Surely a question that has come to mind when choosing your domain is: Which domains do they rank best and with which domain can I get better SEO results? This is exactly what we are going to see in this chapter.
Let’s see which are the best domain extensions for SEO and, by the way, let’s dismantle some myths that are circulating around.
What are the best domain extensions for SEO?
Domains have two parts: the name and the extension. And both influence SEO.
Domain extensions are of transcendental importance for SEO.
Not only because these extensions can be of different types (.com,.es,.net, etc.) but also because they allow us to play to get combinations of keywords in our domains. Now we’ll talk about all this.
Types of domain extensions
That said, what types of extensions are there that can modify the SEO of our project?
As much as it’s said out there, there really are only two to consider:
- Global or generic domains (.com,.net,.org, etc.)
- Geolocalized or ccTLD domains (.es for Spain,.mx for Mexico,.it for Italy, etc.)
We could talk about a third level, which would be the combination of a generic extension with a geolocalized one, such as”.com.mx”. But we would really still have a geolocalized domain, so they’re still just types.
How to combine names and extensions for SEO
How can we leverage the combination of domain names and extensions for SEO?
Here we can do a lot of things with a lot of creativity. Let’s look at some of them:
1.- Name + Extension = Keyword
The domain name + the extension must be a keyword.
It is a domain name with its extension, but at the same time “fit watches” is a keyword with searches.
2.- Name + Extension + word URL = Keyword
That the name + the extension + a word from the URL make up a keyword.
It is not a keyword, but if we add another semantically associated word to the domain name and extension in the URL, it can become a keyword with many searches.
3.- Name + Extension = Keyword + URL word = Other Keyword
That the name + the extension make up a keyword and by adding a word to the URL we get another keyword.
These are just a few examples, but you can apply these formulas in a thousand ways – hit the coconut and be creative!
4.- Domains with geolocalized name + global or generic extension
Domains with global extensions (.com,.net, etc.) are designed to position themselves worldwide.
If I have a website with the domain “musicians.com”, this website could be positioned both in UK and in any other country where the same reference language of the website is spoken (Australia, EEUU, Canada, etc. etc.).
5.- Domains with global objective + geolocalized extension
But let’s look at the opposite case: What if we have a domain with a global objective but with a geolocalized extension? That is, if we have for example an online store from which we want to sell to the whole world, but we use the extension”.es” (Spain).
We’ve got a problem there. Why?
Because with the extension”.co.uk” what we are indicating to Google is that our public is in UK and, consequently, it will position us preferably in this country and we will have it much more complicated to reach people from other countries.
6.- Extensions that look geolocated… but are not
There are domain extensions that appear to be geolocalized, but are not, such as”.barcelona”, “madrid”, etc.
Actually, they’re global extensions. But they can help us to position ourselves in that geolocation by making the name plus the extension a long tail keyword of SEO Local.
For example: “cerrajeros.barcelona”. It is a domain in principle generic but can help us to get links with branded anchor text that are in turn keyword. And this is a positioning bonus.
SEO Myths About Domain Extensions
We dismantle some SEO myths related to domain extension…. Let’s go!
Does a.com domain have more value for SEO?
No. It is true that we have more interiorized the domains with extension.com and that, for that reason, they are easier to remember.
But at the SEO level, all global or generic domains are the same.
Are uncommon extensions such as.club,.store, etc. recommended?
They are recommended just as other global domains may be recommended. They may come in handy when the extension helps to form a keyword next to the domain name, but they are no better or worse than other extensions.
In other words, the”.tienda” extension will not in itself give you an advantage in positioning yourself as an e-commerce site, but it can help you to get branded links that are in turn keyword and include “tienda”, and this can give you a bonus, as we have seen in other examples.
Do free.tk domains work as SEO?
In principle, domains with a”.tk” extension do not need to have problems positioning themselves. But they have another big problem.
Usually what you don’t pay for is not yours and you can be left without it at any time. Just as they gave it to you for free, they can take it away from you and make your domain disappear from the map. And that is a big problem.
If you want to mess around and experiment with it, go ahead. But I don’t recommend it for a serious project.
If my target is only UK, will it affect me if I choose.com instead of.co.uk?
It doesn’t affect. There are people who say that the extension”.co.uk” has an advantage in UK over a”.com”, but it is not so and I have more than proven it.
If you can choose between a.com and an.co.uk, I would tell you to buy both, but use the.com, because that way you won’t close your doors, you will also be able to position yourself in UK even if you have a.com, and you can always tell Google through Search Console that your preferred audience is in UK.