It doesn't matter, if you own them both. So if the content fits the .org, then use that and 301 the .com to that domain.

Else do it t'other way around.

The .com does have advantages; for example, if people enter the name, but don't remember the suffix, then most browsers will look for the .com

Also, if people remember the name, they often remember it as .com, whatever it really was.

This means that owning the .com is vital - no more, no less - but so long as you 301 it to the one you choose to use, from day 1, there's nothing lost to you.

Plus you also need to own the .com to stop someone else owning it and stealing your visitors!

Sad but true.

Thanks, Q.:)

The .com does have advantages; for example, if people enter the name, but don't remember the suffix, then most browsers will look for the .com

I don't think so. Not most of browsers, mostly half of browsers. If you write a word (for example in Firefox) browser will go to first result of Google search.

The .com does have advantages; for example, if people enter the name, but don't remember the suffix, then most browsers will look for the .com

I don't think so.

On my Windows XP workstation entering only the word "example" in the Address/URL area:

• Opera -

  Enter

  = www.example.com
  
• FireFox -

  Ctrl + Enter

  = www.example.com
  
• IE 7 -

  Ctrl + Enter

  = www.example.com
  
• IE 7 -

  Enter

  = default search engine search

If I do the same on a Japanese version of Windows I will get www.example.co.jp with IE, but Opera and FireFox are configurable.

It depends on your setup; most people use their browsers pretty much in default mode (I'm not talking about www people!), and there is still a huge advantage in having .com

I just tried a word in FF; word.com is an mfa/spam site; FF took me straight to wordplus.com - not quite what I expected, but still favoring .com

I rarely use IE, but I'd bet they still 100% favour .com

There may come a time that this changes; point is, no browser favors .net, .org etc., but between 1% and 70% favor .com

So regardless of the actual (unknown) number, the advantage is still there.

If you put one word into the address bar on any browser if you have tiscali ( alice..telecom italia )as your ISP in France..and hit enter ..
You are taken instantly to page of "results" all irrelevant to the word ..all sponsored ..and an automated redirect after 1 second to the top one on the list ( there is a link on the bottom of the page that says if you dont wish to be redirected click here :)..this will get you the tiscali ( alice .telecom italia )portal ..

Whats interesting is that the destination IP of all the links including the redirect one is 82.101.8.42
otherwise known as .googlesyndication.com #82.101.8.42 ..( the redirect happens even with javascript disabled ..on all browsers IE , Opera and firefox ..the DSL service offered by tiscali does not support macs ..probably because the highjack wouldnt work on a mac )..This behaviour BTW didn't happen on dial up from the same company ..

So ..from here at least ..any word or group of words typed into the address bar ..results in the appearance of a page provided by the ISP ..full of non relevant ( it does actually say on the page .."we couldn't find anything relevant but here are some links that might interest you"! ) ..thus ..random links are pushed in from googlesyndication servers .. paid for by adwords customers ( wonder what they would say? to this "targetting" )..would they be pleased ..doubt it ..:(

Also my firewall blocks call during the day from this machine at random intervals to the same IP addy ..where "an unknown process has attempted to connect with 82.101.8.42 and has been blocked by the firewall" ..does this around 20 times a day ..attempting to track surfing habits ( sniff the data in the packet confirms this ) without actually installing a visible toolbar via "deals with the ISP" ..How many people know to block "outgoing" data ..most are more worried about incoming ..

it makes some of these calls out to 82.101.8.42 when I'm not using it at all for surfing ..no browser open ..it's just sitting trying to call home to G ..I hear the HD click or spin and look at the firwall report ..and yep an unknown process just tried to call 82.101.8.42

the ISP TOS mentions nowhere the exchange of data with google is built in to the service ( nor mentions commercial partnesr access to private data )..nor that words entered directly into the address bar will result in browser hijacks , redirects or rigging of "results" ..I wonder if this is even legal under french and EU law ..note to self for new year ..research data protection laws in EU ..

strangely enough entering the precise IP 82.101.8.42 into any browser on the machine ( tried it on other machines too..same result ) gets an error message "this is not a correctly formatted address" ..incorrect address ..yet it is avalid IP ..but the DSL router has been set to say it isnt if asked directly ..

So my ISP and G dont want me to see that they are in cahoots? doing evil ..

So how does this affect building on a dot com as opposed to a dot org? ..Well depending where one is and what deals google has done with ones ISP ..whatever the suffix or TLD is might actually be totally irrelevant to what the results to any query are ..

[edited by: Leosghost at 12:19 pm (utc) on Dec. 29, 2006]