As you may already know that a domain-name is basically the name of your website. It’s the address where web users can easily access your site. A domain-name is employed for locating and recognizing computers on the web. Usually computer system makes use of IP-address which are nothing but a number series. But, it’s quite hard for human beings to memorize those series of numbers. Due to this, domain names were created and employed to recognize entities on the web instead of employing IP addresses. A domain-name can be a mixture of numbers and letters, plus it can be employed in amalgamation of the different domain extensions like .net, .com and more. The domain name has to be purchased and registered prior to use. Every single domain-name is distinctive. No two sites can own the similar domain name.

ccTLD (Country-code TLD)

We have already specified that .nl TLD. We usually call these sorts of country-specific TLDs or TLDs country-code. Several years ago, Tokelau (an island located in the Southern-Pacific-Ocean) – began providing their .tk domain for free, and loads of fanatics claimed their .tk. In case we would have bought michiel.tk, there wouldn’t have been someone in Tokelau who could have appropriately pronounced the same domain name. It is like .cc, which you already might have heard of, since it was earlier promoted as the option to .com. In fact, it’s a country specific TLD that belong to the Cocos Islands, even though the Cypres people might oppose.

TLD (Top-level domain)

Whatever the brand maybe, the .com is known as top-level domain (TLD). Previously on the web:

• .gov extension was used for government sites.
• .edu extension was used for universities and schools
• .org extension was used for non-profit organizations,
• .com extension was used for US companies,

We are talking of the age of 1985. Things have quite changed till now. Previously we accustomed to use .nl extension for the Netherlands, however today, the majority of companies are employing .com in its place, and for instance, when the .nl extension they required was taken already by someone else. Now, things have become hazy. Nowadays, TLDs like .pro and .guru are accessible.

How you can select the best TLD?

From 1985 till now, the amount of TLDs developed to 260, however recently; it radically expanded to nearly 500, and anticipated to increase to over 900 in the future. With loads of accessible extensions, it is really difficult to recognize which extension to use. In order to help you select the best TLD, you should consider given below tips.

1. Target location

If you want to target a particular location, for instance UK, then it would be best to use .co.uk extension. Having a geographic specific domain name will aid you to rank for particular nations where people are prone to pick local link – search engines will also provide local results. Also it’s suggested that when you are targeting a particular location that you make your extension geo-specific, than only placing the location on your site name or SLD. Google may not notice that you are targeting a particular location (though the location is inside the name of the website) if you are employing gTLDs (generic top-level domains) like .org or .com.

2. Business specific

With numerous TLDs accessible, you can also make your domains business specific. For instance, if you are an advertising company, then you can employ .advertising. If you have a food related blog then choose .food as your extension. The amazing thing regarding this is that search engines and people will get a clear idea of what your business is about, and that’s why you need to be vigilant when employing a business specific extension. Be certain about your business because you cannot go back once you select that specific extension.

3. The .com extension is employed extensively

75 percent of all sites are making use of .com, and these are twenty times more helpful as compared to their .org and .net counterparts. So besides making use of business specific or geo-specific extension, it is suggested to purchase a .com extension always.

All these cases bring us to some important statements regarding SEO and domain names:

Domain Age

Today, the domain age – which refers to how protracted your domain exists – does not matter a lot as it did earlier. It’s rather more about the website structure and content and generally how good your site answers the questions entered by the people in Google. So, you will have to provide the best results to be the best site and rank on top.

EMD (Exact-Match Domain)

The example of Exact-Match Domain is BuyCheapHomes.com.

In the year of 2012, Google launched the EMD Update. Google just evolved its algorithm, so that sites that employed domains like that would not get top rank simply for the simple reality that the keyword was used in the domain-name. This was the case before launching the update. Thus after the introduction of this update, does it yet induce to employ a domain that contain a keyword? This would happen given that the rest of your site adds up Homes.com properly. In the Netherlands, the goedkopeleningen.nl, cheaploans.com (they are the Dutch equivalent) possibly receives a good amount of traffic. However that is as Google is superior in English as compared to Dutch.

