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Tagged: domain names, search engine optimization, TLD
- This topic has 34 replies, 5 voices, and was last updated 11 years, 3 months ago by Darlene.
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January 6, 2013 at 1:17 pm #9961DarleneMemberThis reply has been marked as private.January 6, 2013 at 1:17 pm #9962domaingawkerMember
Also, if you are in Canada and selling homes in Canada then having a site hosted on the ccTLD for Canada (.ca) and hosted on a server in that region (a server in Canada) will give you a bump in ranking for searches originating out of Canada. It's great to have both the .ca and the .com, but from a SEO perspective if you want an extra bump in ranking in search results the .ca will actually add benefit here if the unique content is developed on it. This is the only time the extension of a domain really matters. This would be a hard call for me since .com is king, but if you are building on a keyword heavy domain name, targeting Canada, and mainly using SEO as your advertising vehicle, then I would try my hand at using a .ca! Best of luck!
January 6, 2013 at 1:21 pm #9963DarleneMemberThanks so much. Would you suggest then using the .ca and pointing the .com to the .ca - although I think my server is U.S. based so would the .ca still help then.
January 6, 2013 at 1:22 pm #9964DarleneMemberI think my server is U.S. based so would it help with the .ca and pointing a .com to the .ca
January 6, 2013 at 4:25 pm #9982Bill MurrayMemberI think you are better off sticking with the .com and just hold the .ca for now without redirecting it. I haven't seen any studies that show a big benefit to targeting Canada with a .ca.
On the location of your server, it comes down to the impact on speed, since speed impacts where you rank on a SERP. There is a fair bit of cross-continent latency but I haven't seen data on latency within North America. I did some quick tests on this; see results below. Europe to US or vice versa adds too much time, so if you are in Europe, you really need to have your server in Europe. The speed testing service webpagetest.org does support doing tests from Canadian locations. So you could test any site that's on your server from 1 of the supported Canadian locations or your market area and then re-test from US locations on the same side of the Mississippi River as your server location. Then compare the times on a # of repeated tests. If you find a lot of latency for Canadian visitors to a US server, you'd be best served by hosting in Canada. If latency is not a problem, you can host where you like in North America.
For reference, I run a managed WP hosting service. I ran 10 speed tests from Toronto and Dulles , VA using settings of IE8 and FIOS to our AgentPress demo site which has a page weight of about 570k. The 10 tests from Toronto had a median of 918 ms (a little over 9/10 of a second) and the 10 tests from Dulles had a median of 336 ms (a little more than 3/10 of 1 second). I also tested the StudioPress AgentPress demo site (essentially the same content as our demo) and got median results for Toronto and Dulles of 1407 ms and 548 ms respectively. Our hosting service is in Newark, NJ; the StudioPress demo lands at MediaTemple near Ashburn, VA which is next to Dulles, VA.
Those hardly conclusive results suggest 2 things: 1) there is some evidence of latency between US and Canada, which here was about 600 ms, or 6/10 of a second, for us and more for the StudioPress demo and 2) if the StudioPress demo runs on Synthesis (their hosting platform), then we were over 34% faster to Canada and 38% faster to the US. I like being faster đŸ™‚
Web: https://wpperform.com or Twitter: @wpperform
We do managed WordPress hosting.
January 6, 2013 at 7:24 pm #10004DarleneMemberI have a reseller account with Hostgator that I am currently using. I have registered some .ca but I think I will use the .com for now as our local agents seem to use the .com more.
I did find a domain I think I like for the general - LuxuryOakvilleProperties.com that I may use for the main site and for my branding site I am still a bit torn as any abbreviation to my name are gone so I may use YourOakvilleRealtor.com. I am not sure about pointing my DarleneDarragh.com domain to this - I know you suggested not pointing but Darragh is too hard a last name for many to remember and any domain with Darlene seems taken. What do you think? I don't have an issue building more than one site and linking content back and forth to each site at least until I get known - which you mentioned could take awhile.
January 6, 2013 at 10:09 pm #10041Bill MurrayMemberThe domain "YourOakvilleRealtor.com" doesn't really work to brand your personal name. It could be your general site, but which is the best comes back to the analysis you were doing.
You've mentioned several times about pointing 1 domain to another. That is a bad idea. Do you have a site at DarleneDarragh.com? Does it have a lot of incoming links and traffic? If so, you should keep it and build from there. If you simply own the domain but don't have a live site at that address or have a site with little or no traffic, it's still your name and therefore a decent spot for your personal brand site.
Web: https://wpperform.com or Twitter: @wpperform
We do managed WordPress hosting.
January 8, 2013 at 9:14 am #10350DarleneMemberI can use the darlenedarragh.com as my branded site and then create a real estate site using one of the domains registered but I guess the question is really YourOakvilleRealtor.com does not have great Seo on it but may be a URL people remember vs some of the other domains that had higher hits based on the keywords as noes in previous replies in this forum.
January 8, 2013 at 9:26 am #10352Bill MurrayMemberHere's the challenge to darlenedarragh.com vs YourOakvilleRealtor.com. YourOakvilleRealtor.com works fine if you stick to Oakville and never move. What if Oakville becomes sluggish, but Bigtown, the new boomtoom just next door, has a smoking hot RE market? Your site is focused on Oakville, so you stagnate while others dominate Bigtown. What if you decide to move to a new area without an Oakville? Your domain name would be a hindrance rather than a help.
If you think your name is too long or hard to remember, try to come up with some catchy alternatives and use them in your promotional material and on your site. Example: thedarlene.com. Yes, it's less focused on your full name and it requires you spend some $ for graphics/promotion for that catchy alternative, but it is more flexible.
If you like YourOakvilleRealtor.com, you could consider using it as the name for your listing site. As you pointed out, it has fewer hits, so the benefit isn't as big, but it will help you on the keyword "Oakville Realtor". This isn't an exact science, so after weighing the pros and cons intelligently, you just have to go with what feels right.
Web: https://wpperform.com or Twitter: @wpperform
We do managed WordPress hosting.
January 8, 2013 at 9:35 am #10360netviperMemberBill has a good point. Why not something like DarleneSells.com or DarlaneSellsHomes.com or DarlenesHome.com
January 8, 2013 at 12:39 pm #10422DarleneMemberNone of these are available
January 12, 2013 at 6:28 pm #11523DarleneMemberKeeping in mind what you said above and trying to get a catchy phrase I thought of ThisGirlSells.com - thinking this could be a separate site from my branded site using my name. Another choice is ThisGirlSellsProperties.com
January 12, 2013 at 11:21 pm #11540Bill MurrayMemberI'm not sure what you're suggesting. The domains you mentioned aren't keyword rich domains, so in my opinion they don't justify setting up another domain for them. The question then becomes are these domains good for your branded domain, and I don't think they are clearly better. They're not that short, and the first one doesn't particularly make me think of RE. The other element is whether you primarily work with listers or buyers. If your focus is buyers, neither name strikes me as a good fit.
Web: https://wpperform.com or Twitter: @wpperform
We do managed WordPress hosting.
January 13, 2013 at 12:21 pm #11604DarleneMemberFair points so how about any of the following:
RealEstateDiva.ca - .com is gone
HomeSellingDivas.com
PropertySaleDivas.com or PropertySaleDiva.com
January 13, 2013 at 1:00 pm #11613DarleneMemberWhat about HomeSaleDiva.com
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