Whether you are looking for SEO results, building trust or trying to get attention, here’s a quick guide to some of the top domain extensions (aka TLD ‘top-level domain’).
Since helping your site be found is still a key consideration, the SEO potential should be a top consideration in your domain name choice and its extension after the ‘.’ (dot).
Conferring trust is likely the next most important thing.
Even if they remember it, sometimes being remembered for the wrong reasons does not help make a site a success.
The Short List of domain extensions to look at first for best results overall
Elegant Themes blog article by Lindsay Pietroluongo ( https://www.elegantthemes.com/blog/wordpress/best-domain-name-extensions ) recently walked through these as the top 8+ extensions to help get the job done better…
- .com
- .blog
- .co
- .io
- .net
- .org
- .tv
- .us (similarly .uk or .au etc for other country specific benefits)
- .fm
Want to know WHY these domain extensions are best overall?
Visit Lindsay’s article above. Yes, there are many other articles out there, and appearing every year. This list has not changed much in the last decade.
How to quickly/easily make a TLD choice & get on with things!
The order of importance or priority might shift a bit depending on what you, your company or organization or group is looking to do.
If one of the above is not a good fit, strike it from your consideration list and look at the short version after that.
There are a vast number of new TLDs available these days. Do not go buying dozens of these to protect your brand.
This might have worked or been useful 15 years ago…. Now that’s just a waste of time and money. Especially as renewal rates often increase in future years, sometimes they increase to insane price levels. If your organization gets to be as big as Google, then it might be a different scenario. If you are reading this, you are not as big as Google. 🙂
If you are not positive what is the best and do need to launch something, DO NOT LET PROGRESS BE THE VICTIM OF PERFECTION!
Worst case, get 2-3 of your top choices for now. Run with one of those, change later (and quickly) if you realize that doesn’t work for unforeseen reasons. You can ‘save’ and build you SEO better later.
And yes, there are some fun extensions out there. Those might be a fun way to initially launch and get some memorable attention.
Then receive and accept feedback and critique. Make or adjust your choice as necessary. Then demonstrate your new maturity and growth by changing the domain to something better when you or your group is older and wiser.
Kudos if you thank whomever helped you move away from the early choice. People like to witness growth. People like to witness something learning from mistakes and ‘listening’ to wise choices too!
Where to Register Domain Names – Where NOT to register a domain name
We DO NOT recommend registering a domain with Godaddy (we have in the past, never again. We’re not happy with Godaddy renewal practices in recent years. $$$$$)
We DO RECOMMEND registering with either Name Cheap (easiest, best price, good technical advantages) OR Cloudflare (best Price, Amazing tech advantages, not the easiest if you have not yet purchased a domain with them. After you purchase one, the rest are then very easy.)