If you become successful to create a brand or product around exact-match domain, and still you receive plenty of traffic, continue the good work. If you are getting money only from your domain, then you need to ensure that your branding is completely high quality.

Subdirectory or ccTLD?

If your site is accessible in more than one language, you might be looking for the best solution: domain.de (ccTLDs) and domain.co.uk, domain.com/de/ and domain.com/uk/ (subfolders or subdirectories). The subdirectory is useful when it comes to SEO. If you make use of a subdirectory, nearly all the links will redirect to the same domain-name. Marketing is simple as you have a single main domain. In case there are differences in language for each subdirectory, you can use hreflang to inform Google regarding that. If you contain WordPress install, then preservation is quite easy. Just to get some benefits.

Please be informed that a subdomain is something which is completely different compared to a subdirectory. Google really think about kb.yoast.com to become a different site compared to yoast.com although we are certain that they can link the dots. As such the age of domain might not affect the Google ranking; however older domain names maybe have a great number of pages or backlinks in the SERPs. And clearly, that might affect ranking.

Branding

Subsequent to the EMD update, branding has turned into even more significant. It is important to concentrate on your brand in domain name and SEO – rather than simply placing a keyword in domain. For example, Google.com, Amazon.com, and LEGO.com. It’s simply about the brand plus it is something that people will keep in mind with no trouble and that will make your business show up from the competition and crowd. Always seek the plus points of things because your brand is here to remain for a long time. Ensure that your brand is inimitable and the appropriate domain is accessible when launching a new business.

Multiple domains for one site

Does it induce to claim more than one domain and 301 forward all the domain name to the parent domain-name? When it comes to branding, the answer to this question is “no”. And when it comes to online ranking, the answer to this question is “probably not”. The single genuine reason we can imagine to actively make use of more than domain name for the single site, is online and offline marketing. In case you have a particular campaign or project on your site that you would want to endorse individually, a second domain might be useful to receive traffic direct to the correct page on your website.

“Actively” is the primary word in that ending paragraph. As we already mentioned, you can freely purchase and register more than one domain names, but you need to ensure that you don’t confuse Google. In addition, actively making use of more than one domain name for a single site will distribute the links to your site.  But this is not what you exactly want, as stated at the subdirectory section.

How do Extensions and Domain Names Affect SEO

Now the actual question is how extension and domain name affect SEO? Well, there are approximately 200 ranking-factors in algorithm of Google, and domain-name is just one of them, therefore it has extremely small or no effect with the SEO of the website. But, owning a well thought TLD and SLD will certainly aid in different manners.

• Relevancy signal

As we already mentioned, though placing your intended keywords on SLD or also selecting business specific TLD won’t assist with increasing your rankings, Google can yet make use of it for relevancy signal simply by bolding keywords that emerge on domain names.

• Reputation management

If you own a great domain name, properly spelled and meaning relevant, your authority and reputation will certainly boost. Also, receiving all the counterparts of your url or domain will aid to secure your company from a likely reputation damage, like when a person purchases other extensions for your business like .bad and .sucks.

• Reach the correct audience

Making use of geo-specific extension will really assist you to reach the correct audience. Particularly now that Google is developing its local search.

• Domain-extension can aid converting

People see a site in a different way based on its domain extension. A few extensions can be perceived as spammy ones while other ones will be said to be as references or they will be easier to keep in mind. You should not undervalue navigation habits of people.

Google favors improved search results

By including new and most recent extensions, search engine depicts user-experience is still its concern. Let’s check what this might implies. A few new TLDs are more costly. This just implies that spammy sites will be less expected to employ these extensions to toss their hacks. Hence, sites having these extensions may rank well in trust. It subsist established domain extensions for example .gov and .archi. It could appear fair to rank well these sites because they’re confirmed. Though keywords putted after or before the dot have no affect on rankings, they do contain one on user insight. It gives trust, relevance, and information. To tell the truth, if a site receives more visits due to its domain name keywords, it’ll get higher or better rank in the end. This pertains particularly for dedicated sites such as .scubadiving, .news, .jewellery etc or location domain such as .berlin, .paris etc.