Benefits of acquiring a custom domain?
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Does anyone know whether changing to a domain name (such as a .com rather than a .wordpress.com ending in the site address) is actually likely to result in more visitors to the site and higher ranking on search engines…or is the only real benefit the fact that it looks better and more professional to have a .com ending?
Thank you in advance for any replies and explanations.
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It’s actually going to result in LOWER search engine rankings, but more people will be able to find your site if they don’t have the exact address, because if they know the name they usually guess whatever.com instead of whatever.wordpress.com
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Thank you very much, that’s useful to know. Out of curiosity though, why would it result in lower search engine rankings rather than higher or just staying the same?
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Becasue a subdomain of a HUGE domain like wordpress.com has more googlejuice than a brand new domain with no incoming links to it.
I, personally, always recommend the custom domain. It establishes your personal brand in a way that a subdomain never could.
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I’d opt for the domain name, for one big reason: legacy.
A custom domain name gives you freedom to move your site around, e.g. move from WordPress.com to WordPress.org, or move off of WordPress entirely – while still preserving the links coming in from other sites. They’re linking to yoursite.com, not yoursite.wordpress.com.
If everyone is linking to yoursite.wordpress.com and you move off to somewhere else or change your domain down the road, those links won’t work anymore, and you’l take a hit in search traffic.
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