So I have a question that is pretty well probably well known to most but I have been struggling and debating. How powerful is a .com address for the search engines in the domain or is keeping the exact keywords with a .net the best option. i.e. keywords of fluffy kitty fluffykitty.net or kittyfluffy.com which one holds more weight?
By registering or buying the cheaper .net or .org equivilent, building out the site, and ranking well for the keyword + net, or +org, you increase the value of the domain name markedly. Sure, you're one step away from pure domaineering and you still have Google to contend with, but you'll be head and shoulders above those who are undervaluing these names.
yea , for me i think .com better , as i see on domain marketplace ... i have .info domain (3) and still try hard to sell it ...
But if you are willing to do the marketing to get your site promoted, does it matter between the .com and .net?
You can not sell the .info as easy because they are useless especially when the content involved is generally feeder driven and an overall general theme. The usual tld bonus google gives you in particluar SE you dont get for .info. Info is a general tld and is not category restricted. This doesnt react well in a search engines that require specific categories and authorities to be created in its index.
.com is king in my opinion. Consumers don't think about things like .net or .org or even .tv or other "nifty" TLDs If you build up a .net - you'll also be building your competitor's .com and losing the traffic that you've worked hard to build. Search leans towards .com especially when the engines see the type in grow for the .com (even though you rightfully built up the traffic on your .net) The best example in the world - even craigslist who made the .org popular bought the .com
Personally, I think the whole .info is inferior to all other tld's is a little overblown. With that being said, I think whether or not .info is acceptable depends on the market and what you are using it for exactly. I agreed with Bruclogos and pmspinner's comments as well. Really, As I said before, It depends on your needs. From what I can gather from your post, I would advise you to just get both....
If you are shooting for the same keyword in both .com and .net, then .com for sure, no questions asked. If it is reversed and you are comparing fluffykitty.net and kittyfluffy.com, I would personally prefer the .net as this is an exact match for the keywords you are targeting. Having the .com of the keyphrase you are targeting holds the most advantage.
.com always comes in first. And if your ideal .com domain is taken, buy it or change it to a new .com . Don't settle for a .net
I agree that the .com is the best TLD for the reasons stated by those above, but I have a different opinion on the EXACT example that you have given: All things being equal EXCEPT for the actual domain itself, if "fluffy kitty" was the EXACT keyword that was typed into the SE, then the exact keyword .net would rank better for that search than the "reversed" .com . This is assuming that both sites have the same PR, same backlinks, and the same SEO.
I recently read on Google webmaster content that domains targeting a particular country will come up first over other domains. For example, Carmaster.de hosted in Germany versus Carmaster.com hosted in the USA. If a German searchs for car master, Google would give more precidence to the Carmaster.de domain. I sure hope that .com doesnt buy some big advantage over other domain extensions because the whole point of .com/.net/.ph/.whatever is that you expand the domain names available. It was getting harder and harder to get a decent domain with only .com available.