Whether you're a current website owner or launching a site soon, choosing a name for your business, idea, project, or site is one of the most significant decisions you'll make in the development process. When it comes to your website, you need a domain name that will stand the test of time, be memorable, unique, and rank well in search engines. A common question that arises during this phase is: how will a non-.com domain extension affect my SEO? Do Google and other search engines treat it the same? Does it have the same potential to rank high? The answer is yes, and major industry experts agree, including Matt Cutts, Google’s former search quality engineer. Let's dive into the details.
What Matters in Choosing a Domain?
Relevancy:
If content is king for websites, relevancy is king for domains. The most relevant thing your domain can have is your brand name. A significant part of your search traffic comes from people searching for your brand name, known as “Navigational Searches.” Ensuring you appear in these search results and having a URL that matches the search makes your domain more relevant.
Takeaway: Use your brand name as your domain name whenever possible.
All TLDs are Created (Almost) Equal in the Eyes of Google:
Experts agree that no TLDs (Top-Level Domains) have more authority over any other in Google's eyes. Neil Patel says, “TLDs have no SEO advantage. No TLD is inherently better than any other.” Google’s John Mueller, Webmaster Trends Analyst, also confirms that Google systems treat new TLDs the same as traditional ones like .com or .org – all are weighted equally.
Takeaway: TLDs matter to the business owner, but not to Google.
Trust and Spam – How It Matters in SEO and .JM.LIVE:
Trust is crucial. If people trust a link that appears in search results, they are more likely to click it. The more legitimate clicks a website receives, the more authority Google gives that site, which in turn improves SEO. Users generally trust short domains over long ones. A short, branded domain enhances a user's perception of a link, increasing the likelihood of clicks in search results and boosting your site's click-through rate, which improves SEO.
John Mueller also confirms that when Google sees two URLs on a site with the same content, it will tend to go with the shorter URL. “There are lots of exceptions and different factors, but everything else being equal, if you have a shorter one and a longer one, we will try to pick the shorter one.”
Takeaway: Using a short, branded domain improves click-through rates, which helps with SEO.
The Unique Advantages of .JM.LIVE
There are many factors that can affect SEO. Your domain and website should work together to build credibility for your brand while building authority with Google. The goal is to provide a quality experience for your users. While all sites can follow search engine best practices for content, site architecture, metadata, etc., the one unique element no one can duplicate is your domain name. The right domain promotes:
- Higher click-through rates (thanks to relevancy and trust)
- Appeal within search engine results pages (short and brandable name)
- Brand recall (easy to remember)
A .JM.LIVE subdomain has the same potential as other TLDs to rank well in search engines, and it offers some additional unique advantages:
It’s Available: It can be extremely frustrating to find out that the domain name you want is already taken. .JM.LIVE domains allow site owners to obtain the domain they need to succeed, with the added benefit of being country-specific.
It’s Short: SEO best practices outline that not only is branding relevance important, but so is length—the shorter and more streamlined, the better.
Get on the web the way you want to with a .JM.LIVE domain. Search for your next big idea here.