.Org > .Net?

Recently, I created another blog which has the theme of controversial issues.  I bought the domain name controversialissues.net and later purchased the .org version.  The .net held a stable rank of #14 in Google for the search phase “controversial issues”.  I  bought the .org version and proceeded to 301 redirect the .net to the .org version.  The blog did the Google dance and bounced between the ranks of #3 to #19 for the keyword phase “controversial issues”.  It finally stabilized and maintained the ranking of #9 in Google for that keyword phase.  The blog also gained search engine rankings for other search phases.  During the time that the blog changed domain extension, no changes were made to the content, nor were any links added (to my knowledge).  This means that all factors which affect the search engine ranks were equal, except for the domain extension. From this experiment, one can conclude that the .org extension ranks higher than the .net extension.  In general whether a website has a .org or .net extension should not matter for seo purposes as search engines  treat gTLD (generic top-level domains) the same. It is possible that in this particular niche of medical, government, social, etc. topics that the .org extension has more trust than the .net counterpart, which would account for its boost in search engine rankings.  When discussing domain extensions outside of the realm of seo, the .org may also be preferable over the .net in certain situations.  Many people still recognize .org websites as more trust baring than a .com or .net because the majority of people believe an organization is in charge of the website.  However, this is not true, and there are no restriction upon who can own a .org domain name.  For this reason many webmaster choose the .org over the .net in certain niches, such as health, medicine, law, etc.  This experiment and these facts are some of the reasons that the .org can be seen as superior to the .net.

~ by admin on March 19, 2009.

One Response to “.Org > .Net?”

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