Available domain extensions are no longer just .com, .net, .us, .org, etc. Some recently made available include: .movie, .coupons, .soccer, .catering, .fyi, .ski, .men, .miami — more each day.
As an internet user, don’t be confused if you see a website address written with a full–word after the dot. That familiar three–letter extension or two–letter country code extension will prevail, but websites are no longer limited to just these. For example, our client Palace Cafe & Catering just registered palace.catering. Depending upon the user’s device, it will to forward to their main website or their mobile website at palacecafe.net.
As a business owner, you have some choices to make. This is the time to review all available domains and extensions and be aware of what will soon become available so you can grab your perfect extension.
At this time, extensions do not play a role in major search engine ranking algorithms.Google says that in the future, they doubt extensions will play a role in their search engine result lists. But we think that over time extensions will play a role in search engine optimization (SEO) as they will help guide users to the information they are seeking which is what search engines are all about.
Some reasons to consider specific extensions are to:
• help with print marketing — easier to remember, more specific website addresses,
• prevent your competition or other businesses from owning it (yes, they are doing it to you),
• show you are current with the times, and
• own your business’ perfect domain in case search engines change their algorithms in the future.
Having more than one registered domain can benefit your SEO if they forward to one, main website with a 301 redirect. It is very important that you do not have any duplicated content on these redirected web pages or incorrect redirect code. This will damage your SEO.
If you wish to find out what domains extensions are soon becoming available, do a search engine search for “new domain watcher” and to find out what extensions are already available, do a search engine search for “domain availability”. There are many tools out there to help.
Let John know if you’d like us to work on a domain plan for you. We’d review all your currently registered domains and give recommendations on what to keep and what to let lapse. We’d make sure that the correct redirection was put on your domains so you are not hurting your SEO. And we’d work on a plan for a getting a new domain extension(s) which will best suit your business and goals.
