A top-level domain extension (or TLD) is an important factor in determining the value of a domain. It refers to whatever follows the ‘.’ with the most common TLD being .COM. But with new TLDs created almost every day and so much variation in price between them, it can be difficult to know which path to take if you’re buying your first domain.
After brokering countless domain transactions over the last 20 years, we’d like to think we know a thing or two about the best TLDs to use, so here’s our advice – 9 out of 10 times, a .COM is all you need. They’re universally recognized, the most popular by far and the best choice for any company based in the US or with some degree of global presence.
However, there are a few exceptions:
- If you’re located in Europe and only plan on conducting business within your home country then it’s worth considering a local, country-specific TLD like .de for Germany, .co.uk for England, .fr for France, .es for Spain and so on. (Note that a few exceptions exist in mostly Spanish speaking countries where .COM was adopted and is used as much or more than their actual country code TLD, or ccTLD).
- If you’re a governmental organization or educational institution, you are usually better served by using a protected extension like .gov or .edu as an indicator of your reliability and credibility. Anybody can buy a .COM but you must be representing the organization you claim to be if using a protected TLD.
- If you are in the process of negotiating the acquisition of your brand’s .COM domain but still need to keep your website up and running in the meantime, there is no harm in temporarily using an alternative extension until you are able to secure the .COM version. Just be careful to not advertize this too much or consumers may get confused when you switch over to the .COM version. And of course, keep the alternative TLD and ensure it redirects to the .COM website once you make the switch.
When it comes to many of the newfangled extensions appearing on the market, we’re sorry to say that most are worthless. We’ve seen .TV, .MOBI, .TEL and several others like them come and go. They never built enough traction to encourage consumers to continue using them. They were, for the most part, traded between domain investors.
Even the only one with some promise, .CO, didn’t really take off. Consider what happened when Overstock paid millions for a campaign and tried O.CO – it didn’t last long. They went back to Overstock.com before long, because O.co was confusing their customers and hurting, not helping, their branding efforts.
You may wonder why we have this approach when there are some people and companies claiming the opposite. The truth is, in our experience at least, the registrars and registries behind the TLDs are the ones that are pushing this information the hardest because that’s what they’re selling. There are only so many .COM domains available but an infinite amount of other extensions like .io, .biz, .xyz and all the rest! Our claims are made with 20 years of data behind us.
The fact remains – stick to .COM and you won’t go wrong.
Consumers just aren’t using the new extensions.
