Is Top-Level Domain Important to Your Business?

This is one of those questions that pops up regularly because of the difficulty of securing .com websites. So many options are available today, but is it better to select a different website name and stay on .com or use the name you want but with a different top-level domain? If you are unsure what a top-level domain (TLD) is or how to answer the question, read on.

What’s a top-level domain?

A top-level domain is the last part of a domain name; it’s what follows the (.) in your URL.

The most common top-level domains in the US are .com, .edu, .gov, and .org. You’re probably familiar with these and know they’re used most commonly.

.Com – commercial
.Org – organization
.Net – network
.Edu – Education
.Gov – US government
.Mil – US military
.Biz – business

Of these, .com is the most popular and can be the hardest to find when you're looking to set up a new website or switch URLs. If you’re searching for a .com domain name and it’s unavailable, you’ll often find a domain registry service that suggests alternatives such as .us, .net, and .biz, but do you know if they’re good for your business? What’s more important? The overall website name or the top-level domain type?

A special note: don't search for domain names in a domain registry - they tend to increase the price when someone searches for a specific domain name. Start by Googling the domain name you're thinking of using instead. Once you know which domain you want to register, then go to the domain registry and search and buy in the same session, and you'll likely save yourself money.

Is Top Level Domain important for SEO?

In the SEO community, we used to feel that .com was critical and recommended not using alternatives.

However, Google says the top-level domain doesn’t impact your overall rankings. Their parent company, Alphabet, uses one of the new generic top-level domains, XYZ, for their TLD. It’s highly unlikely Google would penalize themselves (or their parent company). So, within the community, there’s less push to use .com from an SEO perspective. However, from an overall marketing perspective, there’s still something to .com domains because they’re what customers are most familiar with.

What about .co, .fm, .me…. where do they fit in?

Some of the more popular top-level domains in the US are the official TLDs for other countries. Some countries limit the use of their TLDs, and others don’t. For example, .co is technically Colombia’s TLD; however, it’s been so widely used that Google now recognizes it as a generic country code TLD, meaning it can be used anywhere, worldwide. Ly is the official top-level domain for Libya, and some sites registered with it (ex., Bit.ly), but they haven’t allowed new ones for years now.

Other popular top-level domains that are country-specific include:

What’s best for your business?

You can choose from many options when setting up a website. Does TLD even matter? It does. While Google says the choice of TLD doesn’t impact your keyword rankings, it could impact your overall traffic. For example, if you want to register a domain but the .com option isn’t available, and you opt for .co, there’s a chance your customers will end up on the .com website instead because people are used to .com domains. Are you OK with that risk? How comfortable are you with branding yourself or your business to ensure people know you have a different TLD than they might expect?

Generic top-level domains are available, but they're not recommended or used. You can register with terms like .marketing, .grocery, etc., but they simply aren't being used. They've been available for over a decade and don't seem to be gaining popularity. Years ago (probably 2017 or 2018), I registered Etched.Marketing but it's not a priority in 2024.

If you can register your website with .com as your top-level domain, it's the best option. If you can't, you can use .co or another TLD, but you may run into issues with customers not finding you. As with all marketing, stay focused on your ideal customer and make it easy for them to find your business.

If you can't register the URL you want with .com, look for an alternative that's easy to remember and spell (there's a reason that my main website isn't Rachel Lindteigen. com ) and connects your ideal customer to your business.

Updated 2024, Rachel.