The last year has seen the launch of a large number of top-level domains with extensions that include .music, .nyc, .news., .shop, etc., etc. - in fact, whatever you think of it seems a new top-level domain has been released to cover the area. Many of these domains have sold themselves as having Search Engine Optimization (SEO) benefits, a claim that appears to make logical sense – if a domain name contains the target word in a search term, it should be easier for search engines such as
Google to find. However, Google has recently claimed that domains with the new extensions do not have any more SEO benefit than domains with more traditional extensions (.com, etc.).
One of Google’s Webmaster Trends Analysts, John Mueller, recently reshared a post from the Google+ account of Matt Cutts – long regarded as Google’s mouthpiece on SEO issues. The post was added a few years ago in response to someone who posted a statement from a provider of a new top-level domain suggesting a new TLD web address would “automatically be favoured by Google over a .com equivalent...”.
At the time, Mr Cutts suggested:
“Sorry, but that's just not true, and as an engineer in the search quality team at Google, I feel the need to debunk this misconception. Google has a lot of experience in returning relevant web pages, regardless of the top-level domain (TLD). Google will attempt to rank new TLDs appropriately, but I don't expect a new TLD to get any kind of initial preference over .com, and I wouldn't bet on that happening in the long-term either.”
In reposting the item Mr. Mueller added, “They can perform well in search, just like any other TLD can perform well in search. They give you an opportunity to pick a name that better matches your web-presence. If you see posts claiming that early data suggests they're doing well, keep in mind that's this is not due to any artificial advantage in search: you can make a fantastic website that performs well in search on any TLD.”
A number of studies have been conducted, some of which oppose the idea that the new top-level domains have “inherent ranking advantage”, while others support the concept. However, none of the studies have the data Google has available to make assessments. The discussion has not though piqued much interest in the new domains. Easyspace, iomart's domain name arm, recently suggested that the market for new top-level domains (TLD) had been sluggish and activity had generally been defensive, with.com owners and owners of more traditional domain names buying up domains with new suffixes to protect their existing domains and websites.
What’s your perspective? Do the new domains off benefits? Add your comments below.
