: Does Google use .com as a ranking factor compared to other generic top level domains? Given the exact same page with some real data for example a page for Bangkok Dog Cafe, would search engines

@Nimeshi995

Google places sites into the Google sites with various TLDs according to interest/performance and language. For example, there is not much need for Chinese language .cn sites in Google.com mostly because of the language. For this reason, many companies in China have begun registering and moving their sites to .com TLDs with English language sites to expand their business reach.

Since Google looks to interest and performance measures and much of that is not shared, the difference between .com and .info is not exactly known. My assumption is that there would be little difference. Given a choice between the two, it is a safe bet that the .com version in your example would exist in more search engines than most any TLD. This is simply because .com sites are well known and sought after through out the world. This would also be true for .net and .org TLDs. I get search traffic from the middle east on a .org site quite a bit where you would think English would not be as common.

Given the two and you were to ask my personal choice, I would chose the .com version especially if you are conducting business.

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@Eichhorn148

The only case in which I know that Google prefers some top level domains over others is in the case of geo-targetable country domains. Google has a list of generic top level domains. As long as the top level domain is on this list, Google will show the site globally in search results. For country code domains not on the list (eg .de, .it, .br), it will show the site much more often in the matching country and much less often elsewhere in the world.

Because Google uses inbound links to a site as a ranking factor, they don't need prefer one top level domain to another. They will prefer whichever site has the most inbound links, be that the .com site or the .info site.

Users may prefer the .com site to another top level domain with which they are less familiar. Because of this, the .com site will probably get more attention (and more links) from users. This means that it is usually easier to do search engine optimization for a .com site. Until users are much more comfortable with alternate top level domains, I would recommend going with the .com.

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