When you register a domain, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN for short, requires that you have valid contact information on file including your mailing address.  Since domains are “virtual real-estate” this is how they keep up with who owns the “title” or “rights” to your asset.

Just like property records are public right, so are domains through the Whois database.   Using websites such as Domain Tools you can search any domain and return the contact information of the owner including name, email address, phone number, and mailing address.

This is fine and dandy for those with office addresses, but what about individuals who don’t want their home address plastered throughout the Internet?

As with any information publicly available online, spammers and scammers have found ways to harvest that data and solicit business.  This can be especially annoying if you live in a condo or somewhere with a limited mailbox.  From my experience, it seems like every name I register with my information, I receive 10 new pieces of mail a month (especially the first year of registration).

This is why we highly recommend it using Privacy Protection.

The simplest, most direct answer to the proposed question is that you generally want to go with a .com domain name.

However, every company or website has unique needs and challenges, so it’s not always as cut and dried. This article takes a closer look at each domain option and dives further into the world of top-level domains (TLDs).

Why We Recommend a .com Extension

A .com domain name is the most common extension and still generally carries more significant value for companies.

That’s because most of your customers are going to assume your website is “[your business name].com.” That is unless the extension is part of your trademarked business name (more on this later).

The big question is: does a .com extension have any direct impact on your search rankings?

While it seems that .coms are Google’s preferred extension, it’s probably not the case.

Google’s only reason to prioritize one extension over the other is that Internet users default to .com domains. People expect sites to use the extension – many associate real businesses with .coms, and Google tends to play on user assumptions.

In fact, more than 50 percent of all websites on the web use the .com extension.

So one could say that a .com extension helps your rankings because users are more likely to click on abcd.com than abcd.anythingelse. Additionally, .coms are easier to remember, and a person is more likely to type in the wrong URL with other extensions. 

When to Use a .org Extension

Using other TLDs can be beneficial in some situations. In particular, the .org extension is well-known and trusted.

.org stands for ‘organization’ and is the primary choice for charity or non-profit websites. The extension is also one of the originals established in 1985, so it’s been around for decades. It was created for anything that wasn’t commercial (aka non-profit entities).

However, restrictions were removed in 2019 after the registry changed ownership, allowing for-profit companies to use the extension. If you use .org correctly, it can give you a bump in social credence or validation. Many users perceive .org sites as more authoritative and credible than alternatives.

If you choose to use a .org, you’ll need to brand your company with the .org tied directly to your name. That’s because, as previously noted, most users assume companies use the .com extension. Tying the .org to your brand decreases the likelihood that people will visit other sites by accident.

As far as search rankings go, the extension performs well but has less sway than a matching .com.

When to Use a .net Extension

A .net extension is a popular option that’s often recommended to buyers whenever the desired .com domain is taken. The .net stands for ‘network’ and was originally designed for umbrella websites that serve smaller sites, such as web hosting companies.

If the .com name you want isn’t available, find out if the current owner is in the same industry before settling for a .net. That’s because you don’t want your customers becoming there’s.

In general, the .net extension is trusted and perceived as authoritative by consumers. It’s also been around enough that people can easily remember it.

From the SEO end of things, .net is better than other specialty extensions. But since it isn’t quite up there with .com and .org extensions, you might not get the same benefits as using those alternatives.

If your ideal .com name isn’t available, .net is typically a strong second choice.

A subdomain is a domain that is part of a larger domain. Each label may contain from 1 to 63 octets. The full domain name may not exceed a total length of 253 ASCII characters in its textual representation.

Subdomains are defined by editing the DNS zone file pertaining to the parent domain. However, there is an ongoing debate over the use of the term “subdomain” when referring to names which map to the Address record A (host) and various other types of zone records which may map to any public IP address destination and any type of server. Network Operations teams insist that it is inappropriate to use the term “subdomain” to refer to any mapping other than that provided by zone NS (name server) records and any server-destination other than that.

Yes, It does included on most of our Web Hosting Plans. Just read what your plans includes if you need use of subdomains.