Domain Buying Tips: gTLD Vs Country Specific Domains

Getting a domain name of your choice has become easier after the introductions of numerous domain extensions. Between 1985 and 2013, there were 260 TLD (Top Level Domains). However, in 2018, there were over 500 TLDs. Experts expect that soon the number will cross 1000.

Generic Domains Vs Geographic domains

While buying a domain, you have two choices generic domains (gTLD) that ends with com, net, edu, org etc. and geographic domains that end with uk (United Kingdom), ca (Canada), in (India) etc.

Generally, speaking domain extension does not matter much when it comes to SEO. However, as far as generic Top Leval Domains (gTLD) and country specific domains are concerned, search engines treat these domains differently.

What is the difference between gTLD and country-specific domain?

The generic domain targets global traffic whereas the geographic domain targets traffic from a certain country.  Geographic domains have high chances of ranking in the search engines in a specific location.

Which domain should you buy?

Whether you should buy a generic domain or geographic domain depends on your website type. If you are targeting traffic from a specific region, geographic domains are good, however, if you want global traffic you should always get generic domains. For example, if you want to launch an online store and attract traffic/buyers from UK, you should get a domain onlineshop.uk however, if you want people from all locations to buy from your website, your domain should be shoponline.com (or any other extension. ) You should never buy country-specific domain unless you are targeting traffic from that location.

What are the benefits of using country-specific domains?

One of the benefits of using country-specific domains is related to search engine ranking. For example, if you use dot in domain, you can easily rank your website in Google India.

Another benefit of using country-specific domains is high chances of getting a domain name of your choice.