Exact match - country specific extension or .com

The thread I visited earlier today on NetBuilders made me create this thread. It raised a couple of questions to me.

• Say if you can have the option to register an exact match country specific domain or to register a .com/org/net then what will be your choice - given the fact that the keyword is local to a country. People from other parts of the world may not be searching for it, or it may have a different meaning in other countries.
  
• What if the keyword is not local to a country i.e. people from many countries are searching for it. BUT, you want to target a specific country. So what will you choose - exact match country specific domain or exact match .com/org/net (depending on availability).

With the current state of search engine development, I would go:

1. com
2. net
3. org
4. ccTLD

If I was serious about targeting a specific country, I would buy .com and also buy the ccTLD.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Will.Spencer

If I was serious about targeting a specific country, I would buy .com and also buy the ccTLD.

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And you would develop .com with ccTLD being redirected to .com, or vice-versa? Please assume targeting the specific country is the only purpose of the site.

I'd go for the .com in any case as SE's tend to give a good bonus to exact match .coms, .nets and .orgs

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mixke

And you would develop .com with ccTLD being redirected to .com, or vice-versa? Please assume targeting the specific country is the only purpose of the site.

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I'd redirect the ccTLD to the .com.

I'd personally get all the main TLDs and the ccTLD for that country.

In case it's a country such as Germany (.de) where people gives more recognition to their ccTLD than the main TLDs for things in their own language, I'd redirect all of them to the ccTLD.

But in a country such as mine, I'd get the ccTLD (.es) redirected to the .com domain.

Regards.

I second SeriousBiz post.
In some countries people are much more familiar with their ccTLD than .net/.org. Most local businesses use the ccTLD as well. Just something to keep in mind for promoting purposes.

I also agree, in my country the ccTLD and .net are popular, good for image, .net because a big company is advertising its name using a dot net.

I mentioned in the other thread that it appears that I was incorrect and many ccTLDs do receive an exact match domain bonus. :o