Domain suffix outside of .com .org .net?

[shiftymcnab]

I'm currently going through some branding ideas for my next project and wondered if there is any downside to using the newer domain suffix's? .tech, green etc/

As I intend to use various traffic sources outside of SE's I'm assuming its not really an issue as long as it suits the brand.

However, are there any known downsides to SEO using these?

 

[JasonSc]

I haven't seen an issues using other TLDs. About 4 months ago I moved from a PMD.com to a brand able.tech I had about 3-4 weeks of lower rankings and traffic, but it bounced back nicely.

Back in my SPAM days, I used a lot of .xyz domains and they ranked and the sites did get traffic. I did get a nasty gram about using trademark in a domain name. Who knew "bubble wrap" was trade marked.

My personal opinion, I don't think the mass public cares.

 

[doublethinker]

Brand perception: What do people think of lesser-known TLDs?
Brand awareness: Do people still instinctively key in ".com" expecting it to be the address of the brand?
Brand equity: Is there any value lost in the brand if I never own the .com and is used by another site?

If when the tide changes and a lesser-known TLD like .co and .io grows acceptance by their audience, the answers to the questions above will change.

 

[MTUK]

Depends on your target audience I'd say. Some niches may not care, others may see/treat it with distrust

 

[Ryuzaki]

However, are there any known downsides to SEO using these?

I've ranked #1 for some pretty competitive and valuable terms with a .me (Montenegro). Google already saw that as a gTLD, Global or Generic top level domain like they do with ones like .tv, but you can use Google Search Console to target any region or be a global site. I don't think I'd want to try to target the US with a .uk, though.

I'd feel okay doing it with any TLD that Google considers to be a gTLD by default:

From: Source

• Generic regional top-level domains: Although these domains are associated with a geographical region, they are generally treated as generic top-level domains (much like .com or .org):
  • .eu
  • .asia
• Generic Country Code Top Level Domains (ccTLDs): Google treats some ccTLDs (such as .tv, .me, etc.) as gTLDs, as we've found that users and webmasters frequently see these more generic than country-targeted. Here is a list of those ccTLDs (this list may change over time).
  • .ad
  • .as
  • .bz
  • .cc
  • .cd
  • .co
  • .dj
  • .fm
  • .io
  • .la
  • .me
  • .ms
  • .nu
  • .sc
  • .sr
  • .su
  • .tv
  • .tk
  • .ws

Then of course there's the non-sense ICANN money grab with stuff like .ninja and .pizza...

From: Source

Q: How will new gTLDs affect search? Is Google changing the search algorithm to favor these TLDs? How important are they really in search?
A: Overall, our systems treat new gTLDs like other gTLDs (like .com & .org). Keywords in a TLD do not give any advantage or disadvantage in search.

Q: What about IDN TLDs such as .みんな? Can Googlebot crawl and index them, so that they can be used in search?
A: Yes. These TLDs can be used the same as other TLDs (it's easy to check with a query like [site:みんな]). Google treats the Punycode version of a hostname as being equivalent to the unencoded version, so you don't need to redirect or canonicalize them separately. For the rest of the URL, remember to use UTF-8 for the path & query-string in the URL, when using non-ASCII characters.

Q: Will a .BRAND TLD be given any more or less weight than a .com?
A: No. Those TLDs will be treated the same as a other gTLDs. They will require the same geotargeting settings and configuration, and they won’t have more weight or influence in the way we crawl, index, or rank URLs.

Q: How are the new region or city TLDs (like .london or .bayern) handled?
A: Even if they look region-specific, we will treat them as gTLDs. This is consistent with our handling of regional TLDs like .eu and .asia. There may be exceptions at some point down the line, as we see how they're used in practice. See our help center for more information on multi-regional and multilingual sites, and set geotargeting in Search Console where relevant.
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I tell you this... I'd avoid TLD's like .info and .xyz regardless. They've had special action taken on them in the past (and xyz in the present it seems) due to the cheap cost and preference for spammers due to that. I'd also avoid all of the new .guru crap.

I'd personally stick to the gTLD list if I felt I had to go outside of the com / net / org flavor.

 

[shiftymcnab]

Thanks @Ryuzaki

I would/usually use the .com .UK .org .net, but pondered about being clever with niche specific suffix as part of the branding.

As the new suffix's (.guru etc) are not cheaper than the usual suspects I'd not expect them to have special actions.

After a ton of research I'm 100% certain I can get a .com or buy up an old domain and stick to what I know.

 

[Golan]

There is one hidden downside with all those new tld's, that not many people think of yet. Nothing stops their owners to rise the pricing say in a year or two. What would you do if suddenly faced to pay a couple hundred bucks for your domain

 

[nigeb]

In my experience, gTLDs struggle to achieve the same multiples at sale time as .com's.

 

[Andrewkar]

In my region (Europe) new gTLDs are working fine. Many people is using them and especially I see a lot of .co lately. .CO for example is cool because it can serve as a last two characters of a brand name. SEO wise it doesn't matter if it's .com, .org. .net, .co or whatever. I have two websites where .co is making last two characters of a word (one word brand name) and SEO wise the only thing that matters is quality of content (length, internal links, structure, media etc.), and then backlinks of course. I think that this kind of domain names built with new gTLDs will become the most valuable at some point, that's why many is already taken and up for sale for some crazy $. Good example of brand name design with new tlds is abc.xyz. I suspect if there was a .woo tld CCarter and eliquid could be interested