Does Using a New Domain Extension Negatively Impact Your SEO?	1.3/5.0 (3 votes total) Rate: Select 1 - Terrible 2 - Poor 3 - Average 4 - Good 5 - Outstanding
Catherrine Garcia January 18, 2018

Domains play a very integral role when it comes to the recognition of a website of a business or a brand. Interestingly, domain names extensions have a role to play in the Search Engine Optimization as well; at least a lot of SEO experts say so.

If you are new to the entire website business, domains are the website names which help an individual access the website. Domain name extensions are the several suffixes available for website owners to name their websites with i.e. ‘.com’, ‘.net’, ‘.org’, ‘.edu’, ‘.gov’, etc. Alternatively, newer domain name extensions available in the market are so many that you might have thousands of them to choose from. Some of these are ‘.xyz’, ‘.business’, ‘.car’, etc.

If you are setting up a website or are new to blogging, you might seriously consider reading this on.

These kinds of Domain extension names are widely divided into two categories:

• Top Level Domain (TLD)
• Second Level Domain (SLD)

Top Level Domains are expensive, highly competitive, and they are well-recognizable. They are well-retained in the memory of the audience for the sole reason of their popularity and familiarity. So, if you are trying to get your hands on a TLD for your brand, chances are that it has already been sold. Trying to get them back can be a very, very pricey affair.

Second Level Domains are easily available for the reason that there are just so many of them available on several Domain selling websites such as Namecheap and GoDaddy. So, if you are looking to name your online business, you won’t have to leave empty-handed.

Now that we are through with the basics, let’s dive straight into the core of this blog post and contemplate if using a new Domain name extension could actually bring a negative consequence on the SEO front of your website.

Is New Domain extension = Negative SEO?

Based on several case studies which have attempted to compare SEO rankings for the same website by getting a TLD and a SLD, the conclusion here would really be ambiguous and we know this for sure.

Forming an opinion about the query “Does Using a New Domain Extension Negatively Impact Your SEO” can be argumentative. So, let’s throw some light on the existing arguments and questions in sight to see if these new domain name extensions really work the way they are assumed to do.

Argument 1: Google Algorithm keeps changing

Remember the time when Google issued an Exact Match Domain (EMD) Penalty?

What the recently updated Google algorithm currently favors for your website’s SEO might be discarded one by the future Google Algorithm updates. So, if at any point in time, the SEO experts tell you that the Google Algorithm is repelling new domain extensions for a better SEO ranking, try to be rational.

Argument 2: Every Business/Brand has a different online reputation

Though not very justifiable, often the brand image of a business highly influences the SEO of their respective website. Putting aside their SEO efforts, these brand websites always perform well. On the other hand, new businesses have to strive hard in order to pull up their place on the search engine page results. Hence, this implies that the effectiveness of the domain name in such a situation remains out of sight; it becomes all about the online reputation.

Argument 3: Credibility is the question

If yours is a credible website which has been accessed by thousands of viewers over the years, little would a change in the domain name extension affect your site’s SEO negatively. There can be a situation of a sudden stoop in traffic and a higher bounce rate, but things will fall back to the usual.

We power this argument through Negari’s Case Study. You can check more about the same by following this link.

Argument 4: Types of Domain name

Largely, your website’s SEO is influenced by the main domain name, rather than its extension name. (This is argumentative)

If your domain name talks openly about your kind of business or luckily has the target keyword that pertains to your industry, you have won the game. However, rejecting a new domain extension for the fear of negative SEO results can or cannot be a safe bet. Several case studies have found that new domain extensions have performed well.

Choose a Domain name and an extension that can rock your website’s SEO

• Try to include Keywords

This might be a next to impossible task, given the millions of websites existing on the web. Chances are that the domain name you are looking for has already been sold and the next best ones have been sold off as well. So, if you are successful in implementing this power pointer, you are halfway done.

• Short is sweet

Never make the mistake of choosing a domain name or an extension name that is lengthy. It is cumbersome for the viewers to retain and might end up confusing them. Always look for short domain names.

‘www.iambadatbrainstorming.com’ is highly audience-repulsive.

• Relevancy is the key

Don’t beat around the bush. Stay relevant to the industry your business/blog is dealing with. For example, if you are a travel website, do not look for domain names which might give an impression otherwise. The keyword must have words related to tourism, travel, adventure, safaris etc.

• Go for ‘Less-competitive’ ones

This is a demanding one where you will have to churn your brain juices in order to arrive at a domain name which is relevant, highly popular yet less competitive.

Good luck with that!

Wrapping up:

Through the arguments listed above and the many others that exist around in minds, we might not be in a state to put new Domain extensions entirely in the bad light. Their success or failure highly depends upon the relevancy of the SEO strategy in place.

The question still remains but we hope that we have been able to clear the air about the Top-Level Domains and Second Level Domains. For a business to make the best use of its new domain name extension(s), familiarity with some solid subject matter is a pre-requisite; which is debatable.

Do you think your new Domain extension works for your website? Does it not? Do you have a say in this case?

Do let us know by dropping a comment below.

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