Should I move .net to .com

Well-established site

[lee_sufc]

I own a well-established .net TLD website in the UK. This site has been up and running for around 12 years and is doing well in Google (touch wood).

However, I also own the .com domain and obviously, I'm aware .com is the "standard" for websites when people think of web addresses.

I just wanted to hear from experts here - shall I take the plunge and move to the .com address? I'm predominantly targeting UK clients.

If so, will moving to this potentially disrupt my site in Google as it's taken years to get where I am?

[tangor]

A limited roll out (the best of the best of the net side) on the com side will provide some answers. Let the two compete with each other, within reason, of course.

Determine your metrics on the com for similar themes on the net side and see what works or does not.

Do not DUPLICATE the net to com. Use the com side (as new content) to test index/traffic etc. As few as 10 pages would be a good start. See if you can take down your net site with the com site. Com USUALLY has more cred than net, but that's not always true.

Keep in mind you already have the com, thus it is silent against the net site. You already are where you want to be, though, as noted above, com is more usual than net.

You already have a well-established site. Keep it running. That bird in the hand kind of thing.

[RedBar]

I'm old school and actually prefer .net!

I'm in the UK and trade globally however a few years back mycompanyname.com totally disappeared from Google.co.uk, I assume from stronger non-UK backlinks, therefore I duplicated this site on mycompanyname.co.uk and low and behold this site ranked in their UK SERPs and still does, my .com still does not rank in the UK.

Note that I specifically named Google, other search engines kept my .com in their UK results.

I also had to convert another UK-only.com site to a .co.uk since that disappeared from the Google.co.uk SERPs and came back once it was moved over even though it had been on a .com for 15 years.

I would say my experience has probably confused the issue even further but what I do note, from my UK widget results, is that .co.uk reigns supreme on Google however it is also obvious that there are some very big UK companies using .com however their rankings are for entirely different reasons.

[lee_sufc]

RedBar - good points there!

Tangor - ideally, I want to keep the site together as it's become an authority in my industry.

[creeking]

I own a well-established.......website

running for around 12 years

is doing well in Google

it's taken years to get where I am

it's become an authority in my industry

don't change. just forward the .COM to the website.

[domainchef]

Personally I tend to prefer .com over .net as it seems to elicit more credibility for new users. If you decide to move to .com, you should do a server side 301 permanent redirect. This will tell the search engines like google and other clients that the link has permanently changed, while at the same time redirecting the users to your .com site. Note that the 301 redirect might have a minor impact on search engines (especially bing) but it should not affect google as much.

[Swanny007]

I wouldn't change if I was you. My second-largest site is .net and I've been running it for almost 16 years now (it's basically keyword keyword .net). I think the .net vs .com is something to test but do so very carefully if you do proceed.

[forager]

no, leave the .net if its well branded. By the .com and 301 redirect. Leave the .net in place. Don't be like everyone else. Leave it be.

[piatkow]

if it ain't broke .....