Using example.info when example.com is a link farm. Ok? Bad? Doesn't matter?

[ahossom]

Second question of the day-

I'm helping a friend with his law firm site. He is using example.info because example.com is being used by a link farm. Is this hurting his search efforts?

Thanks

[StreamlineMetrics]

Simply using the same domain name with a different extension won't make a difference since they are two completely different sites, despite the .com being a link farm, spam site, poor quality, etc. That being said, most people prefer .com, .net or .org over extensions such as .info, .biz, .ws, etc. simply because they are more popular and have been around longer. The extension itself won't affect your SEO one way or another, but I could see some issues with users seeing the site with the .info extension in the search rankings and not clicking on it simply because they prefer .com, .net or .org.

[ahossom]

thank you! i would like him to change his domain regardless. I agree that .info may appear to be less "professional". His search referrals are very low, so starting over may not be such a bad idea. That's entirely different discussion.

[irvingw]

I would definitely not use a .info - it's a bargain domain extension that was used by spammers.

Help him find a better .com also EMD power is getting devalued by Google so he might want to consider his name or hybrid between brand and keywords

[EGOL]

Do not use the .info.

Lots of people who know his domain is somelawfirm.info will type in somelawfirm.com

I make this type of mistake when I am going to .gov sites.  I type .com and I should know better.  It is habit.

The harder you work to make his site popular the more people will go to somelawfirm.info by mistake.  He does not want them going to a spammy site.   Important clients, partners and potential contacts will go there and say WTF?

Look, this guy is an attorney and somelawfirm.com is a fantastic domain if this is the type of work that he does.  He should get in touch with the owner and buy it.  Just pay for it.

I would pay at least $10,000 for that domain if I was an attorney in that line of business.  I would probably pay more.

Cheap, cheap, cheap compared to the cost of telephone directory, or billboard, or TV or radio advertising.

Don't be cheap, buy the domain.

(you might want to edit the domain out of your post...  you don't want people going there and generating traffic for this person if you are thinking about buying the domain. .. or maybe someone who sees this post will run to buy it and then sell it to you for an even higher price.)

[ahossom]

this is all very helpful. Thank you very much!