If your customers are mostly in your own country, the country extension is the natural pick. If you sell abroad or want a name without borders, go for .com. If the name matters a lot to you, register both and use only one as the main address. No extension is better in the abstract: there is the one that fits the audience you want to reach.
What each one tells the person who sees it
| Aspect |
Country extension |
.com |
| What it suggests |
That the business is local and serves people in that country. |
That the business is international, or does not want to be tied to one country. |
| Search engines |
Treat the country extension as a hint of the audience the site is for, which helps in local searches. |
Give no geographic hint at all. The country is read from the content, the language and other signals. |
| Availability of the name |
There are usually more free names. |
The most sought after: the name you want may already be taken. |
| Typing habit |
People who know your local business type the right ending. |
Many people add .com by reflex, even when the address is another one. |
| Registration rules |
Some country extensions have their own rules about who may register. Check on the registration page. |
Generally no residence restrictions. |
How to choose, by case
| 1 |
Shop or service for customers in your country: the country extension. People searching “near me” read it as local.
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| 2 |
You sell in several countries, or want an international brand: .com. If you also have customers at home, add the national extension as a second domain.
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| 3 |
Association or non-profit: check whether your country has an extension meant for that, on the domain registration page.
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| 4 |
The name is your brand: register both and point one at the other. That way nobody else ends up with the one you left, and people who mistype still reach your site.
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Two domains, one site
When you register both, pick one as the main and make the other a permanent redirect to it. Do not publish the same site on both addresses: search engines see two copies and cannot tell which to show. See 301 redirects when you change a page or a domain. E-mail addresses are also chosen on one domain, the main one. The price of each extension is on the domain pricing page.
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Changing domain after the site has grown costs traffic and trust. The old addresses, the links from other sites, the printed cards and the e-mail signatures all keep pointing to the old name. Think carefully before registering, because the decision stays with you for years. See how to choose the right domain for your business.
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Register the domain in your own name. Whether .com or national, the holder must be you or your company, not whoever built the site. See who owns the domain.
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Want to see whether your chosen name is free on both extensions? Search here.
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