Top-Level Domains Overseas

[gsmith]

If I buy a top level domain name in one of the .com, .net, .org, etc. namespaces, would I be able to have the site hosted outside of the U.S., or would I need a top-level domain specific to the country in which the ISP is located? What advantages are there to country-specific domain names?

With much appreciation,
gsmith

[operafan]

You can host anywhere you want with a .com or for that matter any country specific domain.There's no law to prohibit that you must host your site locally if you own a country specific domain.

However for your second question on advantages of getting a country specific domain, on MSN & Google locals it does include sites that are from that particular country & IP only.

While for Yahoo, I do notice that they return mixed SERPS base on the searchers IP (i.e: including sites hosted in the country of your IP is coming from ).

So it all depends for where you choose to host your site.It boils down to your target audience.

[topr8]

.com, .org and .net are not the top level domains that are delegated to the usa by the way.

the top level domain that is delegated to the usa is .us

there can be huge advantages to country specific domain names if you are targetting a specific country. reading through previous posts here

country specific domains [google.com]

will point you to many many discussions about the advantages or not of using country specific domains.

[gsmith]

Thanks for the great info!

[adfree]

Also: your research of your target geography needs to include habits, acceptance, support of the country specific .tld's by your target audience. There are countries where .com is the defacto lovechild, whereas others prefer and support there country .tdl a lot stronger.