tags.. this is some pretty big news if you ask me.

I have been asserting repeatedly on this forum that domain age doesn't in of itself affect SEO. I'm glad a Google insider has finally backed me up on this fact.

Expiration dates do affect SEO slightly; the farther out, the better. Learned this from several sessions with SEO professionals.

 

[garptrader]

I have three .NET sites on the first page of Google for their keywords. One site was launched in January which was a Namejet drop and the other two sites launched in latter March and the domains are less than two years old. Being on the first page of Google has less significance in regards to traffic if the exact phrase being typed isn't highly searched. I have launched three other sites the last two weeks - a .info, a .tv and another .net and will have to see where Google places them in the next several weeks/months.

 

[shockie]

pretty much what everyone else said. the domain name doesn't play that big of a role when it comes to seo, and the extension even less at that (if any). if you want to build a site that is targeted to a specific geographic location then you might want to consider getting the relevant cctld.

 

[dbtbandit67]

i think the domain+extension is overrated in how exactly it helps with indexing

it's the single biggest contributing factor, but nothing will help you if the content isn't there

i do believe that .com is best for indexing but it's not like you should go out of your way to buy them if what you got now is already making money. if it's not broken, don't even think about fixing it lol