Com vs. Net vs. Org – Comparing The Three Major Domain Extensions
Domain name and domain extensions are representing your website. A website name has two integral parts, SLD and TLD. SLD stands for Second Level Domain while TLD stands for Top Level Domain. Before getting to the difference between .com and .net, we first need to understand the importance of the domain name with which these extensions are used.
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Importance of domain name in the website name
For any website, the first and foremost thing is its domain name. You can make either your brand name as your domain name or any other name as your domain name. But if your business website is yours, we suggest you get a domain name related to your business or represent your business in any way. Following are a few points to note, how should your domain name be the best in representing your brand:
- Catchy
- Concise
- SEO cordial
- Without TYPOs
- Brand based
In this era of internet marketing, your domain name is a critical asset to your business. Great marketing efforts should be employed to get a sound and solid domain name with suitable extensions.
The question to judge the difference between .net and .com comes after you build your brand website.
Here is one more thing to know: to keep your brand name simple and direct, without any characters or any fancy things. All these can get the users into miss-typing the website name, and these types of names would not be memorable for the users. Now let us move to what kind of extension can be used for your website?
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Difference between .com, .net or .org
The most known extension is undoubtedly .com, the most widely used indeed. However, there are a few more extensions as well. For example, net, .org, .gov or, .edu.
Basically, .com is used for commercial websites, mostly brands creating an online business .net is used for networking sites. And .org is stands for organization. This extension is specifically used for non-profit or charitable websites. And should not be used unless your website is among those webs.
.gov is specified to government website only, and you can tell easily by the extension that this is a government website. Last but not the least, .edu is used for educational websites.
One more extension to be mentioned here is .co. this one should not be mixed with the .com extension. .co is used as a second-level domain in the Domain Name System, specifically used to route internet traffic.
We will now discuss in detail when you should use a particular extension and when using an extension would not be suitable for your website.
When to Use a .com Extension
The most widely used extension .com is in use since the 1990s. Originally, .com was designated to be used by for-profit businesses only but is now the first preference for all domains. To date, this is the most commonly used domain extension; almost 52% of all websites use .com as their extension.
This is why it is much easier for users to remember a .com domain name more than any other domain extension. Hence people tend to type .com at the end of every website as it is in their muscle memory.
As .com is the most popular domain, it is very easy to create and promote business for brands with this extension. For a business website, one should always use the .com extension. This extension is specifically made for businesses, giving your website a lot more professional and executive look.
The problem with the .com domain name is that they are so popular and widely used that there is a possibility that the name you want would already be taken by someone else. But still, many online web name generators can come up with a suitable name for your business. One more plus is that these name generators are totally free.
When to Use a .net Extension
Out of the total of 1.7 billion websites, almost 13 million uses the .net domain extension. These are used for networking websites as in the network or cable providers, email or web hosting services, etc.
After .com, this is the second most used domain name. But if you fail to get a .com domain name, make sure that the website does not have a similar business as yours because it is not suitable to get your clients to mistakenly use the .com extension instead of .net and get your business to someone else.
One suggestion from us to secure your business website is to obtain both .com and .net websites and redirect them to each other. This way, the ranking of your website would be increased with external linking websites, and you can have business from both of your websites brought together in one place.
The .net domain extension is also expected to bring your SEO ratings higher than any other extension.
When to Use a .org Extension
This extension is specially designated for non-profit organizations. The websites which are specifically made for charity purposes can use these extensions.
The basic reason behind this specific usage of the extension was to build trust among users that this is not a profit-generating website. This enhances the website’s credibility as a non-profit organization.
Cultural institutions, socially responsible corporates, religious organizations, or community-based groups are suitable users of the .org domain extension.
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SEO impact of domain extensions .com vs .net
Here comes the big question “does use.com or .netextension have any direct impact on your search engine rankings?”
You may think that Google prefers .com for ranking a website, but it is not as it seems.
Google only prioritizes one extension over the other when the users prefer that extension over the other, which simply means, which is more used and more reached out.
But is a known fact that .com is more used than .net, and as humans are habit-forming creatures so they may tend to use .com more than .net hence ranking the .com websites more than .net website. Moreover, .com can be mistakenly used instead of .net, and that searching will also make the other one rank higher.
Either way, the most important thing is your domain name itself. If it is wisely chosen and you have done the optimum search engine optimization of your website, there is nothing to worry about. Just focus on ranking the website naturally and forget worrying about the .com vs. .net extension as proper SEO will rank any of them.
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Where to Get a Domain Name?
Many websites provide you with a free name with registration for one year or with a minimum payment for the first year, and then from the second year will start charging you for the hosting services they are providing you.
A few of these websites are,
These websites provide free registration and offer multiple templates. Except one, they all have their monthly payment plan under 3 dollars. You can get the domain registered with .com and .net, whatever you prefer.
These hosting providing websites also provide SSL certificates and 24/7 customer support services, so all your issues are likely to be solved rather quickly.
Paying for the hosting services is a one-time fee for the year, and you can enjoy the services the whole year. And if you manage to rank the website, you can have the return back soon.
Conclusion
We have discussed the vital differences between .com and .net web extensions and discussed how you could get your domain registered with either .com and .net domain extensions. Also read out articles on topics like Creating a website maintenance contract to raise your knowledge on the subject.