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Just to save money as my domain list gets longer, I want to book in advance domains. I want to save money by buying .info domains rather than .com. Will it affect SEO rankings in any way?

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5 Answers

up vote 6 down vote accepted

Short Answer: No.

Long(er) Answer: There is a myth that persists that .info domains are treated differently (looked at in a poorer light) than other TLD's, but this isn't true, just as .gov and .edu domains aren't, with all other things being equal, treated differently.

Now it is true that due to their low price, .info domains have been used for low-quality enterprises and spammy sites, but it's the content, intent and linking neighbourhoods that has lowered their value, not the fact that they are on a .info TLD.

More reading here: http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Webmasters/thread?tid=29a0f58b481a188e&hl=en

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+1 the myth that some TLDs are better then others for SEO just won't die. Just like meta tags. – John Conde♦ Apr 2 '11 at 13:27
I heard that outgoing links from .edu domains are worth more.. is that a myth too? – Andreas Bonini Apr 2 '11 at 17:55
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@Andreas - it depends on the site - not the fact that it's on an .edu. Since most .edu sites attract high value back-links from good linking neighbourhoods, then it stands to reason that a backlink from such a site has high value - but it's an example, not the rule. – Mike Hudson Apr 2 '11 at 22:53
@Andreas, it's not true at all. It's a myth. Any easy way to look at it is who controls most .edu pages? I'll give you a hint: it's not the schools. – John Conde♦ Apr 3 '11 at 0:58
up vote 1 down vote

.com domains are easier for people to remember. So that is one reason why they are better. From an SEO perspective there is probably no difference between .com and .info.

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up vote 0 down vote

I think the .info extension will have minimal impact on SEO. From a SEO perspective, i dont think domain extension has any signifiicant influence for search engines. A few notes:

  • .com are way more popular than any other TLDs, look at this link, http://www.webhosting.info/registries/country_stats/US . I think users and domain buyers, not search engines, prefer the .com extension

  • I know links from .edu domains were being valued higher than links from other TLDs in the past. Several companies were taking advantage of this but they ended up getting banned/penalized by Google, like JC Penny

http://www.click-finders.com/blog/new-york-times-exposes-jc-penny-black-hat-seo-scandal/

  • SEO is a bit of a black art so any "advantage" will soon be discovered, taken advantage of, and then neutralized by the search engines.

In short, I doubt any domain extensions are treated differently. Even if they were it would be a very small factor that would soon disappear.

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up vote -4 down vote

.com domains always perform better. The difference in cost is just 4-5 $. You can try finding coupon codes for popular registars or buy in bulk.Any other extension except .com is a handicap unless you are targeting country specific queries.

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-1 [citation needed]: ".com domains always perform better." – Su' Aug 21 '11 at 10:23
up vote 0 down vote

I haven't heard of any cases where a non country specific domain like info affects SEO negatively.

Only country specific domains like uk, jp, ect. should have any affect.

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