Long term risks of using .org for commercial websites
-
Hi everybody,
I'm having a 'heated' discussion with a collegae about .org domains. Originally .org domains were created for non-profit organizations and it was fairly difficult to get a .org domain ( like .gov and .edu still are). Nowadays it's easy to register a .org domain and i see plenty of commercial .org emd's ranking well.
We are planning on launching a new white label in the Netherlands (.nl) and have several domains in our portfolio that we can us for this.
-
I recommend using an exact match .org domain (.nl and .com are already taken) for the new white label www.exactkeyword.org.
-
**My collegae says don't use www.exactkeyword.org, because we aren't a non-profit organizaton and we can't garantuee we won't lose our rankings over the next 3 to 4 years. He would recommend going with the available www.exact-keyword.info. **
Who right and who's wrong and why? Can i garantuee no risk with .org for a commercial organization?
-
-
To be honest, I would be more likely to click a branded domain over the EMD. From what you have said there is numerous EMD domains on the first page meaning it is likely that users will ignore and think of them as spammy. I'm not basing this on any facts so don't quote me on it or anything but I am speaking from my own experience and how I know my friends and family think.
Thanks.
-
If you see a good domain that is not being used by a viable company don't hesitate to write to the registrant to see if you can buy it.
This frequently works and you might get a perfect domain for $500 to a few thousand.
-
Nope. I can't seem to find it but he basically talked about how SEOmoz was originally setup as nonprofit and when they changed they kept the .org and 301d the .com. I've tried searching a variety of keywords related to what I can remember but just can't seem to find it.
Hopefully if Rand sees this he can weigh in on what I'm quoting. He did 100% say it though and why I can't find it is beyond me.
-
when searching for '.org' within SeoMoz i found the following 2 articles that mention .org domains.
http://www.seomoz.org/blog/how-to-choose-the-right-domain-name http://www.seomoz.org/blog/bing-vs-google-prominence-of-ranking-elements
Any chance you meant one of these?
-
I don't know why, but im often making dubbel posts. I've editted this dubbel post and removed the dubplicate content hehe
-
Hi Stuart,
Nice outfit you are wearing in your avatar pic haha ;).
And thanks for your input, i definitely get where you are comming from with brand.com and good content, but we already have a site where we are working on a brand (prizewize.com .nl), but we also want to expand using white labels. This way we increase our visibility in the Serps and have different ways of targetting our audience (have one site more formal than the other etc.).
Also in the Netherlands it seems a lot o EMD's are still doing well. I guess Google updates come arrive here 6 to 18 months later than in the US (which can be a good thing). But to be clear the EMD.org i'm talking about will have sollid unqiue content together with our own webservice (price compare tool).
Other emd's we have rank well and they get a lot of 'natural links' with exactkeyword.nl (.com/.net/.info/.org). So it's way easier creating theme relaterd links with exact match anchor text's for an EMD than a non emd. One of the major reasons for starting another emd and not a brand.
-
If you Google around or search the SEOmoz site you will find the quote I'm talking about that Rand mentioned about using .org on SEOmoz. The main justification for SEOmoz would be the links that they built up I would imagine.
-
I havent tried ranking myself with a .org domain before, but i have seen a bunch of them rank well for very competitive queries and with horrible content :(.
At www.google.nl search for autoverzekeringen (car insurances) and in the top 2/3 should rank www.autoverzekeringen.org (awefull site)
Another example is (on Google nl) the querie zorgverzekering (health insurance) and in the top 2/3 should be www.zorgverzekering.org
-
Hi Luke,
I normally visit SeoMoz by typing in 'se' in my browser, after which it fills in the rest of the url (www.seomoz.org) and i press enter.
I had totally forgotten that its SeoMoz.org haha, what a great example.
-
Thanks for your thoughts, I hadn't thought about how spammy .info might actually come across. Unfortunately the .com's and .nl's are gone for these keywords.
It's quite a competitive market with a lot of EMD.org .net .com and .info's already taken. I will follow up on your advice and take another close look at still available .com/.nl domains with hyphens in them.
-
Agreed. .info does look fairly spammy. Exact match .info looks even more spammy.
-
"My collegae says don't use www.exactkeyword.org, because we aren't a non-profit organizaton and we can't garantuee we won't lose our rankings over the next 3 to 4 years. He would recommend going with the available www.exact-keyword.info."
IMO exact-keyword.info is the spammiest type of domain. I would not even click into one from the SERPs.
If you use a .org the more famous you become the more traffic you will lose to the .com (because so many people simply assume that any important site is on a .org. (maybe where you are - if you are playing for local traffic the .nl would be fine).
You obviously have a few people working on this project and have spent a lot of company time working on this. I would simply find who owns exactkeyword.com and be willing to pay good money for the domain. Or, I would find a great dot com without a hyphen.
If you have a great staff working on a great site go get a great domain.
-
Hi Lawrence,
Firstly you are asking this on seomoz.org - who are ranking just fine Although I think that's more because moz started out more for SEO discussions and evolved - still I think it shows that concentrating on quality content and generating quality in-bound links are probably more important than the type of domain you are on.
That said personally given the choice of .org or .info i'd probably go for .org just for the fact I would say that users are generally more 'aware' of .org than .info which could potentially impact your click-through rate in the SERPS.
Bear in mind also that exact match domains aren't what they used to be and you may well be better off creating a brand for your site on a .nl / .com then building the site up from there - with no risk of any kind of exact match domain penalty or anything else in fact in the future!
Best
Stuart
-
Hi Lawrence,
I'm far from expert on the subject of .org but my understanding was that you can now use .org for anything and the none profit aspect no longer applies as such.
