Why Co and not Com - what's the difference?

[Genesis]

I'm curious. Why are some people opting for .co and not .com? What is the difference between the two?

 

[wifitoplist]

.co is the Internet country code top- level domain (ccTLD) assigned to Colombia and The domain name .com is a top-level domain (TLD) in the Domain Name System of the Internet. Its name is derived from the word commercial.

.co = 2 word
.com = 3 word

 

[Genesis]

That part I understand. My question is more like why would someone go for a .co in preference to a .com, when .com is the one that most people are used to?

 

[wifitoplist]

As per me, I think .co is short and easily rememberable ext. In internet and looks good than .com, so many users prefer .co instead of .com:smile:

 

[Sander k]

I prefer .COM, I don't believe in country domain extensions if I can't write in that language.

 

[admin]

.co is now a global domain and not country specific.

 

[wifitoplist]

Yes .co is now global domain like .in or .cc or .tx. I just love .co ext.

 

[Sander k]

Yes .co is now global domain like .in or .cc or .tx. I just love .co ext.

.in is from India I think.

 

[wifitoplist]

@Sander k, yup but is easily rememberable and maximam domains are available.

 

[PeaceSigns]

Perhaps they're going for typo traffic ..imagine buying big brands or dictionary words like sex.co (imagine how many people are entering that in and mistyping). The traffic on some words would be huge.

 

[tim]

I believe the .co domains were free for a while. They are easier to get, but I don't think Google likes them in terms of search rankings. I personally wouldn't use that TLD for anything important.

 

[sayedfamily]

I agree with Tim. ".co" domains are rarely seen nowadays and either fell out of fashion or were taken over by better-known domains like Google.com.

 

[ogah]

maybe co = corporation, com = comercial

 

[windwalker]

I think there is a down side to country codes too.
.ru for example. It is the Russian country domain but 75% of spammers that I have blocked from my 5 domains have come from email addresses with the @mail.ru suffix.

Having domains that a lot of people are not familiar with can also result in mass blacklisting not only from webmasters, but also from email recipients.

I have 5 .org domains which are used for non profit purposes. I have recently registered a .cc domain for my own purposes for a tourism site.

I thought since it was free I would see how accurate my perception of these short domains can be. So many people I fear do not give them credibility.

With Respect,

Jim

 

[Peter]

I have never thought of .co as a short form of .com, but then I haven't really given it much thought. When I see it I think about free/cheap domains, probably because of co.cc I guess? but that's not even a TLD. I would prefer .com before .co every day of the week.