exact match .name domain vs .com domain?

[passionfruit]

Hi,

i have a dilemma. I have two exact match keyword domains with .name and .co.uk extensions, and a non-exact match domain with a .com extension but that has keywords in it.

So, if my keyword is ab, i have 3 options to build my site on:

ab.co.uk
ab.name
abc.com

What should i stick with?

[rainborick]

All else being equal, if your target market is the UK, then I would choose the .co.uk domain name to get the geo-location benefits automatically in all of the search engines.

[passionfruit]

target market is not the Uk. tahts the problem. its just the domain thats an exact match, thats why i bought it.

so what would you say now? is .name better or non-exact-match .com?

[zehrila]

Google might add a filter for such extensions and automatically assume these are used for certain purpose and don't show them in main serps, such as a gaming website on a .gov domain might not appear for terms like free games. I would say go for a dot com name, plus you have your main keyword in the domain as well.

[rainborick]

Then I'd go with the .com and have the site hosted in the target market country.

I have to say I'm still a bit skeptical of the value of keyword domain names. There's obvious value in keywords in the file path, but I just have this hunch that when we see a lot of keyword domains ranking well, it's more due to the webmaster being aware of search engine issues than the value of the domain name itself. I wouldn't try to talk anyone out of using one, but I would be thinking more from an overall marketing perspective than any search engine issues.

[HuskyPup]

Where is the domain to be hosted?

Where are the domains registered?

Which is the target market?

If global then go with the .com, .name is almost pointless, the .co.uk could rank however it will most probably take longer.

If both of these mean something to you why not create splash pages on them with direct links to the .com or just point them both at the .com

[passionfruit]

why is .name pointless? i'm making an informational site with a global audience. i want it to rank well in google.com

however, i dunno if .co.uk and .name extensions will have a drawback? many ccTLDs dont do well globally. In this case, however, i have exact match ccTLD and .name domains.

[AnkitMaheshwari]

I would never opt for .co.uk if the target audience is global considering the Geo-Specific and personalization nature of SERP's. co.uk is by default linked to UK region in WMT.

Regarding .name, check yourself how many of this TLD domains rank on Google.com or how many of them you came across in last one month. Considering this factor, I would personally go with a .com and as HuskyPup said, would redirect the other two to .com