Google Now Treating 20 ccTLDs As Generic TLDs

[RazorNF]

Google's Pierre Far posted on Google+ that Google has been updating their indexing systems to treat more ccTLDs, country-level top level domains, as generic TLDs.

For example, domain.co.uk is specific to UK web sites or domain.co.il is specific to Israel web sites. Some country specific TLDs, ccTLDs, have been used by a large number of webmasters as more generic TLDs. So Google has decided to treat 20 ccTLDs as if they were generic, and thus not weigh too much localization to sites using those ccTLDs in the Google algorithm.

The list of 20 ccTLDs that Google now treats as generic are:

.ad
.as
.bz
.cc
.cd
.co
.dj
.fm
.gg
.io
.la
.me
.ms
.nu
.sc
.sr
.su
.tv
.tk
.ws


http://www.seroundtable.com/google-cctld-generics-16729.html

 

[dompro]

does it make .co closer in value to .com with co like in COmpany?

 

[4pm]

does it make .co closer in value to .com with co like in COmpany?

yes. theoretically .co will now have better chances in fighting .com for higher SERP, better exposure, wider acceptance etc

same applies to the rest of the list..
great news for .tv, .me, .co, .ws, .cc domains
others will probably not benefit much

imho

*

 

[JB Lions]

yes. theoretically .co will now have better chances in fighting .com for higher SERP, better exposure, wider acceptance etc

same applies to the rest of the list..
great news for .tv, .me, .co, .ws, .cc domains
others will probably not benefit much

imho

*

Actually .co has always been treated that way:

http://www.cointernet.co/blog/google-says-co-treated-other-generic-domains

Same with some of the others on that list.

 

[snowbird]

.tk is going to be added back to the index? That doesn't sound right to me. I thought Google dropped indexing of most if not all .tk domains and were given lower priority quite some time ago due to the fact that anyone could get one for free and that it lead to an increase in phishing, etc.

 

[Blue-inc]

That's awesome news for my .ws domain name. (In my sig)

 

[Mobiller]

That is Fantastic. I have a few .co .me .cc and I will keep an eye on them... You never know when an Offer will come through your mail box

:D

 

[kemjika11]

this TLD list is flawed. Most of those extensions are mediocre.

 

[Source]

With so many Web 2.0 and Social Media sites using some of these cctlds, I'm surprised it took Google so long to tweak their algorithms. That said, I'm not sure why .bz, .cd, .gg, .nu, .sc, .sr, .su, .tk, and .ws were included in this list and why .in, be, and others were excluded.

 

[kemjika11]

With so many Web 2.0 and Social Media sites using some of these cctlds, I'm surprised it took Google so long to tweak their algorithms. That said, I'm not sure why .bz, .cd, .gg, .nu, .sc, .sr, .su, .tk, and .ws were included in this list and why .in, be, and others were excluded.

exactly!!!!!!

 

[Kate]

I think the main criterion is actual usage.
Those ccTLDs are used by foreigners/outside the country of origin most of the time. As ccTLDs they are completely diluted. But the same can't be said about .in or .be.

.ad is a surprise though, because it's restricted. I don't think it's really used outside Andorra.

 

[RazorNF]

Another thing to think about is that some companies want their own custom shortener nowadays... and some cctld's forming creative hacks with company names are ideal.

 

[alok897]

This is good news to all SEO webmaster now there is more chance to rank high this domain name extension in search engine.