If you subscribe to the FeedFront Magazine, there is an article in this months issue (April, 2011) from Morgan Linton about using exact match domains (EMDs) to rank quickly and easily. I’m a huge believer in that exact approach and about 250 of my 350 domains are EMDs. However, he and I have a difference of opinion about the value of .net and .org domains. He’s only a few hours away from me, so maybe on day we’ll get together to discuss domains when I’m in the LA area!
Morgan says, “the SEO benefit of an exact-match domain is the same regardless of TLD. This means that the owner of BuyCar.net has the exact same chance of ranking {as} well as the owner of BuyCar.com, based on the exact-match bonus, since Google and Bing will ignore the TLD.”
With Google’s autocorrect and automatically showing the suggested result, type-in traffic is a very tiny factor even for the biggest exact searches. Every domainer knows that developing a great domain is where the money lies.
As I said, Martin and I differ on our assumptions of the value of .net and .org TLD’s. I think Martin might be assuming that .com’s rank just as well without having actually tested it. I have evidence (partially anecdotal), and would be willing to prove what I already know as fact, especially if there were a compelling reason. Domains ending in .com rank better than .net and .org.
I just finished building 77 new exact match one-page sites. 61 of them are .com and the rest are .net and .org. A single domain is .info. The domains all went live about a week ago. Out of those 77 sites, 38 are on the front page for their exact match keyword. Out of those 38, 37 are .com. 1 domain on the first page is a .net domain. I haven’t done any link building, pinging, or anything like that.
If you’re new to domains and are trying to find some exact match domains, most of the good ones are taken, but you can still find some long tail domains that are unregistered. My favorite way to buy long tail domains is by using the Market Samurai Domains module. Just click Domains, then put in a list of keywords.
Exact match domains rank well! Exact match .com domains rank even better.
I like that you actually did research of your claims and posted your results instead of just the typical arguing without proof. I commend you for that and that finding is beneficial for those who are interested in building pages.
I think people inherently type .com before any other extension. That, alone, makes ,coms worth more.