SEO Tycoon

**pontt** · 12-24-2007, 08:03 AM

Hello folks,

I was wondering if the domain extension matters for SEO. For example will mydomainname.nl rank higher then mydomainname.com in google.nl (meaning, localised search)? Or doesn't it matter.

Thanks a bunch for the reply (if one..)

**vangogh** · 12-24-2007, 11:46 PM

I think it might make some difference in local search. Common thought is the location of your hosting will make a difference too. General wisdom is if your site is targeting a specific country it's probably a good idea to get a domain with that country's extension and also host your site on a server located in that country.

How much of a benefit either is I'm not sure. I would imagine it's not at the high end of benefits, but I do think you gain some benefit.

**ADAM Web Design** · 12-25-2007, 12:52 AM

As Steven said, it does have some minor impact on local searches. For example, it can impact "country of origin"-based searches. Let's say I wanted to look up "Conjoined Twin Myslexia Escorts". But I only wanted "pages from Canada", since I'm a Canadian. Search engines will use the TLD (in the case of Canada, .ca) and/or the domain name's associated IP address to determine the pages from Canada that relate to "Conjoined Twin Myslexia Escorts" (by the way, if you're looking for one of those, then you're one twisted little bastard.)

You don't actually need to have both a server based in country X as well as a country X-based TLD to target country X...just the former. Hosting in your own country might help for other reasons (e.g. latency), but don't do it just because of SEO reasons (especially if you live in Canada.)

**vangogh** · 12-26-2007, 11:08 PM

I'm not 100% sure on the hosting either, but I've seen the debate about it and know some people believe hosting in the country you're targeting helps. Assuming the hosting is the same quality you were planning on getting elsewhere that it couldn't hurt.

I think the country extension does help, particularly if your using the local version of your favorite search engine or local search.

**dman_2007** · 12-27-2007, 04:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vangogh

I'm not 100% sure on the hosting either, but I've seen the debate about it and know some people believe hosting in the country you're targeting helps. Assuming the hosting is the same quality you were planning on getting elsewhere that it couldn't hurt.

I think the country extension does help, particularly if your using the local version of your favorite search engine or local search.

You get some advantage in local searches based on the extension or on the ip location of your server, google says so itself see here

**vangogh** · 12-27-2007, 07:28 PM

Thanks for the link. Here's the part of the Google page relevant to the discussion here:

Quote:

In our understanding of web content, Google considers both the IP address and the top-level domain (e.g. .com, .co.uk). Because we attempt to serve geographically relevant content, we factor domains that have a regional significance. For example, ".co.uk " domains are likely very relevant for user queries originating from the UK. In the absence of a significant top-level domain, we often use the web server's IP address as an added hint in our understanding of content.

My interpretation is that if you have the country specific TLD then the hosting isn't as important, but if your domain is a .com or .net or similar then then where the site is hosted becomes more important.

Regardless it seems pretty clear that Google can and will look at the location of your server when determining results.

**Rick Hoskins** · 12-27-2007, 10:08 PM

i think it will if it was a .net or .biz or .org then no it would not matter