How To Choose The most accurate TLD For My Website ?
What is a Top Level Domain?
When you create your website for your business with Shopify, WordPress, Wix, Drupal, Magento or another CMS (Content Management system) You have to choose a Name Domain for it. the structure of your name domain is like this: https://www.mywebsite.com . The TLD is the extension after the root of your domain, in this exemple “mywebsite.”: the TLD is .com
There are different TLDs as follow:
- country-code Top Level Domain such as .fr, .ca, .uk, .ch and others
- generic Top Level Domain like .org, .net, .com
- Sponsored Top Level Domain like .travel, .museum among others
How to Choose your Top Level Domain?
When you select your TLD, keep in mind that site with same name domain but different TLD are different websites. mywebsite.com will be different then mywebsite.co.fr and so will operate as a totally different website on Google or Bing or another Search Engine.
If you want to be sure to secure your domain name the best thing to do is to order all the TLDs for your name domain like:
- mywebsite.com, mywebsite.uk, mywebsite.ca and so on
But this method can also cost
Define your Website Goal
Start by defining the goal of your website. Is it an online store so that it can be visible all over the world? is it a personal blog? a portfolio or informational site? this will helpn you determmine what TLD to choose in order to rank better with your website
What is your Target Audience?
Consider the geographic location of your audience. If your target user are from a specific country or region then you better choose a .com, .ca, .fr, .uk or any other ccTLD (country-codeTLD)
TLD for an Industry or a Niche?
Some Domain Name are specifically designed for a niche. For exemple if your website is educational institution choose .edu, if it is for travel choose .travel
Does the TLD affect the ranking on Google or Bing?
For the point of View of Google, the TLD doesn’t affect the ranking. However, if you choose a .fr there are chances that your website will appear mostly on the French search result or Canada for a .ca. Same thing if you choose a EMD (exact match domain name) like SwimmingPoolMontreal.ca for example, Google will understand that your website talk about swimming Pool and Montreal plus .ca so it will be likely to appear on the search page for anyone looking for a swimming pool in Montreal Canada.
Which TLD to choose for your brand?
When you create your website, you do it to promote your brand. In that Case, do you want to rank only locally or nationaly? for exemple if you live in Canada and your want to be visible only in Canada then a .ca will be perfect for you. Also do consider that when you choose your Domain Name it will help you to rank differently. For exemple if people are looking for a compagny in canada, France, Swizz, Blegium or United Kingdom the way Google will show website will be different. For someone who is in canada, Google will show them first a .ca website for someone requesting the same in France a .fr. For Google when your website finish by the extension of a country-code he take for granted that you wevsite is in canada, france or another country and thuse show it for Canadian, French… .
Can You Change your TLD?
Yes you change the TLD of your website. But keep in mind that this will affect your ranking. Because officially Google or another Search Engine knows your website as mywebsite.com for exemple and note mywebsite.fr. But youb can always redirect the traffic, metrics and Backlinks to your new one doing a 301 to al your urls. but it might take a while!
Why Choosing a .com TLD?
A .com domain is kind of a generic domain, the only thing is that Google give more importance forn a .com then any other domain name. If you want your website to rank interanioaly the best for you would be to choose a .com TLD like this you can appear more easily in any kind of result page (SERP)
Budget
Each TLD has a different price, some more expensive then others.