.US domains vs USA.com - Domain Names forum at WebmasterWorld - WebmasterWorld

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.US domains vs USA.com

Is .us still a concern, or am i beating a dead horse

lgn1

4:19 pm on Nov 17, 2017 (gmt 0)

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This was probably last covered in 2009, so I'm looking for an update on opinions which was 50/50 split back them.

We are moving from an in-house shopping cart which handled native currency checkout, to two identical shopify stores to achieve the same functionality.

We already have company_name.com for our Canadian site, and for AdWords related reasons we don't want to switch the Canadian domain.

For the American website, we are deciding between CompanyName.us or CompanyNameUSA.com.

In the past .us was considered a bit spam like, I'm not sure if that is still a concern, with many companies going after cybersquatters.

Also, do consumers really look at the domain name anymore? For me, I quickly glance for the secure green lock, and the site content determines reliability.

As a Canadian, we operate on US servers, so we meet nexus requirements for a .US domain (but hopefully not states sales tax, but that another topic).

Be interesting to see if opinions have changed in the past 8 years.

tangor

7:31 am on Nov 18, 2017 (gmt 0)

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Six, one-half dozen the other. Personally I don't know whether there's a difference (then again I live under a rock inside a cave).

As do whether consumers look at links, pretty sure that is not average behavior.

Pick and chose what makes sense for you.

lgn1

12:18 pm on Nov 18, 2017 (gmt 0)

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I figured so, especially with all the new top level domains that came out in the past.

I now have the .ca and the .us for the Canadian and US site respectively, and I have geolocation, so the customer is prompted if they wish to switch sites if they end up on the wrong site. I will point the .com to the one or the other.

I would rather see a .usa TLD, and I can't figure out why nobody has thought of it. The TLD .us just sounds so incomplete as it more like you are ending your domain name with a pronoun instead of a country.

lucy24

5:37 pm on Nov 18, 2017 (gmt 0)

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�.us� alone allows it to be used as part of a single word, analogous to goo.gl or youtu.be. A couple years back I had to modify one of my referer-spam access controls--which blocked anything purporting to be from .us or .biz, so say nothing of .ua, .ru or .eu--to allow for disq.us

Like it or not, usa is the internet default. (Might makes right.) dot gov = US government; dot mil = US military; dot edu = ... well, US and Canada.*

* Mostly. �oxford.edu� at least redirects. (Thank you, registrar.) I was frankly relieved not to end up at the University of Mississippi. But try cambridge.edu and see where it gets you.

Webwork

3:19 am on Nov 19, 2017 (gmt 0)

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I lean towards thinking CompanyName.US suggests that you are a U.S. based entity when, in fact, that's not the case.

Have you been reading the (extensive) W3 chatter about "authenticity"?

If your company is going to the trouble of creating a "US/USA site" I would hope that the effort is more about creating services and/or an experience uniquely beneficial to your targeted (USA) audience. If that's the case then .US vs. CoNameUSA probably won't be material to your success. Still, the .US ccTLD is suggestive of something that is "not a fact" . . and might be used as fodder by your competitors.

I think your US/USA focus needs to be directed towards the messaging on and "around" (email, twitter, SMM) the new site with the base URL being intended to support that overarching messaging.

Hope that makes sense..

lgn1

12:35 pm on Nov 19, 2017 (gmt 0)

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I lean towards thinking CompanyName.US suggests that you are a U.S. based entity when, in fact, that's not the case.

We are actually Canadian, but yes the American site is designed to provide a better user experience by providing checkout in US Dollars with no currency conversion. We already control the US market for our niche, so we already got the success part down. Our concern was not to strengthen our authenticity but making sure we don't weaken it.

piatkow

5:40 pm on Nov 19, 2017 (gmt 0)

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Do users in the USA understand what a .us domain is yet? It was quite a few years ago but there was a discussion on a music forum warning people not to download music from a site because of its "weird" .us domain. I was called a liar by an American poster when I explained what it was.

farmboy

7:51 pm on Nov 20, 2017 (gmt 0)

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I find this discussion timely because I just registered a .us version of a name or word and I, for some unknown reason, am still a bit reluctant to jump in.

One thing I found is the registrar can't provide privacy for the .us version. Is that a concern?

Opinions welcome.

Thanks,
FarmBoy

P.S. I know 20 yr old people who have never driven a manual transmission vehicle and have read that children born today will never go places in vehicles driven by humans, just computers. I wonder if .com will (soon?) follow a similar path?

Webwork

10:51 pm on Nov 20, 2017 (gmt 0)

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I wonder if .com will (soon?) follow a similar path?

Domains are simply the aliases of IP addresses.

I don't see IP addresses going away anytime soon.

farmboy

9:43 am on Nov 21, 2017 (gmt 0)

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webwork,

Any thoughts on the registrar, or any registrar, not being able to provide privacy for a .us domain name?

FarmBoy

Webwork

5:13 pm on Nov 21, 2017 (gmt 0)

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Thoughts? Meh. ALL domains should default TO privacy . . with a micropayment system to reach the owner/registrant via the domain's registrar.

Micropayments ($.25? $1.00?) would cover costs (automated forward to registrant upon payment) BUT keep the SEO service spammers away.

Truly interested parties would certainly be willing to spend a buck to inquire about possible sale-transfer, etc.

branko97

5:09 pm on Nov 23, 2017 (gmt 0)

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Keeping spammers away, and getting some honest interested parties through a "micro-payment" wall is a good idea. I like it.

martinibuster

10:55 am on Dec 6, 2017 (gmt 0)

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In the past .us was considered a bit spam like, I'm not sure if that is still a concern...

.US has never been considered spammy (for SEO purposes). The reason is was never spammed out is because spammers can't do a private registration with it.

jmccormac

6:40 am on Jan 10, 2018 (gmt 0)

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.US has never been considered spammy (for SEO purposes). The reason is was never spammed out is because spammers can't do a private registration with it.

Perhaps not for SEO purposes but that rather clueless discounted registrations offer did inflate the zone and attracted the wrong kind of registrations. Many of those registrations washed out of the zone when the domain names came up for renewal. (Saw a lot of the same stuff that appeared in the discounted new gTLDs appearing in .US ccTLD when running web usage surveys.)

Regards...jmcc

accurate

3:06 am on Jan 13, 2018 (gmt 0)

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I would use a .US domain.

Articles

5:33 am on Feb 3, 2018 (gmt 0)

I think .com is still king