Will New gTLD Domains Like .dentist Boost SEO Rankings???

[Linda Buquet]

Cody, one of our members brought up some interesting research he did on the new top level, industry specific domains that are coming out like; .attorney, .dentist, .florist, .builder, etc.

Now Matt Cutts debunked the misconception that there will be any sort of boost in rankings based on the keywords of the new extensions.

But Matt Cutts has also said EMDs are being devalued, however we know for a fact, in local search at least, EMDs rock! (Assuming good content, SEO and other factors are equal.)

<a href="http://totalwebsites.com/new-gtld-domains-do-impact-seo-rankings">SEO Study: New gTLD Domains DO Boost SEO Rankings</a>
(Just a snippet - so click the link to read full post.)

Perhaps the most significant impact of the new gTLDs will be the way in which they effect Search Engine Optimization. Keywords are the lifeblood of search engines, which is why businesses have spent thousands, sometimes even millions, buying Exact Match Domains (EMD) in the original TLDs. So when news broke that thousands of keyword gTLDs were being released, discussion and debate erupted among SEOs and Internet Marketers everywhere.

On one hand is the belief that using a .Com, .Net or .Org is preferable for ranking well in search engines because they are “more trusted” and make up the majority of active websites today. Then on the other hand is the belief that using a new gTLD with a rich keyword will give you a boost in the search engines as if it were a .Com EMD. Essentially it’s a question of whether you should use gTLD or TLD (e.g. LawnServices.com vs. Lawn.Services) and how each will be weighted by Google’s search engine.

The new gTLDs will soon enough be available in almost every valuable keyword, covering every market or category of interest and then some. For Google, a company that’s mission statement reads “Google’s mission is to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful,” there is no better way to organize relevant and useful information about a topic than to have that topic explicitly stated in the name. To completely ignore a shift this large in the landscape of the internet would be ludicrous.

Only time will tell if they become adopted widespread like the original TLDs, or if Google will adjust the algorithm to favor or disfavor the new gTLDs, but in the meantime it appears there is SEO value to be realized by early adopters.

So head over to Cody's post and read some of the research.

The gTLD sites he mentions are not really local. BUT we know Google loves EMDs for local. If atlantadentist.com is taken - would atlanta.dentist rank just as well???

And what about a Dentist who's practice name is John Santos DDs and current domain is drsantos . com. He could score drsantos . dentist. Would he rank any higher do you think?

And the main point he makes to me is how Google bolds the words that are searched to show relevance to the query. Check this example.

Bellevue Dentist. That pack is filled with PMDs (Partial Match Domains). 6 out of the 7 have Bellevue in the domain. But none have Dentist in domain too. Wonder how bellevue.dentist would rank if it was as well optimized as the others???

Here are some of the new <a href="http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/program-status/delegated-strings"> Generic Top-Level Domains</a> that have been released so far.

Now this is all just what if... I'm not saying run out and buy one of these bad boys...
Not even really saying I agree... Just wondering...

What do you think?

Have you seen any of these new gTLDs ranking in the pack or local organic???
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[Howell]

Way too early to tell, but I don't think this will be the magic pill to rankings.

Most of the time when new .whatever became available there is a rush to acquire this new online real estate. I would expect Google to "sandbox" all gTLD's for a period of time.

What the study is showing now may be happening because of that lovely little flying rat not being able to figure out where to land.

 

[steven]

This is very interesting if you can finagle an EMD with the domain name and TLD. It does sound like it might be something that could work in the short-term, but is it something to think of for new local businesses? And if the EMD aspect with these TLD's are negated by an algo update, would it help even less than a traditional TLD? That would be the question, imo.

Just looked up the availability of one and it is $40??? Not sure if this is something worth pursuing but some ideas are popping in my head.

 

[Linda Buquet]

Way too early to tell, but I don't think this will be the magic pill to rankings.

Most of the time when new .whatever became available there is a rush to acquire this new online real estate. I would expect Google to "sandbox" all gTLD's for a period of time.

What the study is showing now may be happening because of that lovely little flying rat not being able to figure out where to land.

Haha Howell - bolded that last part because it made me smile!

 

[Lloyd Silver]

I don't think there will be a "boost" in rankings. I think in most cases these will be treated similarly to traditional TLDs. And if there's a benefit to an EMD or PMD then that will extend to the new TLDs as well. Of course, that could likely lead to Google pulling back on EMDs if in fact there's a huge spammy influx.

I also think that some of these are going to be more abused than others. I just can't see any legitimate business buying a .ninja domain (well, I guess if they sell throwing stars then sure).

On the flip side, some of these have some additional hoops that you have to go through in order to register. And for those, I actually do see a rankings boost since those hoops might equal additional trust in Google's eyes.

 

[Cody]

I don't think there will be a "boost" in rankings. I think in most cases these will be treated similarly to traditional TLDs. And if there's a benefit to an EMD or PMD then that will extend to the new TLDs as well. Of course, that could likely lead to Google pulling back on EMDs if in fact there's a huge spammy influx.

I also think that some of these are going to be more abused than others. I just can't see any legitimate business buying a .ninja domain (well, I guess if they sell throwing stars then sure).

On the flip side, some of these have some additional hoops that you have to go through in order to register. And for those, I actually do see a rankings boost since those hoops might equal additional trust in Google's eyes.

This is actually something I've been borderline obsessing over since well before getting the idea for this post.

The reason I refrained was because I didnt want to put a spotlight on my direct competition, but here goes.

.Pro domains, which aren't really "new", might be a lot more valuable than everyone thinks.

Owning an agency in Houston, I've always kept an eye on the top rankings for Houston seo related keywords. And what has amazed me, even through all of the recent updates, is the SERPs for houstonseo.pro.

