.info Importance of owning .net, .info of your .com?

[Rudy]

Hey guys,
I've got a .com website that I'm wondering how important it would be to own the .net, .info, etc... If I did own then, and then just did a redirect to my .com domain, would this affect my search engine standings in anyway way?

Currently, I get ~300 - 400 uniques per month, although its definitely on the rise as I've done some good work to the site recently (SEO optimization, etc...)
The website/domain is about 2 years old, and targets a specific audience.

Thoughts?

 

[silveraden]

It's very important if you can afford in order to cement your ownership of that domain whatever extension it may have... if others own it, the traffic could be divided...

 

[Name Trader]

If you have just a hobby site, then I think it's not so important to own any of the other tld's. If you are making money off your site, and can afford the other gtld's, I'd get them (especially the .net and .org), in order to protect your brand. There are also the plurals and hyphenated versions to consider taking.

 

[Rudy]

Thanks guys for the responses. What about search engines - if I redirected those domains to the .com, would I get penalized? I know that in some cases, search engines look down on this. But seeing that it's the same name, I don't think it would be a problem.

Your thoughts?

 

[weblord]

it could be treated as duplicate content, better provide/develop content for each extensions you have.

 

[Name Trader]

If you do a 301 redirect for those other domains to your .com you will not suffer any penalties for dupe content. You won't benefit anything either. The investment is to protect your brand only, and should be seen as such.

 

[bbalegere]

Its very important
especially .net and .org

 

[lzy]

Usually I don't bother as long as I already own the .com, but it may be a good idea if it's a huge enough site, .net and .org will be good enough.

 

[bmugford]

I would certainly buy the Big 3 - COM/NET/ORG if they were available for a business. For a niche site you don't need all the extensions though.

 

[akcampbell]

I think your strategy depends on the type of .com keyword you have. If it's a made up combination of words like BlueRhino.com, I would say it's useful to own the dashed version of the .com, the .net and .org. I would rank the dashed version of the .com higher than .net or .org. Do a search for FloridaWeekly.com Vs Florida-Weekly.com for evidence.

If you have a generic .com keyword, I wouldn't pursue the other extensions apart from maybe the dashed .com if it's a two worder. My logic is you can't stop somebody acquiring a particular generic keyword in some lesser known extension so there is no point trying unless you see the .net and .org going cheap.

I went through the whole protect my best .coms whatever the cost thing and I came to the conclusion that it's not worth it. If you are making alot of money out of the .com and you can pick the .net and .org up for a reasonable sum, then fine, otherwise you have to accept that there are 100's of extensions, the chances of any site making it big are very slim, and the chances of a weak extension doing that are even slimmer.

If you have a non generic .com the best value and most effective defence is a trademark. In the UK, you can do it yourself for £250. I bought a $1,000 .com in 2006 and spent $20,000 on defensive domain purchases in alternative extensions and other closely related .coms. If the site I'm developing works, I'll pat myself on the back for great foresight but I might end up losing $20,000 more than I ought to have.

 

[napa]

I think it is great if you can get com/net/org. But getting just a .com is fine too.

 

[labrocca]

For a few hundred uniques per month to your dot com I wouldn't bother. The other extensions probably get 10-50 per month at best. That's just not significant enough to care.

 

[Pred]

unless its a tm you own dont bother imho

get the com and your cctld first

i have .nets of top 2k alexa sites and they get 2 uniques a day tops

 

[Albert]

There is not a need for other tld as long as you own the .com.

 

[helloname]

For me if it's a big project I'll buy .com, .net, .info, .org and a ccTLD , the ccTLD is depending which country you are in, if it's USA then I'll buy .us as well.

 

[onlinelife]

Consider buying other .com version of your domain to protect your site, if you are spending lot on advertising. .net .org .info is best to keep.