Should we switch from domain hack to dot com?

November 26, 2008 9:07 AM

Should we switch from domain hack to dot com?

For a year we've been blogging about concerts (posting reviews/photos) and for the last 6 months I've been learning a lot about SEO. However, our traffic is still pretty dismal. We're averaging about 120 visits/day.

One of the biggest problems is that it doesn't seem like we can get any traction on Google. Immediately after we publish a post it will rocket to the top for our keywords, but after 24 hours it's fallen away to page 3.

I'm starting to think the problem could be our domain hack. It's a .be (belgium) site that uses a subdomain, domain, ending to form a word, so essentially something like: met.afilt.er

The thing is we own the .com domain for our word, so we could switch it to metafilter [dot] com.

Will we rank higher in Google if we switch? Are .coms inherently more trusted domains? Compelling reasons for switching/staying?

posted by jrholt to computers & internet (6 comments total)

Well, people are often confused by non-com/net/org domain names. Google, however, doesn't care at all.

It's important to be aware, however, that Google actively discourages what it considers manipulation of its search results. If your SEO is 'tricky' enough, it'll probably actually damage your standings.
posted by Tomorrowful at 9:15 AM on November 26, 2008

Do a redirect from the domain hack to the .com address in which a 301 status is returned by the web server. This way, Google does not punish you for having two domains with the same content.
posted by Brennus at 9:32 AM on November 26, 2008

Can somebody cite to something that proves Google doesn't care about domain hacks? My inclination is that geocentric domains aren't doing as well in google.com (for instance, we rank a LOT higher in google.be).
posted by jrholt at 10:34 AM on November 26, 2008

Then move your content to the .com and use the .be as a redirect.
posted by dunkadunc at 11:06 AM on November 26, 2008

Assuming your site is Mel.opho.be (from your past history of questions), there are a few things you could be doing to help your traffic score for keywords, at least that I could see:

- there don't seem to be any meta keywords or descriptions on your home page or any sub pages.
- there don't seem to be any alt tags in your article images.

do you have rel="nofollow" on for posted URL's in comments?


Great looking site, though- good luck with it!
posted by jenkinsEar at 2:10 PM on November 26, 2008

Put it on the .com. domain hacks, especially with a subdomain are just hard. People F up the links all the time and gathering back links is still important.
posted by FlamingBore at 10:07 PM on December 4, 2008