.CA domain or .com…or both – what’s best for your business?

What if you could influence how customers perceive and discover your website…with the letters that go to the right of the dot in your domain name?  

We’re talking, of course, about top-level domains (TLDs), which sometimes get overlooked and misunderstood.   

We’re going to show you how picking the right TLD for your business’ website can help you reach your desired audience, get ranked higher by search engines—and even be seen as more trustworthy.  

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Let’s back up: What is a top-level domain?

A TLD is the last segment in a domain name. TLDs can be “generic” (like .com), while others have been created for specific countries and geographies, like .CA for Canada.  

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Is picking a TLD a big deal to my business?

In a word—yes! Your choice of TLD can help users immediately identify your website and business’ geography, overall purpose and ownership.  

To choose the right TLD, you need to have a solid understanding of your business. Ask yourself the following questions: 

• Where do you expect to be doing business? Exclusively within Canada? Or is your business international? 
• What kind of audience or visitors are you trying to attract?  

Now, for one of the biggest TLD-related questions: should I go with .com or .CA?

Yes, .com is the most popular TLD out there…but we could spend days raving about the many, very real benefits of choosing .CA! Here’s the short version.  

You should register a .CA TLD if you’re: 

• Operating a Canadian business targeting Canadian customers. That .CA TLD shows everyone that you and your website are Canadian. Plus, strict Canadian Presence Requirements mean that only real Canadian people and organizations can access and register a .CA domain.

Having a .CA domain is especially appropriate if your business offers products and services confined to a specific geographic area—like a Calgary, AB-based restaurant, for example. 

Another big advantage: Canadian consumers are pretty gosh-darn loyal to .CA. We’ve found 85% of Canadians prefer to be on a .CA domain than a .com when supporting local businesses.* 

*Research conducted in 2022 by the Strategic Counsel 

• Looking to soak up all those tasty Canadian SEO benefits. Having a .CA TLD tells search engines like Google that your website and/or business is Canadian. This is hugely beneficial, as your site will be ranked higher in search results pages when customers search for businesses like yours within Canada. Higher search rankings mean far greater visibility and more clicks. 

As a bonus: when someone uses Google.ca rather than Google.com, search results will tend to favour .CA websites. 

• Selling online and shipping to Canadians in Canadian currency. Canadian customers tend to gravitate towards businesses with .CA TLDs, as there’s peace-of-mind knowing they’re going to be charged in Canadian dollars for their goods. What’s more—customers like knowing you ship within Canada, so they’re not going to get dinged for additional cross-border duties and taxes. 

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So, .CA or .com? Or both?

In other words, can you have your .CA cake and .com too? Absolutely.  

As we covered, a .CA domain can deliver oodles of benefits to your business site. But—and there is a big but coming—having a .com domain can be helpful if you plan on expanding internationally at some point.  

In this case, it is best to get a .CA and forward it to your .com domain. The .CA will help you attract Canadian customers and .com will help your site rank better against other international results.  

Here’s the thing: domain names generally aren’t all that expensive. So, it’s never a bad idea to register .CA and .com domains—even just to protect your brand and prevent a competitor from scooping up the .com version of your .CA domain name. Think of it as cheap insurance. 

Curious if your business domain name is available as a .CA? Use our free domain name search tool today! 

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Crafting Your Brand’s Online Identity with CIRA’s Meghan Graham