Does it matter if your URL ends in .net or .com?

[matt-14567]

Someone told me that having a URL that ends in .net (instead of .com) will hurt my site's SEO. Is that true?

[SparkplugDigital]

One way it could hurt your SEO is if people who link to your site mistakenly link to .com instead of .net which could reduce your inbound links.

[JaredDetroit]

It depends on what you're using the site for. If you're wondering about straight SEO results for .net or .com, there likely won't be a difference as they're both main TLDs. If the site is used for mainly one time visitors or is strictly online, you should be fine with a .net. If people are mainly getting to your site by searching or possibly bookmarking your site, it won't matter between the two.

On the other hand if you have an offline business, I would definitely go with a .com. 9 times out of 10 if you give someone a business card with MyCoolDomain.net, they will type in MyCoolDomain.com. It's just habit. Try it with friends and tell them to go to YourSite.net while standing over their shoulder. I bet even then you get most people going to YourSite.com. If it's off-line, you want people to remember the main domain and not have to worry whether the TLD is .com or .net. They just automatically guess as .com.

[EGOL]

I do not believe that there is a ranking difference between widgets.com and widgets.net  (I am getting my ass kicked right now be a couple of .net sites - those rats!).

However, I would not want to use a .net site because a lot of my return customers would by habit type egol.com as the URL.