How to choose a domain extension for your website

Like any kind of naming, naming a website is hard too, with countless options. Finding a website name you like is hard enough, and then choosing the domain extension can leave you hesitating for a long time. So what a domain extension is? How many are there? What is the best way to choose one, especially for SEO?

This article, MONA Media will explain the concept of domain extensions and the most popular ones, and share tips for choosing the extension that fits your website and goals.

What is a domain extension?

A domain extension, also called a domains top-level domain (in English it is top level domain – TLD) is the part at the end of a website address, starting with a dot “.”. It is a required part of an address on the InternetInternet. Addresses without anything after the dot are considered invalid, and web browsers show an error if you visit a domain with no extension.

Top-level domains were created to classify and group websites by their nature. From them we can guess a website's purpose, field and content.

The first 6 top-level domains in the world are: .com, .org, .net, .gov, .edu and .mil. In the early days, domains had broad meanings covering one or several large fields. For example, this website is commercial or educational, that one comes from the UK or the US, and so on.

Today, to add variety and match website content, domains have narrower meanings focused on smaller fields. From the original generic domains, there are now 439 different extensions available for registration. That number will keep growing as new fields and needs appear every day.

Types of domain extensions

There are 2 types of domain extensions: international extensions and country extensions:

International domain extensions

International domains are allocated and managed by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). These international extensions are distributed worldwide regardless of location, and users can register them based on their needs. Some extensions international domain that are popular include .com, .net, .edu, .org, .int, .gov, .info, .name, .xyz.

Famous international domains with the extensions above include Google.com, Youtube.com, Facebook.com and many others.

Country domain extensions

Country domains are allocated and administered by the organization domain management in that country. In Vietnam, that organization is VNNIC (Vietnam Internet Network Information Center). Country extensions are provided by ICANN for each country and are usually the country's abbreviation in Latin letters.

Examples of country extensions include .vn (Vietnam), .cn (China), .us (US) and .uk (UK). In Vietnam, common country extensions include .vn, .gov.vn, .edu.vn, etc.

Well-known country domains in Vietnam include google.com.vn (Google's official website in Vietnam) and many others.

What some international domain extensions mean

What some popular country domain extensions mean

Common domain extensions and what they mean

Even though hundreds of new ones exist, the early domains are still very popular. The reason is probably habit: users have been using them for decades, since the Internet began, so changing is hard.

.com domain extension

The most popular domain today is .com, used by more than 70% of websites worldwide. .com is short for the word commercial, meaning commercial. The original purpose of the .com extension was for websites about commerce, services, company and business introductions, and so on.

However, since most websites have some commercial nature, the .com extension is used everywhere.

Using the .com extension this widely also has benefits:

• It makes it easy for users to find a website address (URL). Users tend to search for the product, business or brand name and then add .com at the end. 
• Many software programs and apps support popular domain extensions, especially .com. For example, when a user needs to type an email or website address, the keyboard automatically shows a button .com for faster, easier typing.
• Prices for .com domains are very low, even the cheapest of all top-level domains. 

However, many people who have found a website name they like still cannot use it because someone else already took that name with the .comextension. Also, many people buy lots of .com domains to resell later. The popularity of .com has also pushed competition up sharply.

->See also: Professional Business Email Service on Your Own Domain

.vn domain extension

The second most popular top-level domain in Vietnam is .vn. At a glance you can tell that vn here stands for Vietnam. It is a country code top-level domain, meant to show visitors a website's origin and country.

The Vietnamese government encourages domestic businesses and individuals to use the .vn extension. Websites with this extension get better brand protection and dispute-resolution support than those with other extensions.

In addition, local domains have a small effect on the performance of SEO. Search engines like Google and Bing have regional search modes by default. They prioritize results whose address has the local domain extension matching the user's current location.

->See more: Lifecycle of a Vietnamese .VN domain

.org domain extension

.org, short for organization (organization), is currently the second most popular domain extension in the world. The extension .org is mainly used as the website address for organizations, especially non-profit and non-governmental ones. However, there are still some businesses and other communities that take .org for your website.

Given its popularity and common use for non-profits, the .org extension also has low costs for register a domain and annual renewal. However, it is not very versatile, as it only suits certain purposes.

.net domain extension

The .net extension was originally created for websites in information technology and Internet service providers (Internet network). Gradually it expanded to websites that build communities and connect people.

Domain .net is among the most popular extensions worldwide, so buying and maintaining it is affordable. With its open meaning, as long as you are some kind of network or organization, .net suits many kinds of websites, groups and even businesses. Usually, if they do not use .com or a country domain, websites take .net as their extension.

Besides .com, .vn, .org and .net, many other extensions are widely used, such as: .biz, .info, .blog… Whichever extension you pick, each has its own pros and cons. So what is a sensible way to choose a domain extension, in terms of both price and reach?

How to choose an effective domain extension for business

Depending on your business goals, you will have different options. Here are some common ways to choose a domain extension:

Choose a short domain extension that fits your website's purpose

The first principle when choosing a domain extension is that it must fit the purpose and content of your website. This is nothing new, since it is the reason domains were created in the first place: to classify websites by their use.

