TESTING TLD'S
Testing is currently being completed on the SEO weight of TLD's. Things are looking good! There will be info released in time. Owning Canada.Auto would be pretty interesting as a leader in the Canadian Auto Space wouldn't you say so? (It's available btw, you just need to be a public company and go through the application process) badcredit.car is available and so are so many other great domains that you could never get in a .com because someone bought them for $12 and are waiting for a 5 figure pay day that won't happen....
CONFUSING DOMAIN EXTENSIONS
Regarding the comments made about "confusing the public with a .Car" It may confuse people now, I know my 5-year-old will not even know what a .com is when she's old enough to be searching online. What does .com mean? I know what .Auto or .Car means. She will definitely know what .shoes and .purse means!!!! lol
BEING RELEVANT IS BETTER FOR SEARCHERS
Using a .tech for $40 instead of $3000 (.Auto) could be smart if you were selling a "Tech" product. "TopSpeed.Tech" tells me that this is a website for a really good CPU, not a car. "TopSpeed.Car" tells me you are giving me content based on a fast car. Google wants to provide you with the best search experience possible. EXAMPLE:
www.bass.com is that a fish or a guitar???
www.bass.fish,
www.bass.guitar - you get my point.
INTEGRITY OF TLD'S
The price point on .Auto's and .Car or .Cars is high so the integrity stays with the companies who should be buying Domain Extensions due to relevance. We don't want some dude who buys 100 TLD's for $12 bucks each and re-sells them back to you for 5 figures when .Com becomes less relevant. The internet is changing, AGAIN.
@emiltsch made a great point earlier about owning a great domain is nice ONLY if you have a reason. I agree, Owning TO.CAR (For Toronto, Canada) or BadCredit.Cars would be an awesome industry leader domain, but until I have a relevant business plan to meet the needs of that domain, why would Google give any weight.
BRANDING IS KEY
@craigh I also agree with the article that explains your traffic isn't from people typing URL's into their browser, they are referrals or search oriented. When creating a campaign on Adwords or when doing a retargeting display campaign, your URL shows, think branding... Would you go to the URL that is
www.badcreditcalifornia.com or BadCredit.Cars, On a YouTube Preroll video where 5 seconds is free, would you remember
www.badcreditcalifornia.com or Approved.Auto. Again, Google wants the BEST possible experience for their customers/Searchers.
THE CHALLENGES OF CHANGE
I love this thread because it's about change and change creates adversity and challenges are healthy! Some great points made here and the reality is nobody knows what the gods of the internet (Browsers) will do.
@emilymoore I think it's awesome you are doing testing. Thats the only way to figure it out! Good on you. Nobody is right or wrong because we can't predict browsers search decisions. What I do know, is that browsers will go with what the public decides makes browsing easier. Just like we have shuttles that drive people all over the city while they wait for an oil change, Google or Yahoo might decide to change the entire TLD landscape to better the customer experience. Again, it will be up to the masses.
ON A SIDE NOTE
Many manufacturers have already bought up the .car .cars and .auto domains. Many large dealer groups have also bought the domain extensions. You will see them surfacing as some already are. Id list them here but I don't want the post to be spammy!
