This is How Google Handles New Top Level Domains

[Arpit131]

With the coming of many new generic top level domains (gTLDs), Google would like to give some insight into how these are handled in Google's search.

Here is the complete list of questions published by Google:

Q: How will new gTLDs affect search? Is Google changing the search algorithm to favor these TLDs? How important are they really in search?

Q: What about IDN TLDs such as .みんな? Can Googlebot crawl and index them, so that they can be used in search?

Q: Will a .BRAND TLD be given any more or less weight than a .com?

Q: How are the new region or city TLDs (like .london or .bayern) handled?

Q: What about real ccTLDs (country code top-level domains) : will Google favor ccTLDs (like .uk, .ae, etc.) as a local domain for people searching in those countries?

Q: Will Google support my SEO efforts to move my domain from .com to a new TLD? How do I move my website without losing any search ranking or history?


Find all the answers in this article published on Official Google Webmaster Central Blog

 

[JB Lions]

If you are a startup and can easily purchase "nfc.site" for $1,000 or have to put a serious dent in your funding and spend $77,952 (actual selling price) on "nfc.com" - which do you go with?

Neither, you get nfc + keyword in .com for reg fee or some other .com. Whoever wants to start their business on a .site has a dim future. You're talking about startups when we have links floating around that they're still choosing .com #1 by a wide margin and new gtlds rarely.

 

[mitok]

Shhh! If you tell people that secret, we have no market. :P

But if we all start telling "secret" about keywords in domains, then we will have even better market

I noticed many "SEO experts" are not aware that a keyword in a domain is still a big boost for ranking.
Do your research and check domain metrics of TheWhiskyExchange.com and Whisky.com. Check content too. Check backlinks, check quality of backlinks, check everything. And then which one is better placed for "whisky" search
These both domains are keyword domains, but EMDs are still gold! Google would tell something else, but I don't care what lyres telling us.

 

[pdevananth]

You meant what, where? This is the first time you're posting in this thread. 3k was just some random number I picked, it could be anything, for sure under 50k. Let me give you another real example, and since a .club was mentioned earlier, let's go with that. underwear.club at GoDaddy is listed for $4,999.99. I have the .com in that, underwearclub . com and I paid less than $500 for it, less than 10%.

Also, think about what I posted in my last post:

"Plus, coffee club is 2 words anyway. Those single word .whatevers (the niche ones) would be 2 words in a .com."

diamonds.today, in a .com would be 2 words, diamondstoday.com. So yes, you can can get all kinds of good .coms for a few thousand or less, doesn't have to be some 50k or 100k. That people think you can get good .coms, tells me you aren't active in the aftermarket.

cloud.republican is for sale @ $600+
cloudrepublican.com is not yet registered.
You can't compare like this. We are talking about quality names.
.com is not gonna die. CCC.com cccc.com and one word.com can't be replaced by any new gTlds. Trade in .com invest in gTlds be happy.

I am seeing you in most of the nGtld threads talking against ngtlds irrespective of thread context(like domain showcase). Why do you do that? If you don't like ngtlds you have an option to stay away.

 

[JB Lions]

cloud.republican is for sale @ $600+
cloudrepublican.com is not yet registered.
You can't compare like this. We are talking about quality names.
.com is not gonna die. CCC.com cccc.com and one word.com can't be replaced by any new gTlds. Trade in .com invest in gTlds be happy.

I am seeing you in most of the nGtld threads talking against ngtlds irrespective of thread context(like domain showcase). Why do you do that? If you don't like ngtlds you have an option to stay away.

Great advice. Be happy investing in a maybe.

Last 2 weeks, 18/20 top sales, .com, 19/20 top sales .com. Only 1 new gtld charting a .club

http://www.dnjournal.com/archive/domainsales/2015/20150722.htm

http://www.dnjournal.com/archive/domainsales/2015/20150729.htm

You see me in those threads because this is a discussion forum, hence discussion. If you don't like my posts or opinions that differ from yours, you have the option to stay away or put me on your block list.

 

[brandnow]

I think these are examples of nGTLD names that hold value:

fan.club
net.work
get.help

And these that hold little to no value:

mywonderful12.website
counterfeitgoods.top
thaifood.horse

You can see the difference. Whereas, the first category gives examples of EMDs that are only possible because of the nGTLD program. Whereas the second category are bad names on meaningless extensions.

