Which top-level domain (TLD) to choose?

By Clare Lawrence 10th March 2003 Clare is CEO of Discount Domains Ltd a leading UK Domain name registration service.

I am often asked this question. Is it possible that search engines such as google give preference to .com TLD? Or are TLD’s all treated equally?

As a test I picked a random phrase “Technical services” and did a search on Google.com.

The results:

1. .org 2. .com 3. .com 4. .net 5. .co.uk

Trying phrase again using Google.co.uk (I am UK based) .

The results.

1 .net 2 .co.uk 3 .com 4 .co.uk 5 .org

Hopefully these results show that there is no preference given by search engines.

However there are far more .com domains out there than other TLD – users will be more likely to key in your domain name and add .com extension themselves out of habit.

If your market place is local then your regional TLD can be helpful, this is because a lot of Search engines and Directories such as Google and Yahoo – offer user a choice of “Search web” or “Search locally e.g. UK”

Having a local TLD can therefore be a benefit.

Directories

Some directories will use your TLD to categorise geographic content of your site, and therefore exclude a site from inclusion solely because it does not match their local market.

The Open Directory (Dmoz) lists sites by both regional and market segments as Google uses Open Directory in part for its indexing – your choice of TLD will have a bearing on whether your site is selected in a local search e.g. Searching Google.co.uk for UK domain name registrars will bring up our site www.discountdomainsuk.com because it is UK based.

The TLD can therefore have some bearing on how a site will be indexed.

Keywords in your domain name

Those who delve deep into mysteries of chess will have discovered that a single move can alter entire game. The ramifications go deep. Each subsequent move (or "ply" in jargon) is conditional upon what went before, and great chess-masters of this world pride themselves in being able to evaluate several ply of consequences.

The elegance of a game of chess is estimated from efficiency by which player heads towards his goal. No move must be wasted. There must be no hesitation. There must be no turning back to correct an error. In final stages - deeper ply - one sees reasoning behind earlier, seemingly trivial moves.

Then game is over. There is a glow of satisfaction, but nothing more. Perhaps, however, there are books written for guidance of others - that they also may know feeling of achievement. Yet in final analysis it is a GAME. Passions may be aroused, devotees may consider it to be a religion, a philosophy, highest accomplishment of human intellect - and still it is a game.

Machine code programming has all these facets - and delivers a PRODUCT as its goal. It is a game and an industry combined.

The programming of transcendental functions involves use of mathematics. There are various polynomials for creation of sine, cosine, tangent, logarithm and antilogarithm. Slavish obedience to set rules may well deliver a working product - but is it BEST?

Can you become a chess master by memorising a book?

Let us consider McLaurin-Taylor polynomial for natural antilogarithm. Do you take 1, then add argument X? Do you now multiply X by X and divide by 2 before adding it on? Do you multiply X by X by X, divide by 2, divide by 3, and also add on? Is this best?