New Canadian targeted site - .ca or .com?

I'm starting a new store thats based in Canada and as such I mainly want to deal with Canadians.

I own both .com and .ca for the domain and am just wondering which I should use? Does google prefer .ca over .com if users are searching from Canada? Or should I just stick with .com as its what people default to? Any input would be appreciated!

 

I would use .ca. If your customers are from Canada .ca makes more sense. If someone is from Canada, they're more likely to shop with you (will have more trust in you) than someone with a .com international website.

 

.ca because you are targeting Canada and will help you in searches on Google.ca

 

.Ca as the main domain, but you should register .com version as well and just redirect it to .ca. Also from .ca there will be a SEO benefit.

 

301 redirect the .com to .ca but for some reason people remember .com a lot more often...

 

yeah thats what i was planning to do

thx

 

I personally would use the .com. That would help in future if you would like to expand for international countries.

 

.ca becauce you are targeting canadian people not global people

 

you can use .com but then backlinks from Canada needed

 

Its an interesting point
On the one hand it does help to have a .ca name to rank better in Google.ca
Many / if not most of your customers will be served automatically Google.ca without realizing it. Results of search engine results in Google.ca can vary markedly from those of Google.com
The ca is part of the calculation
On the other hand most people type .com automatically
If you have an email address they often will send it to rather than .ca - hence no mail
I would try to get both
Use the .ca as your main name
feed the com into it like a funnel
Don't have more than one domain feeding into the ca name
Use the com as a funnel
Also try to get canadian hosting rather than us
Google ca rewards that as well

 

use .ca

I find it makes a big difference at google.ca

 

.ca domain more beneficial to your site.

 

Yeah i wish i could get some good hosting in Canada, but as it is I have a lot of credits with Media Temple so im using them

 

does anybody have a good tutorial on the best way to redirect the .com to .ca?

 

you will rank better in google (for canada) if you use the .ca

also host the site from a canadian host

those two things make a big difference just realize you will most likely be NOWHERE to be seen in google.com for your keywords unless you have a big site with a LOT of inbound links

as far as redirecting the .com you do that from your registrar. the tutorial would depend on which registrar you have

 

I would use .ca for Canada.