Is it always better to have a .com over any other extension?

[ChadsMach1]

I am looking for other views on this topic. I have been reading online about the importance of having a .com. I feel that your average internet user has it in their mind that all websites end in ".com", but just HOW important is it to have a .com these days?

I am working on a business name, and the .com I want is taken. However, all other extensions is available. I have emailed and emailed again for the .com to the owner listed in WHOIS, without a response. I would wait it out, but this domain is registerd until 2009,so I am having to rethink my strategy. This has lead me to ponder just how important is it to have .com, over lets say a .us (my business is in the USA so I feel this would work). In a head to head test, with two domains, lets say one .com and one being .us, with the same content, would the .com have a advantage for SEO? Would anything other than a .com have a disadvantage?

Any suggestions welcomed!

[CyrusL]

SEO has to do with a lot more things than just content, but ceteris paribus .com does better than .us for ranking.

[BELLC1]

The question should be, how important is having a website for your business?

If it is a significant source of revenue, then, yes, the .com is the best. It will also, naturally, bring in the typos.

If it is purely an informational site, no, having the .com is not as important (IMHO).

[petrosc]

if you are in US, then .com is what you need. Always look for the most popular TLD in the country that your website will be targeting, and use it. Here, in the Czech republic for example, the things are slightly different. The most popular TLD is .cz , so any business targetting the Czech audience would be making a mistake if they went for anything else but .cz

[MobileDesigner]

Japan prefers .com
Japanese companies prefer co.jp (but need to have a registered company)
so
Japanese companies who dont want to go through the work getting co.jp, end up getting .jp

BUT

.com's are cheaper to buy and Japanese companies with .com are considered being international

[dcristo]

SEO has to do with a lot more things than just content, but ceteris paribus .com does better than .us for ranking.

This is incorrect. There is no advantage to having .com with regard to SEO.

[Banned: Peachesbackwards]

I'm probably stating the obvious but just because a domain name has an expiration date it doesn't mean that domain will be available after that. The owner can basically renew the domain name indefinitely.

[Onward]

Is your business a non-profit? With non-profit organizations, .org is preferred.

Otherwise I would ask someone to help you get in touch with the owner of the name you want (maybe a broker)...or try to pick another name.

[steveto]

If you have a company or something that will attract something more international, then .com is the way to go, but if you are country specific, I would go for the country ext, especially if the .com is taken. It's always good to have a .com...but real popular keywords can be registered in other TLD's and still be worth a lot like tonight food.la sold for like 19k ..bah..I'll never understand that, but I guess they are targetting Los Angeles..It CAN work, but it's got to be a good name...

[ChadsMach1]

I'm probably stating the obvious but just because a domain name has an expiration date it doesn't mean that domain will be available after that. The owner can basically renew the domain name indefinitely.

I understand that a owner can always renew. I was just curious to the benefits that a .com has over a extension like .us

My business is USA based, and the domain name I want is available with that extension. My thing is, I guess I am worried about how brandable something like that really is, and how much harder (if any) it would make me to be seen in search results and memorized by potential clients. I know that search engine results deals alot with my content, but that is not something I am worried much about. My business isn't dealing with with tough keywords, nor is it something unique (its more average for the area I am dealing with).