Google says no difference .info vs .com

[Greg]

I thought there was a pretty interesting blog post made by Google a couple weeks ago stating officially there is no preference given by them regarding which TLD you choose. Again they say, 'all about the content' (and of course from links).

Another cool thing they discussed was the importance of country specific TLD's and their influence on rankings. The quote that caught my attention when and what I'll be taking away is, "we do look at a larger number of factors when ranking your website. The extension of the domain name is just one of these."

No surprise that we're seeing sites start go build out now into many different languages. Certainly inter-page SEO has some value still but for those guys looking at a more 'global' approach to development it might be time to start building some specific niche sites in the countries (and domain extensions) you're interested in.

Nothing entirely new, but a good reminder of what the Big G is looking for when ranking sites this summer.

Official Blog Post here: SEO Clinic Notes - March

[jdwanchalk]

I shouldn't bother reading forums today (ever).

Or is this serious...

[Greg]

Good call JD, this was for the Newbie thread section as a follow up to last weeks questions. Moved now for those members starting out!

[themike537]

I think he thought it was an April Fool's joke...

[Michael Martinez]

It's no joke that Google says it treats all top-level domains the same way. However, my experience has been more hit-or-miss with .info domains than with more popular TLDs. I can speculate on why that might be. Most likely too many low-quality domains and too few trustworthy links pointing into that TLD space make it more difficult to launch content there.

But there could be other reasons as well.

I've come across some VERY successful sites in the .info TLD. I would not be enthusiastic about launching a site in that TLD but if I had to do it but I would not be concerned about getting it indexed.

[TheGooner]

Have you ever thought that :

1) Google deliberately push mis-information so that no-one can game the indexes

2) Many "Google staff" have absolutely no idea how the indexes are calculated anymore - its moved beyond them - but still like to publish self-important posts (*cough* Matt Cutts) because they'd be nobody nerds otherwise

I particularly like the contradiction in your examples ..

a) officially there is no preference given by them regarding which TLD you choose
b) we do look at a larger number of factors when ranking your website. The extension of the domain name is just one of these

So which is it - no preference - or they do look and factor it?

[leporello]

From my testing on several domains, .com receives a significant natural ranking boost over .net and .org based on putting up a one page site with no seo and just 200 words of content

[pokeraussie]

From my testing on several domains, .com receives a significant natural ranking boost over .net and .org based on putting up a one page site with no seo and just 200 words of content

Did the domains have the same back links? How were they indexed? If they had a different number/quality of links then you are comparing apples with oranges so the result would be flawed.

[leporello]

No seo = no links

[MJ]

I don't believe a .com has any ranking boost vs .net and .org at all personally.