Moz Q&A is closed.
After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.
Client Wants To Use A .io Domain Name - How Bad For Organic?
- 
					
					
					
					
 Hi, I have a U.S. client who is stuck on a name that he wants to get as a .io (British Indian Ocean) domain name for a new site. Aside from the user confusion/weirdness, how much harder do you think this makes this sites organic in the U.S. in the future with a .io domain name? FYI, the other part of the domain name he wants to use is short, meaningless and implies nothing in and of itself. Thanks! 
- 
					
					
					
					
 How much does he plan to spend on marketing to reinforce his brand? I believe .io will rank on Google just as easily as .net .info .us etc. but how much will it take to rank in their customer's brain? I have a .us and 7.5 years later I still have to reinforce the domain when I am talking to a client. It's like trying to get a client to say chartreuse instead of lime green. 
- 
					
					
					
					
 Hi Michael Johnson, I am guessing that your client wants the .io since the keyword's .com version was already taken? It is always preferred to go with the .com version of course. A .io domain extension is an odd choice, but I have seen it being used on several tech startup sites recently where they were creating a brand around the base keyword. In terms of rankings and seo factors to consider with an .io extension, I would personally avoid them and I have worked on any websites with that extension, but since all of these well funded startups are using them then perhaps they are on to something. I know of one startup that went from their .io extension to the .com version, but it cost them a pretty penny. Not sure if this helps at all. 
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
- 
		
		Moz ToolsChat with the community about the Moz tools. 
- 
		
		SEO TacticsDiscuss the SEO process with fellow marketers 
- 
		
		CommunityDiscuss industry events, jobs, and news! 
- 
		
		Digital MarketingChat about tactics outside of SEO 
- 
		
		Research & TrendsDive into research and trends in the search industry. 
- 
		
		SupportConnect on product support and feature requests. 
Related Questions
- 
		
		
		
		
		
		How good/bad the exit intent pop-ups? What is Google's perspective?
 Hi all, We have launched the exit intent pop-ups on our website where a pop-up will appear when the visitor is about to leave the website. This will trigger when the mouse is moved to the top window section; as an attempt by the visitor to close the window. We see a slight ranking drop post this pop-up launch. As the pop-up is appearing just before someone leaves the website; does this making Google to see as if the user left because of the pop-up and penalizing us? What is your thoughts and suggestions on this? Thanks White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | vtmoz1
- 
		
		
		
		
		
		Sub Domain rel=canonical to Main Domain
 Just a quick one, i have the following example scenario. Main Domain: http://www.test.com Sub Domain: http://sub.test.com What I am wondering is I can add onto the sub domain a rel=canonical to the main domain. I dont want to de-index the whole sub domain just a few pages are duplicated from the main site. Is it easier to de-index the individual sub domain pages or add the rel=canonical back to the main domain. Much appreciated Joseph White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | Joseph-Vodafone0
- 
		
		
		
		
		
		The use of a ghost site for SEO purposes
 Hi Guys, Have just taken on a new client (.co.uk domain) and during our research have identified they also have a .com domain which is a replica of the existing site but all links lead to the .co.uk domain. As a result of this, the .com replica is pushing 5,000,000+ links to the .co.uk site. After speaking to the client, it appears they were approached by a company who said that they could get the .com site ranking for local search queries and then push all that traffic to .co.uk. From analytics we can see that very little referrer traffic is coming from the .com. It sounds remarkably dodgy to us - surely the duplicate site is an issue anyway for obvious reasons, these links could also be deemed as being created for SEO gain? Does anyone have any experience of this as a tactic? Thanks, Dan White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | SEOBirmingham810
- 
		
		
		
		
		
		Ever seen this tactic when trying to get rid of bad backlinks?
 I'm trying to get rid of a Google penalty, but one of the URLS is particularly bizarre. Here's the penalized site: http://www.travelexinsurance.com. One of the external links Google cited as not being natural that links to the penalized site is: http://content.onlineagency.com/index.aspx?site=6599&tide=769006&last=3111516 In the backlink profile of the penalized site, there are about 100 different backlinks pointing to www.travelexinsurance.com from content.onlineagency.com/... So when I visit http://content.onlineagency.com/index.aspx?site=6599&tide=769006&last=3111516 it actually is displaying content from http://www.starmandstravel.com/787115_6599.htm, which you can see after clicking the "Home" button. That company is a legit travel agency who I assume knows nothing about content.onlineagency.com and is not involved in whatever is going on. And that's the case for every link from content.onlineagency.com. So I'm just wondering if someone can help me understand what sort of tactic content.onlineagency.com is using. One of my predecessors I fear used some black hat tactics. I'm wondering if this is a remnant of that effort. White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | Patrick_G0
- 
		
		
		
		
		
		Domain.com/XXX or domain.com/blog/XXX ?
 i have a business and a side blog on the website. is it fine to turn my blog to domain.com/XXX instead of domain.com/blog/XXX? does it in anyway of these affect the SEO? White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | andzon0
- 
		
		
		
		
		
		Does having the same descrition for different products a bad thing the titles are all differnent but but they are the same product but with different designs on them does this count as duplicate content?
 does having the same description for different products a bad thing the titles are all different but but they are the same product but with different designs on them does this count as duplicate content? White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | Casefun1
- 
		
		
		
		
		
		Penalised by Google - Should I Redirect to a new domain?
 Last month my rankings dropped a couple of pages on Google and am no longer receiving as many visits from Google as I used to. It's coming up to summer which is the time my business naturally picks up yet I can't fix this problem. I have a crazy idea of redirecting my established site onto a new domain in hopes that the penalty would be removed. I have tried removing any manipulative links yet my ranking are not coming back. Anyone had success in redirecting to a new domain? White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | penn730
- 
		
		
		
		
		
		Is using twiends.com to get twitter followers considered black hatting?
 Hi, I've been struggling to get followers on Google Plus and Twitter, and recently stumbled upon twiends.com. It offers an easy service that allows you to get twitter followers very quickly. Is this considered black hating? Even if Google doesn't consider the followers as valid, am I likely to be punished if using their service? Even if it doesn't help rankings, it is nice to have lots of followers so that they will see my tweets which has the potential to drive more traffic to my site, and give awareness to my business. What are your thoughts? White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | eugenecomputergeeks0
 
			
		 
			
		 
			
		 
					
				 
					
				 
					
				 
					
				 
					
				 
					
				 
					
				