 

[ProDomanico]

For domainers especially my opinion is invest in .com ...

If you plan to go for developing something.. give new GTLD a shot.

Ultimately whatever it is, the content is the KING..

 

[Branded Domains]

i think computernet.work will also do good in the ranking..

 

[enlytend]

I noticed many "SEO experts" are not aware that a keyword in a domain is still a big boost for ranking.
Do your research and check domain metrics of TheWhiskyExchange.com and Whisky.com. Check content too. Check backlinks, check quality of backlinks, check everything. And then which one is better placed for "whisky" search
These both domains are keyword domains, but EMDs are still gold! Google would tell something else, but I don't care what lyres telling us.

Nobody's saying they aren't helpful in ranking ... for ONE keyword.

Which of these domains looks stronger?

The other stuff just matters more.

(This is all ORGANIC traffic, not paid - ignore the "traffic cost", unless you know SEMRush hard to explain what it means in this context.)

 

[mitok]

Whisky.com, but I guess you wanted to ask which of these websites looks stronger

Whisky.com is a better name, and it is better placed in SERP.
And as you can see, TheWhiskyExchange.com is a better website. But we are talking about domains.
Also, domain metrics for TheWhiskyExchange.com are better than for Whisky.com (check TF, DA, PA, backlinks etc.).
But if you type in Google "whisky" you will get Whisky.com above TheWhiskyExchange.com

EMDs are still very important! This is just one of many examples I found.

When I hear that EMDs are not important anymore, or that content is the most important, I know that the person who said that is not an expert, no matter what is his/her name.

 

[Kate]

The bottom line is that there is no particular SEO benefit to using new TLDs.
Some registrars are making the point, but it is untrue. And it's not the first time that Google make this statement. Nothing new at all.

 

[sbweb]

coffee.com for 3k? When chipmonks fly.

 

[enlytend]

Whisky.com ranks for 648 keywords in the first 2 pages, mostly 2nd page.TheWhiskyExchange ranks for 9300, with more than half of them 1st page. Before you start to say that Whisky is the most important keyword to have, it's a great keyword for BRANDING = EMD's are awesome for branding and brand identity - but generic "head terms" in search are usually too vague in intent to convert well.

If someone searches "whisky", what do they want? Why are they typing that? Maybe to see what sites rank for the keyword ? Maybe to buy, but the intent is split. Whereas if they type in 'single malt scotch prices" odds are they have a credit card in hand and are shopping. Those are the keywords that pay the bills.

The fewer keywords you rank for, the more vulnerable you are to losing all your search traffic if Google rolls the dice and they land funny. And unfortunately, EMD's don't make any magic ranking for those additional terms.

Anchor text to Whisky.com is mostly "whisky.com", which also gives it a boost for Whisky. Anchor text to TheWhiskyExchange is also branded, supporting the brand, not that head-term keyword.

TF/CF/DA/PA are just numbers and while providing comparative guidelines, not meaningful in themselves.

 

[Nick]

The bottom line is that there is no particular SEO benefit to using new TLDs.

Or, there's less benefit in paying exponentially more for a .COM when the same can be accomplished with a gTLD.

 

[bmugford]

Or, there's less benefit in paying exponentially more for a .COM when the same can be accomplished with a gTLD.

There is nothing new here. The same was true in the past with .biz, .info and any number of other secondary extensions.

There are far more benefits to owning quality a .COM than just indexing in Google.

Brad

 

[Kate]

Any TLD can be developed. We all know that.
People stick to established extensions like .com/ccTLDs for credibility reasons, and to avoid confusion.
It can be problematic to run a high-profile website without owning the matching .com.
For low-key development, of course you don't need a premium domain. It doesn't even have to be .com. Even a subdomain could do.

But a digital strategy that considers SEO only is a losing strategy. Branding is important too.

 

[Nick]

There are far more benefits to owning quality a .COM than just indexing in Google.

Name 3.

 

[bmugford]

Name 3.

Credibility
Awareness
Branding/Marketing

Not to mention many .COM also come with some type in traffic.

Brad

 

[domainer021]

Google will never say that doing something so specific like an exact match domain name will help you in your rankings. It will only give you open ended suggestions, like write good content, build good links, fix bad links and so on. It looks better.

 

[pdevananth]

There are far more benefits to owning quality a .COM than just indexing in Google.

