Domain Name Question

[mintertweed]

‘Allo, everyone! You guys have always been there to help me, so I decided to ask you one more question before I head to bed. A friend of mine is developing an Android app. She wants to create a website for said app. She has already chosen a name for it. We did a search on GoDaddy and it turns out there are a number of domain options. A .com is not available, but pretty much everything else is (.co, .info, .net, .org, .ca, .me, .ws, .us, .mobi, .biz). Now, since this would be for a cellphone app, I was thinking .mobi would be the best choice. What is your opinion on this? Thank you in advance!

[TheDoc]

I’d still try to get a .com. You can do something like getappname.com.

[Bert]

@TheDoc @joshuanhibbert Why? Any reason why a .com is better than .mobi? I really don’t see why getappname.com has an advantage over getappname.mobi Just curious.

[Bert]

Mostly just for America, right? Google in my country results in google.nl (i’m Dutch). In Germany google.de etc. etc. The top level domain name isn’t that important I think. The name before the dot is much more crucial. Google will figure out the rest….
If I were you and had to pick between joshuanhibbert.nl and guywithawesomesunglasses.com the first one always wins. Except maybe for some explicit top levels like .xxx or .sex

[Paulie_D]

@Bert Not at all.

Google interrogates where you are (probably from an IP ) and then serves up the site and results based on that.

Certainly, a .com TLD is preferable to anyother even if you can’t get precisely the domain name you want.

For an app, I would go with getappname.com if it was available over appname.mobi

To me, a .mobi site is a mobile optimsed mobile site, not my first port of call for the MAIN site.

[Bert]

@Paulie_D
Ok. I see your point.

But who is entering a complete URL these days? I if was looking for a specific app called appname for my phone I would type the name in google. I believe appname.mobi in this case has an advantage over getappname.com

[Paulie_D]

The site name is just a minor part of the Google search algorithm.

Proper SEO would resolve any worries on that score.

[TheDoc]

There is absolutely no way .mobi is *preferable* to .com.

I have never, to my recollection, been to a .mobi site. If you can get it, you always want a .com. I don’t know why we’re debating this.

[begetolo]

Come on @TheDoc. This is a valid discussion. I value your opinion, i really do, but i’m not convinced. A .com is not better than let say a .org or a .abc At least i can’t think of any reason.

The only thing what matters is SEO. You want to be found. Google, as far as i know, doesn’t have a preference in this regard.

@joshuanhibbert suggested that is was easier to remember a URL, but i never type in a complete URL. Just put in a search argument in chrome, hit enter en click the desired URL. (.com or not) As most of us do, i think.

In my opinion the TLD doesn’t matter. What’s before the TLD is very much more important.

Please give a solid reason to think otherwise. Not just: I say so, therefor… That’s to easy.

[begetolo]

BTW @begetolo is the same person as @Bert. Sorry for the confusion….

[dfogge]

to my knowledge google doesn’t penalize search rankings based on uncommon TLD’s but i’ve read that many users don’t trust them. many more will not remember your url and end up going to the wrong site.

do what you like but i’d personally never go with anything but a .com

[TheDoc]

Sure, there are caveats. If you’re a Canadian company and you want that to be present in your URL, picking a .ca over a .com would be better (but you also want to get the .com to redirect to the .ca).

Here are some points

* .com is easier to remember (eg, how do you spell ‘mobee’?)
* users will try .com first, if they aren’t searching (eg, user automatically puts nike.com, not nike.org)
* .com is internet standard

> The only thing what matters is SEO. You want to be found. Google, as far as i know, doesn’t have a preference in this regard.

This is true, to an extent. There is reason to believe that localized domain extensions will rank better (example being if you want to rank better in the UK you should make sure that you have a .co.uk). Having said that, you’ll *still* want to have a .com to get all of those users that make assumptions about it.

But it’s not just about SEO, it’s about marketing as well. What’s the easiest domain extension to market?

[John]

Get both!

[begetolo]

OK. I am convinced. If I would live in the USA I also would get a .com (and a .us for that matter). I live in the Netherlands (no plans on moving :) ) and I prefer a .nl If my desired URL isn’t available, I think i will try to get a .com or think of a better name. Thanks all for this discussion, especially @mintertweed who started this.

[chrisburton]

Just for info purposes, I hear .uk will be available at some point instead of .co.uk

[Author]

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