Is .co a good alternative if .com is taken?

I agree with @mmerlinn
If com is not available, try to get one of the other more general TLDs, or if your website is country specific, then the TLD of your country.
These will be much better.

 

Good point. I stand corrected and will never comment after taking a sleeping pill again.

 

There is no alternative to .com

 

I feel like .co will always be in competition with .com
.com will always be winner in that challenge but, good SEO could get any TLD in theory to rank! Keep that in mind too.

 

Of course. With good and relevant SEO you can rank anything.

 

You will ultimately want a .com domain simply because it's the generic. Some people may think that a .co domain isn't an authority website or could be just spam, etc. Can you rank with a .co? Certainly, but it will take more effort and why would you want to put more effort into a .co rather than less effort in a .com?

 

.co is confusing for most laymen. So this depends on your target audience as well. .net or .org may be more common or relevant than .co if you can't get .com. If the startup is in tech or something similar, you could get away with a lot of things. But if the website is going to be the face of the operation, and not just a web presence, then I would choose, .com > .net > .org > .gTLDs after that.

 

I doubt this highly. Google does not really care as long as it is a legitimate, ICANN release domain.

Secondly, though .CO belongs to Colombia as a ccTLD, it was and still is branded/marketed as a short for Company. You can read up on the CO website.

 

.CO is a good choice.

Your domain should Ideally be close to the business you are in or be business-related if it is an out and out website for commercial purpose.

Domains that can fit this purpose are .COM, .BIZ and .CO definitely. Or even category specific would do. If it is a shopping website then .SHOP or if it is a website for tech products then .TECH works just fine.

Don't get into the SEO bit so soon for domains, because there are thousands of ways of ranking high. Most importantly, your domain name should be unique. This helps at an SEO level and also helps you to stand out as a brand. I consulted a company (startup) for e-commerce and they liked my .CO recommendation for the reason that it went well with the name of the brand.

So if you would take the name of the entire site, the whole name with a .CO domain sounded better. I had purchased the domain at a slashed price from BigRock ages ago.

Anyhow, I feel different experiences, different opinions but one thing is true, .CO is short for company which is written on the website of .CO itself. Be well informed and all the very best for your startup!

 

@Asgard2087
How I "market" my product does not matters to google, does it?
They are concerned with what the official version and purpose of a TLD is, isn't it?

 

I would either search for a two word domain or add an extra word to your four letter name, like Tech, etc. I agree you should avoid .co unless you are targeting residents of that country.

 

I would suggest that if you have only allocated budget just proceed to .co or .net domain extension that is suitable for your fund. There is no difference if your business site just to start up and focus on establishing its reputation from the users.

 

I also suggest that .com is better alternative for a globally centered website, secondly going with user's ease of access many of us just try "ctrl+enter" and that many of the mobile browser keypads have a quick access to .com button.

 

I have been seeing a lot of high end fashion brands promoting .CO on their advertisements. I think they are doing this just to be trendy (large brands already own .COM however - so .CO is novelty to them. But for average person .CO could be viable option if they market their brand hard using that TLD. It is true. For starters .COM could already be taken and/or they could only afford the cheaper TLD choice for practicality.