TLD as part of word in domain name?

[LarsEriksson]

What is best practice regarding domain names?

Assuming I would target the keyword "example"

examp.le

or

example.com

I guess the latter is preferable, what could be the issues with the first option?

/Lars Eriksson

[ClickConsult]

Yes, the latter would be preferable from both an SEO and user point of view. You're more likely have a higher % of type in traffic with just the .com rather than using a "domian hack" too.

You should take into consideration the country of which you're looking to target when registering a "domain hack". For example, let's say you registered doma.in. You'd only be able to target an Indian audience because you're using the .in ccTLD.

There are a few ccTLD's that Google treats as TLD's, review the list here:

http://support.google.com/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=1347922 (see Generic Country Code Top Level Domains (gccTLDs)

Good luck!

[LarsEriksson]

Thank you for the helpful answer!

I learned a little about geo-targetable domains now and I really need to dig into this deeper.