Ask HN: is using a .me extension bad for SEO?

[thomaaas]

Hi HN,

I'm planning to buy a domain name for my personal blog. After spending a lot of time trying to find an available .com domain, I gave up, and found a cool .me domain instead.

But do extensions have an impact on SEO? Is using a .com better than a .me SEO wise? Thanks!

[tagabek]

I recently started forwarding my old MyFullName.me domain to my company's MyCompany.com domain and have noticed my traffic tripling during the day.

Patrick McKenzie has a very informative post on SEO. It's worth the read: http://www.kalzumeus.com/2010/01/24/startup-seo/

[gesman]

.com is better. People tends to auto-assume .com when remembering "CoolName". If CoolName.me is "cooler" that CoolName.com - then register both and redirect .com -> .me Otherwise if someone else owns CoolName.com and you grabbed CoolName.me - you're always at disadvantage. There are plenty of great .com domains to be found with a bit of creativity.

[smartwater]

It matters, but not enough for you to worry about at this stage. Do whatever, it really doesn't matter unless you get some traction on your blog, until then you're just over-thinking it.