Migrate to gTLD and improve organic ranking

[Premium gTLD]

Thanks to Bill Hartzer for this .CARS case study. Applies to .PIZZA, .APARTMENTS and any other "makes sense" extension.

"A car dealership that moved to a .CARS domain. In this case, the dealership moved the site and didn't do anything else except for regular site maintenance, updating the inventory, etc. Interesting that the search engine rankings went up and the site didn't lose rankings."

https://globerunner.com/stl-cars-case-study/

 

[Rick Ace]

Based on our thorough review of the keyword rankings, third party data, Google Analytics data, and Google Search Console data, we have concluded that the site did not suffer anything as a result of the move. We have observed direct evidence that the site’s overall search engine rankings have gone up. The website’s overall traffic is trending upwards since the website was moved from StlMotorcars.com to Stl.Cars. Globe Runner can independently verify that the move from STLMotorcars.com to STL.CARS was beneficial for St. Louis Motorcars as far as organic search traffic is concerned.

Basically, it doesn't tell us anything new. xD As Google said, it doesn't discriminate based on TLD. That doesn't mean migrating will give you a magical boost. Perhaps, if you had a website about trucks on ewhe389lol.com and moved it to buy.trucks, it'll improve a bit. Otherwise, the TLD isn't going to affect it by much.

 

[AMRO1001]

Basically, it doesn't tell us anything new. xD As Google said, it doesn't discriminate based on TLD. That doesn't mean migrating will give you a magical boost. Perhaps, if you had a website about trucks on ewhe389lol.com and moved it to buy.trucks, it'll improve a bit. Otherwise, the TLD isn't going to affect it by much.

Google Say something, then another thing happens.

Better TLD can have a significant effect on CTR which will in turn improve the rankings. STL.CARS will have higher CTR than STLMotorCars.com.

Also as it is much easier to acquire premium gTLD that a premium .com, the effect of premium gTLD on the brand can be stronger than expected and it will get stronger with time. STL.CARS looks more premium than STLMotorCars.com

Though it is right that some gTLD owners might lose traffic to .com, but the benefit of new premium gTLD might outweigh the negative effects( negative effects will diminish with time anyway).

 

[Kate]

Believe me, if new extensions were any good for SEO purposes, they would be more popular.
SEOers always try different things and everybody would know by now.

 

[deez007]

These gTLD's do actually good potential from an SEO point of view. I know because I have tested them on some of my own projects as well as a few clients of mine.

 

[Rick Ace]

Google Say something, then another thing happens.

Contrary to what many people say, Google has been the best source for information and news related to SEO.

With domains, the main SEO potential comes from the title. If you owned truckers.com, you're bound to have the word truckers in the title. That does a lot for you in terms of SEO.

Changing the TLD won't have much of an effect, and if you want proof of that, look at the case study provided by the opening post. The data clearly shows a minimal effect. In reality, any benefit from changing TLD would be based on how bad your former domain was. A long winding .com name that doesn't make sense would benefit from a short word on a new TLD. Other than that, I can't see TLD playing that much of a role on search ranks.

The one thing I do fear is that Google might change. Because it is a registrar, Google might want to boost its own TLD sales. It sounds sinister, and organizations like the EU won't be happy about it. We're in trouble if Google thinks it's time to let TLD affect ranking.

 

[disaac81]

Absolute rubbish.

As usual people who do not understand SEO properly try to make case studies.

Ranking is more and more to do with customer metrics and experience than it is keywords, although of course kw's still play a part.

BUT, keyword in tld has no effect and if you really want to make the point that using a gtld as your brand presence is better you are wholly wrong.