.ws

[Mike]

Hi all,

A good domain has come up, but its extension is .ws. Will this affect the sites ranking in google or any other major search engine?

Cheers,
Mike

[mobilebadboy]

Search engines don't take TLD extensions in to consideration. (not that Ive ever known)

You can have keyword.com or keyword.md or keyword.ws and still have the same chance at getting ranked well for keyword. The latest Revenue magazine had a report from some company that did a top 10 on certain gambling terms and 2 of the top 10 (9th and 10th) were .cc and .md.

[intelliot]

rankings, no. but some people may think (websitename).com/.net and forget that the extension is .ws.

[Mike]

Well the main thing will be se traffic. I'll try and get round the other problem.

Thanks guys :)

[incka]

It's a good domain too... I've got 4(Thekeyphrase).com

[Mike]

hehe, it is a good domain. all will be revealed soon as well :)

[incka]

Any shirlock homes would just go to incka.com, look at properties, and find out what it is...

[Blue Cat Buxton]

Presumably 4(Thekeyphrase).com (whatever thekeyphrase might be), wont help with SE rankings.

To clarify, they wont pick up thekeyphrase as distinct from 4thekeyphrase will they

Or have I got that all wrong?

[incka]

Its a high density keyword, as 15 of the 16 characters are the keyphrase.

[Blue Cat Buxton]

ok, so if i have a domain 4tomatoes, for example, search engines will still pick up the keyword "tomatoes" (assuming incoming links for tomatoes etc.etc. ?

[Chris]

No.

The benefit for using such a domain is really in that it reinforces that phrase as your site title.

"4 Widgets" is a good site title because it has your keyword, with minimum extra words interfering. Also in alphabetical rankings it will be listed highly because it is a number. Of course naming your site with the generic keyphrase "Widgets" would work too (as I did with my survival site) but some people do not like to be so generic.

So you're right about the actual domain itself not directly helping too much.

[incka]

But for the word widgets '4widgets.com' is far better than 'wierdthingsthatnooneknowswhattheyare.com'

[intelliot]

the other bonus is that google now bolds keywords in the URL, so if someone searches for widgets, the word widgets in 4widgets.com will be bolded (thus making it more likely that the searcher will click your link in the serps).