Top level domain name importance (TLD`s)
First off a TLD or Top Level Domain is an attribute of how you choose how you want your site to be recognised, it is also an indicator of where in the world you are or the type of information your website will be representing. At a glance here is all of the available TLD`s and i will list the whys and what for`s of all of them, the goal of this article from an SEO point of view is to recognise what kind of TLD you should be going after when you are looking to register a domain for the first time and it`s importance when it comes to helping your ranking within the search engine result pages. So the list is as follows.
Country Code TLD`s
Self explanatory really, if you are marketing your site towards a specific audience within a country then you need a .co.uk or .us or whatever extension is relevant to your target audience, this also goes hand in hand with having your site hosted within that same country. Why host your site in Germany if your extension says “.us” and the audience you are aiming at is in the UK?
Generic and generic restricted Code TLD`s
Generic codes such as .NET, .TRAVEL, .AERO, .BIZ and others are either generic or generic restricted domain names reserved for industries such as travel, the military, governments or even individuals. So it makes sense if you are a museum to get yourself a .MUSEUM TLD and likewise if you are solely looking to provide information about yourself a .NAME TLD
There are also other TLD`s that are reserved for testing purposes only which come under the category of IDN`s which have no role to us ordinary folk.
So what is the right TLD to aim for to provide information on our products and services?
Well ideally we would love to have a .GOV or a .EDU TLD, but chances are you will have the kind of content that would fit into either on a daily basis, occasionally we maybe lucky enough to gain a link from one of these domains pointing back to our content and it does happen, but unless you are providing a unique insight into a field that generates enough interest from college or university professors or tutors we will have to concentrate on what we do best.
So which TLD is best from an SEO point of view?
It is still a route of contention because we will always come back to Google and the now fabled algorithm, does it place importance on a top level domain name? Well given the many choices available i have personally always purchased a domain name with one of my main target keywords in the name itself, but that is an obvious answer but does not explain the importance of the TLD extension itself, in fairness i have always snapped up the .ORG, .COM, .NET, .BIZ and whichever country code extension i will be looking to market the site towards there is also the other alternative the .MOBI although i am brand new to the extension and coding sites to fit and be compatible for all mobile platforms is still at an earlystage of my understanding it is still growing in popularity everyday, but i doubt that it will ever completely overtake the laptop or desktop internet anytime soon.
To view TLD`s in more detail and what they pertain to, read either the WIki page or the Internet Numbers Assigned Authority
What is your view on the importance of TLD`s for SEO?
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Dean, as much as I think an industry specific TLD makes sense from helping to sort the clutter and over-crowding of the .com world, the fact that we still live in a .com world is a concern for two primary reasons.
First, fifteen years of .com saturation make those the gold standard of “what’s that web site? someone may remember the name but not the extension. So right from the start, if you’re going to go with something other than .com, it’s wise to do so if you can also secure the .com version and just set a 301 redirect on the .com version, if your purpose is to potentially influence the Google algorithm by using that particular TLD as a keyword reference.
I can’t tell you how many people type in a domain name sans the .com in their browser’s URL field or at Google but I do know that happens. If it’s in the URL field, browsers will automatically try the .com extension to figure where someone thinks they’re going.
Next, there’s the issue of trust. If your page titles and description (IF that is used by Google) are spot-on award winning stuff, and if the appeal of that is also spot-on to the market you’re reaching, I’m sure you’ll get clicks. But how many, I can’t say, except there’s an inherent trust in .com and an inherent distrust of the more esoteric TLDs in general.
So the question then becomes – how important is it to try and squeeze the extra algorithm value out of that TLD?
.-= Alan Bleiweiss´s last blog ..Rent My Torso @ SMX West 2010 =-.