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In the past 24 hours, both Google's John Mueller and Gary Illyes answered questions around top level domains and rankings. One was about a ranking boost and the other was on a ranking demotion. In short, Google generally does not demote a site because it uses a TLD and Google does not promote a site because it uses a TLD.
Eric asked Gary, is there a benefit for a lawyer to use a .lawyer TLD and Gary said no:
@stonetemple no
— Gary Illyes (@methode) November 7, 2016
David asked John if Google may discount all .XYZ or .IR domain names because they are most spammy. John said generally not, they try to demote on a granular level:
@davidiwanow We try to be granular and not just ignore whole TLDs.
— John Mueller (@JohnMu) November 8, 2016
Most of this is not new but I constantly have to remind folks of this. So here is some history:
- Google: New TLDs Have No Magical SEO Bonus
- Google: We Currently Treat New TLDs As gTLDs
- Google's John Mueller: Domain Name Search Engine Registration Is A Scam
- Google: New TLDs Have No Inherent Search Ranking Advantage
- Google: ccTLD & Wildcard Subdomain Strategies Won't Give You An "Unnatural Advantage"
- Google Temporarily Penalizes Blogspot & Info Domains
- Google Wipes Out Any Site On CO.CC
