[RobbieD90]

Probably a basic question but here goes. I will be purchasing the domain name for my site soon and was wondering if the TLD chosen will affect the SEO of my site.

The domain I want is available with .com .co.uk and .co. I was going to choose .co to be a bit different but I was wondering if there are any affects on the SEO.

Thanks

[roothost]

RobbieD90, on 05 December 2011 - 01:28 PM, said:

Probably a basic question but here goes. I will be purchasing the domain name for my site soon and was wondering if the TLD chosen will affect the SEO of my site.

The domain I want is available with .com .co.uk and .co. I was going to choose .co to be a bit different but I was wondering if there are any affects on the SEO.

Thanks

Put simply No.

I have .co and rank quite nicely, in fact I rank above the .com and .co.uk versions of the domain from competitors sites.

I have not seen any evidence that .com rank higher than, say, .co.uk. My above example proves that. The only factor, other than content, that will affect ranking is domain age. Google does tend to lend more weight to older domains.

[RobbieD90]

roothost, on 05 December 2011 - 02:03 PM, said:

Put simply No.

I have .co and rank quite nicely, in fact I rank above the .com and .co.uk versions of the domain from competitors sites.

I have not seen any evidence that .com rank higher than, say, .co.uk. My above example proves that. The only factor, other than content, that will affect ranking is domain age. Google does tend to lend more weight to older domains.

Thanks Roothost.

I think I'll go with .co then.

[roothost]

RobbieD90, on 05 December 2011 - 02:08 PM, said:

Thanks Roothost.

I think I'll go with .co then.

My only problem with .co is that people expect it to be .com OR .co.uk. It isn't mainstream enough yet for the public to realise that you haven't misspelt your own web address or email address lol.

This has actually caused me a few problems with clients ending up on a rather shabby UK competitor!!

[DigitalWorkshop]

roothost, on 05 December 2011 - 02:18 PM, said:

My only problem with .co is that people expect it to be .com OR .co.uk.

I agree but there's more to it than that. Remember SEO is not the only consideration. Brand image is also affected by the domain name these days and in that .com still wins hands down.

If .com is available go for that - no question for me. If you can, get .co.uk to keep it out of other's hands.

However, if you still want to use .co for differentiation then have a redirect for the other two for when people type them in by accident.

Paul

[roothost]

DigitalWorkshop, on 05 December 2011 - 02:30 PM, said:

I agree but there's more to it than that. Remember SEO is not the only consideration. Brand image is also affected by the domain name these days and in that .com still wins hands down.

If .com is available go for that - no question for me. If you can, get .co.uk to keep it out of other's hands.

However, if you still want to use .co for differentiation then have a redirect for the other two for when people type them in by accident.

Paul

Very valid points.

[opensesame]

.co.uk is the best option, if your domain contains the keyword you are targeting then you will gain a exact match domain boost which will push you up the rankings quickly, usually to page 1.

If it doesnt contain the keyword id still go for the .co.uk, because it shows your uk based and your find a better conversion rate.

[oakleaves]

I must admit - I've been impressed with how roothost has managed well with his .co domain

I had one in the past and struggled with it even when geotargeting UK

Then there's the other things as mentioned - joe public aren't as familiar with .co as .co.uk or com - I'd rather not have that issue to deal with, sometimes the slightest thing can put off a potential customer.

Everyone is different here of course but my own choice is to stick with .co.uk and .com's for my sites

[opensesame]

oakleaves, on 05 December 2011 - 05:08 PM, said:

I must admit - I've been impressed with how roothost has managed well with his .co domain

I had one in the past and struggled with it even when geotargeting UK

Then there's the other things as mentioned - joe public aren't as familiar with .co as .co.uk or com - I'd rather not have that issue to deal with, sometimes the slightest thing can put off a potential customer.

Everyone is different here of course but my own choice is to stick with .co.uk and .com's for my sites

Are your right .co.uk is the best one for the UK. Your all designers right and im guessing you target location specific keywords like web design London, Cardiff etc. When you use a .co.uk and geo-target in webmaster tools it indicates to Google you are a UK based company and effects your rankings for UK based searches on your selected keywords.