But you need to go further and make the domain more specific. Use extensions whose meaning narrows down to the most important field and content of your website. Then the website name and the extension work together as one, which builds a personal brand that stays in users' memory.

For example: do you want to open a company or business introduction website? In the past you would of course have used the .com. But today there are more than ten million websites, and early extensions like .com are too broad and vague to describe yours.

So go deeper and be more specific about your website's purpose.

If your company is in e-commerce and your website is also a store that has just started starting an online business, you can use the extensions .shop or .store. You can even get more specific: if you sell bicycles, you can make the domain more specific with the extension .bike, or use .coffee when selling coffee, .fish when selling aquarium fish, and so on…

These extensions sound unusual and are less common, but their meaning focuses tightly on one field. So they leave a memorable impression. Customers will easily know that to reach your real estate website, they only need to type the brand name and then add the extension .house and that is it.

A domain that is both specific and matches your company or brand name is the most effective.

The best example is MONA Media. As a company in media and technology, MONA does not use the usual .com extension. Instead, mona.media is MONA's official website. It is both the domain and the company name, which builds a memorable MONA Media brand in customers' minds.

This way of choosing an extension could be called naming by “niche”, rather than by the most general purpose such as commerce (with .com) or organization (with .org). As mentioned above, there are 439 niche extensions you can use to make your website address more specific.

• E-commerce websites: .biz (business), .shop, .shopping, .deals, .coupons, .buy…

• Technology and multimedia content websites: .tech, .io, .software, .media…

• Blogs and personal diaries: .me, .journal…

• Groups and communities: .club, .party…

• Online learning websites: .course, .study, .coach…

• Food and cooking websites: .food, .recipes (recipes), .cooking, .coffee, .pizza…

• Supporting the green living movement: .organic, .green…

Prioritize local domains

As mentioned, the .vn extension is encouraged by the Vietnamese government for domestic individuals and businesses. A local domain improves the performance of SEO local because it is a priority signal for search engines when users turn on regional results. But there are even more important reasons.

Websites using the .vn extension get brand protection and help resolving problems, especially security ones. The .vn domain supports the DNSSEC security standard for DNSservers, helping avoid dangerous cyberattacks. In addition, government security agencies are always on standby to scout for and support .vn websites when they find vulnerabilities or other cybersecurity issues.

Domain .vn is a top-level country domain that allows registering second-level domains. That means you can place .vn another extension in front of it, for example: .com.vn, .health.vn, .club.vn…

So you can use the .vn extension to enjoy the benefits of a local domain while keeping the same brand-building effect as without .vn.

The number of .vn websites newly registered keeps rising, which shows market trust in this top-level country domain and its effectiveness.

Does the domain extension affect website SEO?

According to an official Google announcement, domain names and extensions have no real effect on search rankings of a website. SEO performance comes from content quality and other keyword optimization techniques.

Even when users choose regional results, only websites with content that is relevant and and highly popular will appear. And websites that have a .vn domain but do not fit the search need and the algorithm will not appear either.

Other search engines such as Bing, DuckDuckGo, Cốc Cốc.… also handle domain names the same way Google does. Content and keyword and site optimization techniques decide a website's ranking, and the domain is secondary.

If a domain name has any effect, it is because it was named smartly, in step with the website's content and brand.

And the above applies to the .comextension too. Just because the .com domain is very popular does not mean search engines favor it. On the contrary, new and rarely used domains, such as: .codes, .diet, .tips…, have no negative effect on SEO.

The fact that the .com domain is so favored today has helped kill off the variety of domains, and of the Internet in general.

Agreed, if every website were .com , users would only need to remember the company or brand name. But the problem is that worldwide, many company names are the same or partly similar, and you cannot register identical website addresses, even if each is in a different country.

Also, in languages with diacritics like Vietnamese, different phrases look the same when written without diacritics. This easily confuses users and sends them the wrong way across the vast Internet.

If every website were .com, companies whose undiacritized names match or resemble another company's would have to find alternative domains. That makes it hard for users to find and correctly remember website addresses, and it also hurts SEO.

In short, while domain names do little for SEO, chasing .com blindly can even damage the purpose of SEO and your website itself.

MONA's view on choosing a domain extension

This article has covered how to choose a domain extension for your website and analyzed today's most popular ones. If you want a low-cost domain, you can visit mona.media get it to to check your domain name and see whether the extension already has an owner.

CHOOSE A DOMAIN that fits your website adds professionalism, credibility and security. Buy a domain from MONA to get these benefits: MONA provides a full monitoring system. A team of experts available 24/7. An AI system that suggests suitable domain names for your website Domain registration today to get the best offer from MONA. CONTACT US our hotline 1900 636 648 for detailed advice and support from our experts. Also, if you want to transfer your domain provider to MONA, visit https://mona.media/chuyen-ten-mien/.

As you can see, how you choose a domain extension does not have much effect on the performance of SEO optimization.

Instead, choose an extension that connects with the name before it to create consistency and express the website's content and purpose. That way you leave a memorable impression on visitors, who can find your website even if they only remember your brand or company name.

See also: How to choose the right domain for your business