choosing your domain name...
Dot-com or Dot-net?

©2005 by eibhlin morey macintosh

Google generally claims that all domain extensions are equal, but most search engine experts disagree. All other things being equal, the dot-com entries seem to do better, in general.

That said, "all other things" generally aren't equal.

Unique content may be one of the most important factors in how well you rank at search engines.

Search engines also see how well established the site is. That is, how long you've owned the domain name and had it online, and how much traffic it's already getting.

But, let's say you're setting up your first website. Think first about the words someone might use to find your kind of website, or even your particular website.

Those words -- called "keywords" -- can be the most important of all.

If those words are already taken by someone else with a dot-com name, check the same words with hyphens between them. That is, if yourfavoritename.com is already in use, look for your-favorite-name.com, instead.

If that fails, go to dot-net, dot-org, and so on.

A dot-com name can help improve your rankings at some search engines, but the words in your domain name -- even if it's a dot-net, a dot-org, or even a dot-info -- matter far more.

In the long run, your site's popularity is more important than its name, and popularity depends upon content, and links from others' sites.

Short term, the keyword (or words) in your domain name can make a huge difference.

I maintain several websites. Most of them have dot-com names, but one of my most popular has a dot-net name:

When I started out with Aisling.net, I had just missed getting Aisling.com by a couple of months.

In June 2005, if you typed "Aisling" into Google, Aisling.net was the second site that's listed... after a band called Aisling. They list the word "Aisling" on their page more than I do, and they probably get a lot of visitors who type in their band name at Google.

Aisling.com was in the #8 spot.

In July 2008, after months of neglect (we moved across the country), Aisling.net was in the 4th spot. The equally neglected Aisling.com was still at #8.

So, from my experience, a dot-net can be just as good as a dot-com, but only after you're established. Short term, the dot-com versions seem to come out on top at the search engines.