.com VS .co.whatever

Who gets better position

[nervo]

If we assume that two indentical sites with the same PR, but one is .com and another is national domain name, which one would stand better at Google and guys?

THX

[ogletree]

Has no difference. It is not a factor in an SE algo. I can make a difference in how or who might link to you.

[robotsdobetter]

Some search engines won't allow you to submit unless you have a national domain name, but these search engines really don't mean much. It can affect what people your showed to when they use local search.

[growingdigital]

If you are targeting traffic from a specific country it may make sense to register the ".country". For example if you go to google.co.uk you have the option to "search the web", or "pages from the uk". In this case, sites with the uk extension often rank higher.

[nervo]

Thanks guys for replies!

I already got .country domain, and I thought of buying .com ...
So, on the long run, those two are about the same....?

[robotsdobetter]

So, on the long run, those two are about the same....?

It shouldn't hurt you any, but it may be safer to get both.

[Old Welsh Guy]

You should cover local and com domains for brand protection. I would 301 the .com to the local though. In the Uk google will filter out sites that are deemed not to be uk sites, be it by domain ext or physical location (or both). local domains do equally as well on google.com however. There are also other things to consider, I know omeone paoted that 'local search engines are not important' but MSN scores down non .uk domains on its uk portal. Tiscali (the biggest broadband provider in the UK) has a UK only search as default. so Does Virgin.net . I firmly believe that as the web gets bigger, so search will get smaller, with local search and personal search being the next big deals.

[I_Brian]

OWG is quite right about brand protection.

You should also consider the benefits of localised search engines, such as Google.co.uk, ask.co.uk, etc. It can pay dividends to have strong rankings on those, and a national domain name is the safest way to do that. Plus it allows you to benefit from UK listings on UK search, but host it in the much cheaper US hosting market. :)