which extension is better for SEO?

.com .net .org .info

[solobrian]

I realize .com is the ideal choice, but which of the following would a search engine rank higher:

www.mykeyword.info

or

www.my-keyword.com?

The keyword i need is taken for the .com net org, but available in INFO. With hyphens its available in all. Whats the best choice?

[ugamis1]

It depends on the type of site you want to create. My advice, go back to the drawing board and find you a nice www.wordword.com domain name. If you are choosing a keyword target where the ONLY possible domain opportunity is a .info and your trying to be an adsense millionaire then just give up on that niche and find a different niche.

I have taken domains that are www.word-word.com and www.word.info and www.wordword.com and every time for every site I have almost always stuck with the www.wordword.com.

I am just a noob so take that for what it is worth.

[fischermx]

Go for the hyphenated .com

[petra]

Extension do not affect your seo. Its all about the originality of your content 1st; second, your ib links; and third, the cleanliness of your code.

[caveman]

I'm with fischermx ;-)

[jatar_k]

but you're addicted to hyphens ;)

I wil third the .com is better

[caveman]

Well sorta. That's where I cut my teeth and all ... but the hyphen police have me going to hyphens-anonymous now. :P

[jatar_k]

I used to have a nice collection of domains with min 3 hyphens each

it happens ;)

[pageoneresults]

The keyword i need is taken for the .com net org, but available in INFO. With hyphens its available in all. Whats the best choice?

Stick with a .com. No hyphens. And make sure you're not stepping on someone's toes. If the .com is taken and you register a hyphenated version, would you be in violation of any copyright, servicemark, trademark and/or registered trademarks?

[BeeDeeDubbleU]

IMHO the chosen extension may affect people's perception of your site but there is no way that it will affect SEO. The SE's will not look at a .com site and decide that it should be weighted higher than a .info or whatever. Why should they?

[Foreva]

I believe SE treat hyphened domains as potential spammers, so my advise would be go for .info without "-"

[BeeDeeDubbleU]

This may be so with domains like www.super-bestest-reddest-widgets-usa.com but not for those like www-red-widgets.com.

[caveman]

I believe SE treat hyphened domains as potential spammers, so my advise would be go for .info without "-"

Foreva - nice nic. One hyphen: Don't worry about it. Two: Jury's out. Three: Wouldn't do that. ;-)

... there is no way that it will affect SEO. The SE's will not look at a .com site and decide that it should be weighted higher than a .info or whatever.

There is so much more to SEO than what's reflected in this statement that I don't even know where to begin. Decisions we make as SEO's have direct effects, indirect effects, and ripple effects WRT to how SE's rank our sites. Every little decision we make has the potential to feed into a cumulative scoring of our sites. Some decisions on their face seem more related to SEO than others. Page titles are obviously related to SEO. But in fact there are a multitude of less obvious decisions that Webmasters take, that also play a role in successfully ranking a site.

To say that the choice of a domain tld (short for top-level domain) has no effect on SEO is comparable to saying that choice of host has no effect on SEO. Of course it has an effect. As always, the trick is more in figuring what the effect is, how important it is, how much it is associated with other elements of SEO.

[BeeDeeDubbleU]

So you believe the SEs will reduce the ranking of a site based on the TLD it uses?

[caveman]

No, not directly. I don't believe that the brand of host I select is assessed by a SE either.

However, I am certain that my choice of TLD and my choice of host can and often do affect the rankings of a given site, and that is what SEO is all about ... better rankings in the organic SERP's. Like I said, think indirect and ripple effects. These kinds of choices matter.

[BeeDeeDubbleU]

Caveman, Solobrian's question was not about the choice of hosts. It was about the choice of domains and I still cannot see any logic in a search engine penalising a site in any way because it chose to use a particular TLD.

You say that you are certain that it happens so what is the logic behind this?

[pageoneresults]

Certain TLDs have been abused and may have some negative factors associated with them. I'm not sure which ones exactly but I'd say newer TLDs (other than .com, .net, .org, .edu, .gov). One that really stands out is .biz. Based on past discussions and a general overview of my surfing, .biz seems to be a haven for junk.

[caveman]

I still cannot see any logic in a search engine penalising a site in any way because it chose to use a particular TLD

Me neither. That'd be pretty stupid, so I doubt that they do it. (But then again, no one here suggested that the SE's penalize for use of a TLD.)

Reprise: Indirect and ripple effects. 'Nough said. ;-)

[pageoneresults]

It all comes down to branding. The .com is the Beverly Hills of TLDs for most anyway. I would never want anything other than a .com. If it's not available, then I'm not going to take the chance and infringe on someone's copyright by grabbing a .net, .org, etc. Nor am I going to even consider a hyphen, they are usability nightmares. Sorry all you hyphen fans, from a visual and branding standpoint, hyphens suck!