The website is relatively new, and has dominated for tons of keywords since it first appeared. The domains metrics are far inferior to the websites it out ranks or rivals, the content has always been thin and almost spammy, and it only has a few backinks from mostly generic guest posts.

When digging a bit deeper I even got a little irritated because .Pro are "exclusive" and require an application and approval process to register. This guy, however, doesn't even live in Houston and owns other similar domains like Denverseo.pro.

Luckily ranking for these keywords plays a tiny role in gaining new clients, so it's not too important, but it's still raised a lot of questions.

I tried to find support for .pro carrying some extra weight, but didn't see anything else like it. Mostly because there aren't ether many businesses using the extension, but there definitely seems to be something there..

 

[Linda Buquet]

I'll be darn, you are right Cody.

For "Houston SEO " houstonseo . pro ranks B right under seohouston . com

And for "SEO Houston" there is no pack but he ranks #2 orgainic right under same site above.

Interesting to be able to hear the back story on that one.

 

[steven]

What is interesting to me also is the pricing. I see a .healthcare domain running for $144! Not your usual pricing for domains...

 

[Linda Buquet]

I checked the cost to pre-register cosmetic.dentist and it was $6,000!!!

I can't remember now, checked some others too. Most were 6,000 but one - I think maybe altantacosmetic.dentist was only 1,000.

Don't think I'll reg any at that price to try to resell...

 

[steven]

So the actual domain name in addition to the TLD affects pricing? hmm....

 

[Linda Buquet]

Well this was on the not yet released .dentist domain.

So it was a PRE registration service or something. Like reserve your new domain before it's taken kind of thing. I don't even remember what site it was that I checked pricing on.

 

[Lloyd Silver]

Cody, I saw the same thing in my city when a .pro domain overtook mine in SERPs. So I went out and bought 6 .pro domains to use myself (Houston is not one of them).

The requirement is not that you have a license in the particular city, since the city is simply being used as part of the domain name. The requirement is that you simply are a licensed business (with some different interpretations on what that means).

But this does make sense to me and in some ways Google should trust those sites more (speaking very, very generally). They are more difficult to get and if you do not meet the requirement the domain can be taken away from you.

---------- Post Merged at 10:47 AM ---------- Previous Post was at 10:42 AM ----------

I checked out "mycity".dentist in my area (major city).

Ha!

$60,510 for pre-registration.

But if I want to increase my chances of getting the domain, I can buy early access.

Day 5 access: $60,621
Day 4: $61,162
Day 3: $61,703
Day 2: $63,525
Day 1: $72,600

I will likely pass : )

And to me, this pricing is exactly why this TLD will not get a boost in rankings. Not only do you not have to be a dentist to register, but the pricing is so ridiculous that it will only be used by marketers.

What dentist will pay that much money for a domain name?

 

[Linda Buquet]

YES thats the site I was on Lloyd or one similar. It had the different count down day pricing.

What site was that?

 

[Lloyd Silver]

enom.com

 

[steven]

Yeah, at the moment it seems like a risky investment for a business' main website.

 

[Blake Denman]

"A TLD helps you understand what a webpage is all about, like how you can tell that .edu domains are likely to be educational institutions."

-I copied that directly from a recent Google and your business blog post: Google and Your Business: Google launches our first US top-level domain -- .SOY

-So these new TLDS could eventually get a ranking boost. If a bot goest to start crawling miami.dentist, the bot may behave differently on .dentist TLD vs a standard .com TLD.
Like how most algo updates only effect certain queries, we may see bot behavior and crawling change vertical by vertical.

-The reason they are so high priced right now is because they are "Premium" domains. Soon they will drop down to normal rates. Remember when .co came out? There was a Premium on .co domains for a bit, now they are the same, if not cheaper than .com.

 

[steven]

That makes sense, but it will be interesting to see how, say, a dentist ranks with a com vs dentist TLD (all things being equal).

 

[Linda Buquet]

Bill Hartzer did some interesting tests for PPC with the new TLDs.

<a href="https://globerunner.com/com-vs-new-gtld-domain-names-8-months-later/">.COM Versus New gTLD Domain Names: 8 Months Later - Globe Runner</a>

 

[bhartzer]

Thanks for mentioning my research, Linda.

<blockquote>
The reason they are so high priced right now is because they are "Premium" domains. Soon they will drop down to normal rates.
</blockquote>

This is, in fact, not correct. The registries are pricing the New gTLDs however they want, and yes, a .rich domain is $3000 a year. That price won't change. The prices won't change.

There are certain domains within most New gTLDs that are considered to be "premium" domains, and those are, in fact, priced differently than another 'random' domain within the same New gTLD.

The New gTLDs are a whole new ballgame, and are not following the former business practices of other TLDs such as .CO that did end up being cheaper later on. I don't expect, though, New gTLD prices to just "go down" over time. They won't. That's not the business model of the registries.

In the case of keyword rich New gTLD domains, Google has publicly stated, more than once, that there is no SEO ranking benefit for having a keyword in the TLD. But from what I'm seeing based on my testing (download my white paper and you'll see all the data), the quality scores are most likely favoring having a keyword in the TLD, so CPC prices are lower and the average position is higher.

 

[armstead]

Wow, I expected the new gTLD's to not have any effect on ranking or in the case of Globe Runner's AdWords test, CPC. The difference in CPC for the two domains is incredible. I might talk to our Analysts about this and maybe do our own experiment.

I just don't understand why the domain would make such a difference in the CPC. In their original results it made sense that the conversion rates were much lower for the .diamonds domain. This time it was much closer.

Does anyone have any idea why the domain would have such a large impact on the CPC?