Are new domain extensions as unique as their predecessors?

And so it goes, I’ve been on the fence about the new domain extensions since hearing about their arrival to the domain market mid to late 2012.

I’ve closely followed the opinions of Mike Berkens, Morgan Linton, Page Howe, Rick Schwartz, and a host of others on a weekly basis.

All in all, I’ve been on the fence about the new domain extensions and their positive or negative impact.

My original thoughts were that ICANN had lost its mind and was off its rocker to allow such a massive tsunami of new domain extensions to confuse hit the market in an already seemingly working system of domain extensions.

But then again, and in my humble opinion, releasing new domain extensions is a pure money grab for ICANN.

However, as of late, one thought I’ve toyed with is based on the uniqueness the new domain extensions bring to the domain market and their impact on SEO and Search.

Just hear me out for a minute before calling me crazy. Okay, so here’s my thought…

Search has been and, to a certain extent, will continue to be about keywords, although from various, different perspectives.

And because SEO and search have been dominated by keywords, the last twenty years of the web and search rankings have been nothing more than keyword domains ending in .com, .net, and .org extensions, to name a few. And why does this matter?

It matters because this led to search rankings from a handful of companies attempting to use identical keyword domains with different domain extensions as a means to differentiate themselves.

Not to mention that companies have long used keyword-specific .com, .net, and .org extensions to command SEO and search, garnering significant amounts of traffic from being ranked in the top search positions.

And this leads me to why I think that domain names using the new domain extensions will succeed. Not all will succeed. Rather some will succeed.

Why, you ask? For one, new domain extensions are by far longer than their shorter predecessors. But that is only scratching the surface of identified benefits.

Personally, I think what makes new domain extensions so valuable is that they are more intuitive and purposeful than their predecessors.

A .com, .net, or .org keyword domain doesn’t mean much, although I believe the .com will garner much of the lost traffic from the same .net and .org domain names.

For example, all things being equal in SEO and search, which of the following domains appear meaningful and unique?

• BadCredit.com
• BadCredit.net
• BadCredit.org
• Bad.Credit

Personally, this is the very question I’ve been toying with and wrestling with for some time now.

Yes, numerous unique domain extensions are being released, and we’ll have to get acclimated to the dot’s placement. Still, there will be some unique keyword domain names using the new extensions.

In my opinion, no more can there be copycats registering the same keywords in a different extension, trying to gain a piece of the search rankings and traffic pie that a .com recognizes.

So, what am I saying?

What I’m saying is that once Bad.Credit has been registered, what alternative is there where you can use the same keywords but in a different extension?

Sure, you can use BadCredit.Repair, but it’s not the same as Bad.Credit.

This is something that was not possible with previous domain name extensions, but one argument that all should consider.

And yes, I know there are many more arguments to be made than just this one vantage point, but this was just one that made me rethink my position on keyword domains using new domain extensions.

That said, it’ll be interesting to see where things are this time next year with the domains and new domain extensions.

I’ll admit that I’ve come across the fence about purchasing a handful of domain names using the new extensions.

I’m not going to reveal what I’ve purchased in specifics, but most have been geo-related and categorized as business-in-a-box domains.

Essentially, if or when I choose to develop each domain, I could start a full-fledged business or develop each domain as a lead generation business.

Nevertheless, I do think it is worthwhile to purchase a few, but let’s not go hog wild trying to replace our .com domain portfolios.

I plan on holding onto the handful of domains, new and existing extensions, I’ve purchased for the next 5-10 years to see where things in the domain, SEO, and search markets go.

Will .com remain King of domain extensions in the years to come? It may or may not.

But with everything in life, new ideas and things always take some time to catch on before they either die on the vine or are crowned king by the mainstream target market.

Nevertheless, it’s very hard to predict the future, but it’s safe to say that every king will rise and fall given adequate time.