The domain extension of your website can affect how your site is seen by search engines.
What is the difference between a global domain and a country-specific domain?
TLD stands for top level domain. This is the .com, .org, .co.zw etc part of your website name. Country specific TLDs contain country codes at the end, e.g .co.zw, .co.uk, .ca, .co.za etc. Global TLD are deemed international and broad e.g .com, .org, .net, .edu.
How Domain TLD Affect SEO Rankings
When it comes to choosing your domain extension you have to consider the target market. Are you targeting a local audience or everyone around the globe?
Benefits of Country-code TLD
When targeting local people its best to go for ccTLDs because what happens is this
Every time someone searches Google first tries to find websites within your proximity, area or country. If it fails to find any it expands its area of reach to other countries.
Local domain names are easy to rank as they compete less with big authority websites. With global domains you’ll most likely have to find more backlinks to build authority.
In addition, visitors are more likely to convert/ buy on a ccTLD tha gTLD. A Zimbabwean visitor will know that .co.zw is specific to his/her needs than .net or .org.
Disadvantage of Country-code TLD
Despite the benefits country-code domain names have limited search reach compared to global TLDs. When someone searches far away from your country Google will less likely show your results.
Now this is not always true. They are some underlying factors that can cause a webpage not show in some SERPs. Domain authority and type of search intent can cause one website to appear in search results despite having a ccTLD or not.
For example, commercial search intents like “price for” may result in more country-specific websites as Google knows that people usually buy locally. An informational search may show mixed websites (ccTLD or gTLD) depending on authority and relevancy.
