.net or .com for a UK site?

[lee_sufc]

Our site is currently a .net (has been for 12 years) and is primarily aimed at users in the UK.

Someone else owns the .co.uk version and is asking extortionate amounts to purchase it (despite the site not being used).

Anyway...we do own the .com TLD but wasn't sure if this would give any benefit over our current .net address for UK users?

Would appreciate any advice!

[jmccormac]

Most of the inbound links would be pointing to the .net site. If people have become used to the .net then it might be a good thing to continue using it. Also point the .com to the .net site with a 301 redirect. It might be more important to consider if your existing .net site is losing any traffic to the .co.uk. Though given that .net is more distinct than .com (the UK market has a .uk/.com axis where the bulk of its domains are registered), it might be distinct enough to be memorable. (Just out of interest, is it a soccer fanclub site (from user username)?)

Regards...jmcc

[lee_sufc]

Thanks, jmcc.

No - it's nothing to do with football (although my username related to my local club).

I didn't even think of 301'ing the .com to the .net. Would this not cause any issues with Google?

I also own the .co, .org and .ie - should I 301 them all to the .net do you think?

[jmccormac]

It is a pity about it not being a soccer site. :) It would have been a great use of a .net domain. A 301 is a permanent redirect so it should be OK with Google. (It might be best to ask in the SEO forum here but 301s are the correct way to point domains and it helps search engines distinguish the primary brand website. If the same site appears on a com/net/org/etc combination without a redirect then it creates a duplicate content issue.
This is what Google says about it:

[support.google.com...]

Regards...jmcc