How To Choose Between a .COM, .ORG, OR .NET Domain Extensions

Marketing

When building your website and launching your business, you’ll need to decide on your domain name. While it’s recommended that you opt for the .COM domain, it’s not a one-size-fits-all option for all businesses.

Every company has its own set of needs and problems, so we’ll discuss each domain name and what situations they work best. We’ll also look at TLDs or top-level domains.

Why is the .com extension the best option in most cases?

Having a website with a .com domain extension is the most common type of domain, and because of that, it seems the most credible and brings the most traffic to the website. Consumers typically expect your website to be your business name.com. Choosing that extension is the best way to increase your traffic from your marketing efforts. Unless the extension is part of your business name, but more on that a little later.

However, does your domain extension impact your SEO and search engine rankings?

It’s thought that Google prefers the .com extension, but there’s no proof to confirm or deny that. The search engine’s only reason to prioritize .com over other domains because that’s what the users are searching for. Many people just assume that websites will be .com or .ca, and Google is excellent at recognizing its users’ assumptions. More than 50% of all the websites on the internet use .com as their domain extensions, making it the most credible extension available. Simply opting for the .com domain could be a great source of traffic and help your overall rankings because most users will click on yourbusiness.com versus yourbusiness.org or .net. Not to mention, .com is just easier to remember because it’s so common.

When should you use the .org extension?

Other top-level domains are beneficial in certain circumstances. The .org extension has a lot of credibility and is trusted among internet users. .org means an organization, and you’ll find it’s prevalent among non-profit institutions. The extension was launched in 1985 and was specifically created for non-commercial use and only for not-for-profit entities. In 2019, these restrictions were removed, allowing for any organization to take on the extension.

The .org extension still carries the connotation of being a trusted source and authority on subject matters compared to alternatives. Since most users expect .com extensions, it’s a great idea to work the .org extension into your branding or company name. The .org extension works particularly well if there’s a company with the same name as yours that already owns the .com extension. Branding your company with your extension will prevent your potential customers from going to a competitor or a company somewhere else in the world. The .org extension shows up reasonably well in search rankings, but not as well as .com extensions.

When should you use the .net extension?

The .net extension is often one of the first extensions offered by domain sellers when the .com domain is taken. .net means network, and its initial creation was intended for umbrella companies that have several sites and companies under them, like web hosting organizations. When opting for a .net domain, you should first check to see if whoever owns the .com is a competitor or a company in the same industry as yours. Your potential clients could end up on their site and become theirs instead.

Overall, .net is a reasonably trustworthy option for consumers, and they feel that it’s a professional and credible website. Since it’s been around so long, many customers trust the extension. As far as SEO and rankings go, .net is the best among other domain extensions like .co, .live, or .me. You may not receive all the benefits of the .org or .com extensions, but if it’s your only option, it’s not a bad one.