I don't know if it helps but I recall reading a blog post by Rand a few weeks back and he mentioned the .org of SEOmoz. He stated that .org was originally used due to the fact that SEOmoz was none profit but once they went commercial they kept the .org.
SEOmoz is obviously commercial as products are sold yet .org is used. Based on this fact and the other mass of .org domains being used commercially, it indicates to me that using .org commercially is perfectly fine.
I would personally feel safe using a .org and would recommend it should the .net or .com be taken. In some cases I would actually opt for .org over .net.
I hope that I helped,
Luke Hutchinson.
-
I thought a .org domain could only be used for non-profit? Or you had to go through extra loops to use it for commercial use? I don't use them so I could well be wrong, just remember something along those lines, sure someone else can clear that up.
Have you ever tired ranking a emd.org domain before?
I have found nothing else works well apart from ccTLD and .com domains.
I myself would go for a branded name or add a word onto the beginning or end of a .nl
Interesting thread though, I will keep watch of what others say.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Why is Google appending a different website's brand name to the end of SERP title?
I've recently been shown some SERP results where Google is appending a different website's brand name to the end of the SERP title. It's actually rewriting the brand's name to that of the other website. (This is obviously not ideal.) Why would this be? The other website doesn't even stock the same product, so there shouldn't be any confusion there. But even if it did, many websites stock the same products. Just confusing...
Branding | | Ria_1 -
How can I claim authorship for a doctor using their title "MD" on Google Plus?
Hi Everyone, I am wondering how to claim authorship for doctors while still using their title "MD." Adding MD to Google Plus profiles goes against Google name policy, but in order to comply with the FTC we need to include "MD" to our doctor's name in our article by-lines. I have sent in many appeals with evidence that they have a degree. I also considered creating a "Google Page," but had the impression that you cannot claim authorship with rel=author tags with a "Google Page," only rel=publish. Can anyone help me figure out how to claim authorship for a doctor using (first name last name), MD ?
Branding | | dirigodev0 -
Product expansion on website. Best practices for Retargeting Interior Pages with a high concern for brand.
For the past year, I've worked on a website that offered one product (Product 1). The homepage targeted both branded terms and the highest volume keywords for the one product. We've built a lot of strong links to the homepage using the natural variations of the targeted Keywords & the homepage ranks very well for these terms. The brand is now expanding its offerings to two products (Product 1 & 2). Thus necessitating the creation of two product subpages. I'm not concerned about ranking of Product 2's page, only Product 1. From a branding perspective, the homepage URL works wonderfully for the expanded offerings. And from an SEO perspective, offering two products allows me to target a very high volume group of keywords on the homepage that now makes more sense given the offerings. This new group of keywords will make even more sense if brand is able to roll out a 3rd product. The profitability of Product 1 & 2 are about the same. The profitability of potential product 3 is far greater 1+2 combined. Product 3 also has the most natural correlation with the group of KWs I plan to target on the homepage, i.e., I care more about the ranking of the homepage once Product 3 has launched. Product 3 will have its own interior product page as there is plenty of search volume for KWs specific to this product. I'm worried about hurting the rankings of the old product and URL confusion between the homepage & the to-be-created Product 1 page. I don't see myself having a lot of options. Options 301 - It does not make sense to 301 redirect the homepage to the Product 1 interior page. The homepage URL has strong branding and will be used in future marketing. I do not believe that I value the maintaining the rankings of Product 1 enough to push for making the new homepage example.com/home or similar to allow for the 301 redirect. Canonical - The content of the homepage will be changing, thus a rel=canonical to the Product 1 page does not make sense, nor does it make sense from a ranking perspective as I also want the homepage to rank for the new set of KWs I will be targeting The only real option I see is attempting to reach out to strong back links with Product 1 anchor text (or context) & asking them the switch the URL to the Product 1 interior page. Combine this with proper site-wide internal linking to the new Product 1 interior page & an anchor text link on the homepage to the new Product 1 interior page. Am I missing something? Am I dismissing either one of the above options too easily. Am I over-thinking this (yes probably)? Would love another set of eyes on this.
Branding | | 2uinc0 -
If someone leaves a review on a website, is there any way to syndicate this out to 3rd party review sites?
a client of mine receives loads and loads of review on their website but few on 3rd party review type sites. i want to be able to push reviews left on client site out to these other sites. is this possible?
Branding | | Christoffa0 -
Whar are the Keyword and Link Implications of renaming a Website
I'm about to change the name of a popular site classyauto.com to nationalvehicle.com. The reason for the name change is mainly because of the negative report on classyauto from years past. We've decided to rename the company to National Vehicle for that reason and other reasons. With that, the current site does not currently rank high for many of the natural organic niche keywords we want to target. But, it does have a good amount of links and traffic. I would like recommendations on the best method to rename the site including any ideas on what to do with existing directories, links, etc. efficiently and effectively. I would also like input on what NOT TO DO. Thanks in advance and any tools, tricks, or additional resources you can point me to would be greatly appreciated.
Branding | | JosephFrost0 -
Which industry has the HIGHEST % of awful looking websites! ??
I have an auto upholstery client that wants a new website and some SEO work done here locally. I take to Google to check out the competition in some other states to get a feel for whats other sites are doing and I just spent 30 minutes looking at 53 different websites and I swear not a one of them is worth $20 Have you run into any industries that historically have terrible websites? Have a great Christmas everybody! Matthew
Branding | | Mrupp440 -
What are some good ways to market a used car sales site?
I have thought of using craigslist and other classified ads, social media and of course good old SEO. What else can be done to drive traffic to a used car website?
Branding | | MangoMan160