When forced to choose an alternative, most go with .net.
If a domain investor can’t get the .com for a domain name but has to choose a secondary gTLD, they choose .net 62% of the time.
That’s based on 1,137 survey responses in Domain Name Wire’s 7th annual industry survey.
Survey respondents are asked:
“If you wanted to register a generic domain and .com was already registered, which extension would you register assuming it was available? (assume you have to select one of these)”
They are given the option of .net, .org, .info, and .biz. (Note the absence of ccTLDs as a choice).
Here’s how it shakes out:
1. .net 62%
2. .org 17%
3. .biz 5%
4. .info 5%
If this question remains on the survey it will obviously need to change in the future. In two years we’ll no longer be looking at such a restricted listed of (essentially) unrestricted top level domains.
See more survey results here.
RH says
Andrew are you surprised at the difference between .net and .org ? Would have thought a lot closer.
Andrew Allemann says
@ RH – I am a bit surprised. I think when domainers think in terms of value, .net usually comes before .org. There are certainly instances where .org makes more sense, though.
I just realized that I left the “other” category out of the results. This year they picked up about 10% of the vote. So technically that segment could include ccTLDs such as .me.
Ron says
.biz should really be 0%
LDI says
For a media company/project I’d take a .tv over everything, even the .com.
Tony says
I’m surprised .org didn’t get more votes. Berkens has been on record as saying he likes it more than .net. Of course, .org has its limitations.
Steve Jones says
.org has more popular sites in the US per Quantcast. In Alexa which looks internationally, .net has more popular sites thanks primarily to Asia.
We focus on .org much more than .net and have generally had stronger sales in .org than .net, both to end-users and resellers. .org doesn’t work for all areas, which is where some domainers falter with .org. I certainly don’t mind the survey results. 🙂
jp says
Here is some interesting data to support this claim.
Using the Google keyword tool with exact match
Keyword | Global Exact Match | Local (US) Exact Match
[.com] | 2,240,000 | 673,000
[.net] | 4,090,000 | 165,000
[.org] | 135,000 | 22,200
Interesting how globally .net just about doubles .com however in the US market .com is 4x stronger. .org’s numbers pale in comparison.
Josh says
I thought the net/org tide turned years ago. From my experience any ways it is much easier to see more for a .org. I don’t care what the searches say, money talks.
Steve Jones says
@JP .net is also a programming language which might contribute to those numbers. [.net framework 4] for instance has 201,000 global search, 9,900 US search.
jp says
@Steve
I must be really off today. Not sure how I missed that being that I am a .net programmer, and also I do recall seeing vb.net in the “suggested similar searches”.
I’ll go back to the site I’m coding now in .net.
Duh
Steve M says
Gee … no .mobi or .co in the top choices.
Why am I not surprised?
.bubbles both.
On The Record says
I took this survey and I answered .NET, but only because my true answer was not listed as a choice…my true answer is that if .COM is not available, I would find another .COM that is. Period. End of discussion. Building a site on a .NET or a .ORG or a dot ANYTHING ELSE is a waste of time and the equivalent of building a house on a foundation of quicksand. Big waste of time, effort and money. So, yes, I answered .NET, in the survey but in reality, I wouldn’t waste the money on a non .COM.
.COM is king. All others help strengthen it.