Am I better off buying a .com with a stopword or a .net / .org without?

[Andrew_Mac]

I'm trying to decide between three domains:
mydomain.com
domain.net
domain.org

• What's the latest word on if there is an actual SEO impact to the stopword or whether it is just ignored entirely?
• Further, does anyone have any insight into whether any of these domains are seen as more credible (from a searcher's standpoint)?

Thanks so much!

[AlanBleiweiss]

As I've communicated in other Q&A posts here, and elsewhere, it comes down to the cumulative impact of the entire SEO factor evaluation process.

Any single factor is only as impactful as the entire picture paints.  So if a site uses a .net or .org or .whatever domain, and/or the domain root is exact match, partial match or even gobbledegook, as long as the entire SEO picture is strong enough across other factors, the domain name and TLD can be whatever you want, within reason.

If it's an exact match root, regardless of TLD type, it will more likely be evaluated with close scrutiny to determine if its a spammy over-optimized site, given that Google has a specific Exact Match Domain algorithmic factor for spam.  Yet plenty of sites have EMDs and do perfectly well in search because enough other signals are strong and authoritative.

Having said that, .org was originally meant to be for non-profits, so it's not ideally a best practice to use .org for a commercial business web site. And .net can be a challenge if there's already a .com with that same domain name due to user confusion and marketing challenges. So its ideal for a .com in those cases.  Yet there's a similar issue when you're using a non-exact match domain name and an exact match domain name exists where the exact match version is strong in its overall SEO.

Bottom line - I always recommend that site owners not become completely lost in worrying as much about the domain naming factor because it can become paralyzing - and instead, to go with what you're comfortable with enough to move on. Then focus all your energy on making sure the overall SEO signal strength is strong regarding quality, uniqueness, authority, relevance and trust.

[Andrew_Mac]

Thanks so much for taking the time to respond, Alan. Have a great weekend.