While domain names with the TLD .info are highly associated with spam because of their low costs, the domains are not worthless or always associated with spam (I heard this about 10 times at SES NY).
Although there are many spam sites using .info, there are many other exceptions.
Before Aaron Wall launched SEObook, his main site was and still is Search-Marketing.info
The site still ranks #2 on Google for Search Marketing; above SEMPO and above Search Marketing Standard.
And before you say “It’s only an exception because it’s Aaron Wall’s!”; think again. When Aaron launched this site he was not the Aaron Wall he is today. His budget was limited and what it took to get this site running was smarts, interviews and intellectual articles which attracted natural links to the site.
I do not believe that .info sites are guilty by association. I would never buy one, but do believe that Aaron’s site and many others to come will still be exceptions.
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Comments
13 responses so far ↓
Fred on Mar 21, 2008 at 4:56 pm
Hi Loren, I agree that .info site are not worthless but I don’t think the difference in price between a .com and .info should be a factor. If I had my heart set on a domain name and it was taken in .com I would go with an .info. or .net and try it. Fred
Rowena on Mar 22, 2008 at 4:28 am
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SearcH◆ EngineS WEB on Mar 22, 2008 at 7:38 am
At SES, it was surprising to hear that some SEOs were naive enough to even consider that to be a plausible theory. You have to wonder about their analytical skills.
It is bizzare to think that Search Engines would devalue an entire TLD because of spam.
Their algos are much more sophisticated than that.
INFO domains are great to have for reference or informational sites. It is a wonderful domain to have and owners should be proud to own one.
They will likely increase in value because INFO makes so much sense for some type of non commercial sites.
For whatever reason, BIZ does not seem to be taking off - nor does any of the other new TLDs.
Web Design Kris on Mar 22, 2008 at 7:47 am
I think if registrars would raise prices on .INFO`s they would take care of the spamming issue associated with the TLD . That would improve the popularity of the .INFO name .
Joost de Valk on Mar 22, 2008 at 5:51 pm
Agreed Loren, I own and operate css3.info, which outranks the w3 for css3, which is their own standard…
Loren Baker, Editor on Mar 22, 2008 at 6:08 pm
Excellent example Joost, and thanks for the living case study :)
Favorite Browser on Mar 22, 2008 at 6:10 pm
Um… OK… Everyone knew that (expect newbies)…
Loren Baker, Editor on Mar 22, 2008 at 6:12 pm
Hey FavBrowser, like I said, some long time highly respected professional SEO’s were discussing this and a large percentage of the SEO industry (including the directors of SEO at some major companies) are more or less newbies :)
gie on Mar 23, 2008 at 11:25 am
search for “virtualization” on google, and see who is on top right after wikipedia - virtualization.info
Egyptian Mau Breeders on Mar 23, 2008 at 8:27 pm
It’s good to know that they are not completley worthless. With all these domain buyers out there demanding high prices for a domain that could be of good use to someone, I am glad that there are other choices for extensions.
Rooms in Edinburgh on Mar 24, 2008 at 7:32 am
Thats good information to have but i will still be sticking to the .com as my main domian use, i mean with Godaddy its only £7 for 2 years which is cheap enough for me!
Mukesh on Mar 25, 2008 at 2:33 am
They are cheap for the 1st year, but not necessarily so for the 2nd year and so on. So I guess age does count when it comes to .info
Lee Woodman on Mar 25, 2008 at 11:37 am
If you have good content why should any of the search engines penalise you for your domain extension…?
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