SEO Domain name question

[comlom]

Hello folks,

I was wondering if the domain extension matters for SEO. For example will mydomainname.nl rank higher then mydomainname.com in google.nl (meaning, localised search)? Or doesn't it matter.

Thanks a bunch for the reply (if one..)

[Tropp]

It would depend on what you are targeting

Dutch relevant site would be better with .nl

[Dani]

I think it depends on your target audience. If your website is written in Dutch and only targets people who live in The Netherlands, then by all means, you'll get better overall results with the .nl extension.

[Serr.biz]

I agree with above, so long as you are NOT using both domains and pointing the the same site.

[Dani]

I think it would be fine to have the exact same website but an .nl version written in Dutch and a .com version written in English.

It doesn't count as duplicate content if they're in different languages. The duplicate content penalty only applies to a direct copy/paste of a large portion of text.

[JonathanD]

The domain extension doesn't have nearly the amount of power has people have believed, in my opinion. If you have money.eu or money.in or money.biz, you're still going to rank high if you have the backlinks to support it.

A larger issue with selecting your target audience is to think of where you want to host the website. Hosting geo-location plays a huge, huge part in search results.

A website hosted in the UK will always rank better in the UK than in the US.

[eminents]

I think domain name is not that importance to me. Its all about what you can do and what you have other than what you got.

A website hosted in the UK will always rank better in the UK than in the US.

I didn;t know this fact. Can you explain why is this.

[JonathanD]

I think domain name is not that importance to me. Its all about what you can do and what you have other than what you got.

I didn;t know this fact. Can you explain why is this.

well think about it. If a website is hosted in the UK, isn't it more than likely going to a website geared towards UK residents?

likewise it's the same for the US or any other country.

geo-targeting plays a huge role into search and how search results are display.

But overall, this is a great article that wraps up SEO in a nutshell.

http://www.seomoz.org/article/search-ranking-factors

[ericfromandys]

I think the extension matters little if at all. I've experimented over the past 7 years with using domain names ending in .com, .biz, .net, and .org, and certainly my experience is that there is no obvious impact one way or the other from the extension. In terms of country-related extensions, I think that if the language of your site is French for example, then you will come up for french search terms, regardless of the extension. I don't think the extension is impactful personally.

[JonathanD]

eric,

you are right, extension does not matter, if at all, but location does. hosting location is a huge part of it.

[ericfromandys]

Are you saying that google.fr for example filters out .nl extensions, etc, from its results, so that only .fr results show up?

[JonathanD]

Google will never completely filter out a whole extension unless you request it to, ie this search. That search is specifically searching for .net sites only.

extensions are good for localizing your community, such if you're in the EU, a good idea to have a .eu extension. I note, it's only a good *idea*, it really doesn't have much effect on SEO.

If I own a .eu domain and host it in the US, then Google thinks it's probably geared toward US visitors. Likewise, if I have a .com hosted in the EU, it's more likely geared towards EU visitors.

It's simple geo-targeting search.

[exam2me]

I think domain name is not that importance to me. A larger issue with selecting your target audience is to think of where you want to host the website. Hosting geo-location plays a huge, huge part in search results.

[freeonlinedatin]

the domain name is little effect on the local and world wide visitors, so you use only world wide name that is with extension .nl is better one to use i think.

[JonathanD]

what evidence do you have to prove that statement?

[freeonlinedatin]

its not proved one but some times it happen i think, for example if i have local for dutch it will open for me in local with .local extension because he is having two extensions,but for world wide people its open with another extension,its not any proved i think it may happen some times i wrote.Thanks for the replay

[JonathanD]

dot nl sites will come up if you're in a dutch country because it's more likely to be the result you are looking for.

if I do the same search, I probably won't get any dot nl sites, or if I do, they will be completely different than what you get.

I think what you meant to say is having a local extension is better, not specifically having a dot nl extension (which you said.)

And that, I would agree with. If you're in Spain, having a dot es (.es) extension is better than having a .org or a .net extension.

It's simply the matter of what your target audience is and where you are trying to garner traffic from.

[freeonlinedatin]

hi jonathan nice to chat with you,thanks for your suggetion,the last question the target traffic is important one,if i know more about this i will tell you,any way thanks for your suggetions.