Yes...big benefit is, we can keep on reselling the same name to another domainer.
But end users are buying domains to develop it. For them, indexing in Google is important and their customers will not argue with them why that website is not developed with .com
.Bank has received 5K+ applications so far
If banks can use new gTlds then

https://www.namepros.com/threads/ba...ns-for-a-bank-domain-at-1k-per-domain.871100/

 

[S-B]

I think the argument that nGTLDs are cheaper is a moot point.

As people have mentioned, you can get some serious deals on .coms and .orgs. It's also important to note that nGTLDs can have wildly high pricing for random terms that they deem to be premium. Many times, the price is not a 1-time investment. Rather it's a reoccurring expense that your company accumulates right out of the gate. Think about it, $5,000 for a nGTLD per year over 10 years is $50,000, while $50,000 for a .com is $50,0xx over the same time period. This means that a killer .com is really only $xx more expensive in many situations over an extended period of time. However, most domainers seem to forget this. You also have more negotiating power with a .com or .org. If a seller is asking $50,000 and you are putting $40,000 on the table, you will likely strike a deal. An asking price is simply that, an asking price.

Further, you have to realize that every visit you leak to the .com is money lost. The .com could be used for anything, which ultimately harms your brand's reputation. Now, you not only have to get users to your website, but you also have to educate them on how to come back. Traffic is easy -- education is difficult and expensive.

 

[DomainVP]

They rank for "coffee club" because they have over 5000 back links and most of them have "coffee.club" "coffee club" or some permutation as the anchor text. They also brand on it heavily in the site content.

(BTW, there's another discussion on this in the SEO and Search Engines section.)

^this is the only thing that matters.

Exact match domains are always exceptional, but coffee.club got a lot of press from their purchase.

A lot of press, means a lot of links.

How much is an exact match domain and 5000 high authority keyword tagged back links worth, certainly worth the $10k/yr payment plan that the domain was purchased for.

EMD's help with having keyword word targeted tags for links, which is extremely important for SEO in 2015.

The problem is that there aren't that many new extensions that form valuable phrases; let alone the fact that most new domains won't/can't make sense.

 

[domainer021]

home.barclays is on the first page of Google for the keyword "barclays" (from the US), possibly because of the redirect from barclays.com.

 

[Alice Wonder Miscreations]

Even with that, if you're a real company, you pay for the .com, long term it saves you money and it's more versatile. Reasons linked to above. If you're just somebody who only thinks search engines and nothing else, not that serious, then get the cheapest.

No, it does not save you money long time.

With respect to versatility - there is absolutely nothing technical about .com that makes it better (or different) than any of the new ones, so your versatility argument gives the appearance that you have been eating some really special mushrooms.

 

[sOliver]

Great advice. Be happy investing in a maybe.

Last 2 weeks, 18/20 top sales, .com, 19/20 top sales .com. Only 1 new gtld charting a .club

http://www.dnjournal.com/archive/domainsales/2015/20150722.htm

http://www.dnjournal.com/archive/domainsales/2015/20150729.htm

Quoting a journal everyone knows is incomplete is not helping. You know as well as everyone here that most sales never get reported.

The amount of sales not reported on DNJ in any given week is incredibly high. Most sales are private and kept confidential. Many do not even know dnjournal or bother reporting a sale. Then we have registrar sales. Those are still sales and those are usually in the 5-figure range. If you'd do your research you'd realize that the numbers 18/20 top sales no longer applies because of all the sales behind closed doors to big corporations.

There's huge money flowing into TLDs and its not solely for brand protection. A blind man can see that. There's data you do not have access to that is worth investigating. And it draws a pretty clear picture.

Comparing COM and gTLD sales at this point is very much the most pointless argument you can make. We're in year 2, whereas COM is in year 30. Now go back to DOT COMs year 2, it wasn't even on anyone's radar.

And the argument that prices are too high? Look at DOT COM prices, initially after the free-phase they were as high as $75 right?. Now compare that to the average price tag of $30 for new gTLDs. Of couse you have to participate in auction and EAP for the gems, we're living in a capitalistic world and ICANN has changed a lot since the early days.

With inflation in mind, COM prices were prob around $100 then

 

[cmdomains]

At the moment only 2 .clubs rank high with .coms containing club . And they're on page 2.

http://www.50inda.club/
http://www.bombaybicycle.club/

1 has 100+ views a day , the other 200+ a day and seems both have no backlinks. Time will tell