Do SEs prefer ".com" over ".net" ?

Scott · 01-23-06, 09:52 AM

I was wondering if search engions have a preference for ".com" over ".net" and other extentions? For example, will Google like "domain.com" more than "domain.net"?

st@rsky · 01-23-06, 01:40 PM

.com is the more popular for sure. There was an article about it that I was reading the other day, will try and find it for you.

Super Mod · 01-23-06, 02:25 PM

Google or any other search engine as far as I know doesn't care what kind of .tld extension you have. They don't take that into consideration when displaying your website in the search engine results.

01-23-06, 02:54 PM

Unless its a .info - since a few registrars gave off a bunch of free .info domains, they shot up as spamming sites. IMO.

**Max** · 01-23-06, 02:55 PM

They absolutely don't favor one extension over the other.

Smith · 01-23-06, 05:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Max

They absolutely don't favor one extension over the other.

That's correct.

Ed: what you say about .info makes sense, but do you have anything to back that up?

st@rsky · 01-23-06, 06:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Max

They absolutely don't favor one extension over the other.

They may not favour as you put it, but certainly the .com domain is the one most SE's see as the top benchmark for sites.

Heck I think I am mumbling on about something else here.. ignore me..

01-23-06, 07:45 PM

I don't have anything directly related to SEO ranking - so I stand corrected. However, I have plenty of evidence many .info domains are not good:
Enabling Spam & Spyware with .info domains:

Quote:

I remember that some time ago (3 months, to be exact), I received notification by my Registrar and my Hosting Provider the like that they give .info domains away for free.

Later last year, I had a huge wave of comment spam flooding my blog, all pointing to weird, random .info domains. Fortunately, I could fight back with the excellent Spam Karma plugin for Wordpress.

A milion Dot Info domain names registered last week

New net domain 'fiasco'

Hey, even SpamAssassin rates dot-info domains negatively:

Quote:

0.5 INFO_TLD URI: Contains an URL in the INFO top-level domain

And actually, I believe this article is describing a Googlebomb with .info domains.

It's safe to say spammers took advantage of .info domains, and the number of legit .info domains is on the low end of the scale. I doubt it plays a huge role in SEO ranking, but it must play some.

Super Mod · 01-23-06, 07:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ed

It's safe to say spammers took advantage of .info domains, and the number of legit .info domains is on the low end of the scale. I doubt it plays a huge role in SEO ranking, but it must play some.

Those are some really good links that you posted. I'm going to start reading through them now. It's too bad for .info, because that tld has a nice "ring" to it. I can see a lot of quality websites with great information that could have been.

**Max** · 01-23-06, 07:58 PM

I still don't see any valid proof that SE engines, specifically Google, are favoring extensions over .info. As far as I know, that's a false statement.