Have name.org want to get name.com should .com redirect to .org or other way around?

[vmialik]

Its a non profit organization. With name.org acquired in 2006.  name.com will be acquired soon. In SEO terms it would make sense for me just to get .com and redirect to the original .org but from the standpoint of 7 year history of name.org is it worth keeping or its irrelevant or not that important or really important. I am in the process of rebuilding the site other than the initial domain home links to other pages do not matter at the moment.  Thanks Mozzies

[irvingw]

It definitely matters, since it's an aged and trusted domain AND it's a not for profit site definitely leave it as .org and forward the .com name to the .org site.

[vmialik]

Irving,

Yea that is what I was thinking, seems obvious, but the org wanted to build a new image and try to appear more modern, by having the main domain be .com. How much benefit is that 7 years for the site, practically any ideas?

[junseth]

Clickthrus in SERPs are pretty much the same for .org and .com domains. If they want a new image, having it at a .com will not make that happen. A new website, new messaging, etc, that will all change their image. As long as you can keep them from moving to like a .biz, you're probably fine. The aged-ness of a domain isn't all that relevant, although a lot of SEOs like to bring it up. You could switch the domain with basically no harm, but Irving is right. If it's a charity or a non-profit, there is a weird expectation that their site be on a .org.

[vmialik]

So part of this is a new website branding, and this organization is trying to attract younger crowd and I am not sure of the studies but they might prefer .com as .org seems like an older tradition. But just guesses here