.info domains + website advice

[SRRooms]

Hi folks,

Is there any dis-advantages or advantages of having a .info domain when it comes to the search engine results?

I currently have a travel website but it is also the name of the guesthouse business which I manage and own. I am looking to split the business into the travel site which will be mainly tours and hotels away from the actual guesthouse. I will be selling the guesthouse business which is worth a bit cash but it will be difficult to keep the travel under the same name.

Anyway, I have to build a new website and I have found a new domain which I like but it is taken with .com. The name though is a not a brand name but a place name so it very good for our business.

I will be taken the whole content from the original domain to the new domain but I want to trim it down so it is more managable. I want to take away the urls that do not convert into much busines. Our main business will be selling tours but also hotel bookings using an affiliate program.

Anyway, the original site which is wwdotsiemreaproomsdotcom.

I would love any feedback on the site regarding the format and the SEO side of it (considering what we want to sell most). I have done some SEO stuff from what I have learnt from Google webmaster tools which seems to have worked reasonably well but would appreciate any more advice.

Thanks

[seo next]

Google does not rank based on domian extensions but still .info's have been extensively used by spammers in the past so there are higher chances of .info domain getting flagged.
You dont have any other extension available other than info?

[SRRooms]

Hi digiwebsol,

Thanks for your reply.

So, .info is basically not a good extension to use? The extensions .com and .org have already gone but I could get .co.uk however the location for our actual tours are in Cambodia.

We will be marketing to a worldwide audience and I read somewhere that the extensions are based on location in Google searches and that .com is more used for worldwide audiences? Would .co.uk be good for a worldwide audience? Do you think it would be more beneficial to change the domain slightly with hyphen for example so then .com can be used?

Thanks

[JElder]

I'd try to locate a decent .com (as the default global TLD) or a decent country specific TLD related to the location the company is run from, like .co.uk.

Although google does not significantly weight any TLD, I always look at them - generally prioritising .co.uk domains as the information is usually more relevant.

[seo next]

Don't use .co.uk for a website you want to rank globally, try and find any similar domain.
Best thing can be if you can buy it off some one who is not making good use of the domain and the domain also has some age.. This will give you a kick start @ SE's as well..

[mud-stx]

a hyphen in-between the keywords would be good for you and even be beneficial in seo terms as well..

[seo next]

a hyphen in-between the keywords would be good for you and even be beneficial in seo terms as well..
Hyphen in-between the keywords are *not* beneficial for SEO ...

[mud-stx]

Hyphen in-between the keywords are *not* beneficial for SEO ...

by beneficial I mean it can work in favour of seo - the hyphen represents a space in between the words

[Ali-v-8]

Mud stx is correct. It can be beneficial in some context as it works as a space. This seperate the terms and gives more scope to capture terms.
I think that is what he meant.


Hyphen in-between the keywords are *not* beneficial for SEO ...

[seo next]

Mud stx is correct. It can be beneficial in some context as it works as a space. This seperate the terms and gives more scope to capture terms.
I think that is what he meant.

Google is smart enough to under stand that KeywordAKeywordB.com would mean same as KeywordA[space]KeywordB

Test it out and you will get to know the answer..

What "-" does is that it kills the branding of the domain...

[franchiseshop]

Smart but not that smart

www.penisland.net/

Pen Island OR ***** Land. no1 for both ;-) Me see no *****'s on their site! :P

I wonder how they would have ranked for ***** if they had the - added.

Anyway - if the option was to have hyphens or go for a .info domain i would have a hyphen.

Original Poster: If you want global go .com and ignore .info, I would only buy the .info if you were planning redirecting it or having multiple sites for the sake of keyword rich domains ranking high at the moment.

EDIT - oops, profanity filter!

[SRRooms]

Hi folks,

Some good tips above. I think most of you agree .com is better for Global marketing for the search engines rather than .info so it is best to use the hyphen.

From SEO stuff I have done on my original site I do not think it makes too much difference with you have a hyphen or not in most cases as Google generally seems to pick up the words either way.

seo next, that is great advice buying an old used site. I should of thought of that myself. I know it takes sometime for a site to get properly recognised.

Great stuff.

Thanks.

[Parkwood IM]

.Google does not rank based on domian extensions but still .info's have been extensively used by spammers in the past so there are higher chances of .info domain getting flagged.
I'm not sure you would get flagged and even if you did, surely it wouldn't be an issue if you weren't actually a spammer?

The key point with .info domains is that, even if they ranked as highly as .com domains, the public see them as less authoritative/trustworthy than .com domains.

A .com domain does however, holds more power in the SERPs compared to a .info, so go with that when available.

I'd try to locate a decent .com (as the default global TLD) or a decent country specific TLD related to the location the company is run from, like .co.uk.

No, try and get a decent country-specific TLD relating to the location the prospective customers live.

Even better, register several country-specific domains and make a small website for each target country.

If you don't want to do this, go with a .com or .org instead.

Although google does not significantly weight any TLD

In my experience, this isn't true and a country specific TLD will hold more weight.

From SEO stuff I have done on my original site I do not think it makes too much difference with you have a hyphen or not in most cases as Google generally seems to pick up the words either way.

One or more hyphens negatively effects ranking for exact-match keyword domain rankings in my experience.

If you are not basing your SEO campaign on the search phrase corresponding to your domain name, this isn't so much of an issue.

Cheers

Jon

[MASSEY]

Mud stx is correct. It can be beneficial in some context as it works as a space. This seperate the terms and gives more scope to capture terms.
I think that is what he meant.


It makes no differense in the domain name, it makes a difference in the url path.