# Why a dot .ca domain CAN BE a bad idea for Canadian businesses



## MapleDots__ (Oct 17, 2021)

> Let me start this article by saying that I have nothing against dot CA domains (.ca) and they are great . . . if (and only IF) you are 101% certain that you will never expand to international markets. Country Code Level Top Level Domains (CCTLDs for short) are great for local businesses that want to stay local and target local. The same goes for an Italian company buying a .IT or a French company buying a .FR domain. These CCTLDs will limit you to your local market for life, in more ways than one, and I'll explain why in this article.
> 
> Let me ask you this: do you know any American company using a dot US (.us) domain for their business? This domain extension exists, and yet no American company bothers with it. They almost always want the dot COM. Occasionally, they will settle for a .net, .co or .org, but they always want the .com first. In my opinion, this symbolizes quite well the American state of mind when it comes to doing business: we're not going after the US market alone, we're going after the world!
> 
> ...




[ Read more... ]


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## MapleDots__ (Oct 17, 2021)

*The author forgets one important point...
*
Canadian businesses are trusted worldwide and running on a .ca is not necessarily bad when doing business outside of Canada, especially if the website charges in CAD. Our currency is great value when compared to the US dollar for instance and just like with holidays American consumers know they can maximize their currency by shopping in CAD.

Additionally the trust factor of dealing within Canada definitely comes into play and there are numerous companies doing business outside of Canada and running on a .ca


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## theinvestor__ (Oct 17, 2021)

There are many valid points in there. Generally speaking though if you can’t get the .COM obviously the second option is .CA. 

Would I prefer .COM over any of my .CA? Absolutely. I’d be lying to say I would prefer .CA. 

The fact is there are many businesses in Canada that still only use .COM. It’s going to be that way for a very long time. 

The businesses that understand will own both .COM and .CA but we all know sometimes both may not be attainable.


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## Esdiel (Oct 17, 2021)

Maybe they're just trying to make themselves feel better about not owning this:


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## DomainRecap (Oct 17, 2021)

It's the old reign in hell vs serve in heaven argument. 

For the same amount of money, you can buy a long, god-awful .COM on the aftermarket or a shorter more-premium .CA. 

To me, the shorter & higher-quality .CA domain is a far better deal for the vast majority of Canadian businesses. and will almost immediately raise your profile and create all kinds of benefits in terms of recognition, advertising, promotion, email, and word-of-mouth. 

For a real-life example, I helped a company get an LLL.ca for their business (they used a long 2-word .COM previously) and even years later, every time I talk to them, they have stories of how customers and business contacts are extremely impressed with the domain and say things like "Well, I'll never forget that domain (or email)" and "Wow, how did get that domain?". Also, I still hear about how much easier it is to fit a 3-letter on advertising and business cards, along with how well it works with communicating emails and your site address over the phone. No mixups.

If you already own your core brand in .COM, something usually reserved for the largest Canadian banks and firms, then the point is moot, but for the other 99.9% of companies, moving from a long, lower-end .COM to a shorter, higher-end .CA is the gift that keeps on giving.


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## Esdiel (Oct 17, 2021)

I definitely see a lot more .CAs on Canadian television than .COMs.


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## theinvestor__ (Oct 17, 2021)

You definitely see more .CA on TV but the fact remains most small businesses and even some medium size businesses still only use .COM. 

I looked into this recently through whois and there are now 27M domains which are registered in Canada. I think that speaks for itself.


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## Esdiel (Oct 17, 2021)

theinvestor said:
			
		

> You definitely see more .CA on TV but the fact remains most small businesses and even some medium size businesses still only use .COM.
> 
> I looked into this recently through whois and there are now 27M domains which are registered in Canada. I think that speaks for itself.



Not that I don’t believe you, but can you provide us with something as proof?

And do .COMs owned by Canadian domain investors, or domains just not in use, really count? Canada only has a population of 37 million people…


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## theinvestor__ (Oct 17, 2021)

I have a lot of data I keep for myself but I will see if I can find the information on a free site. In the past I believe domaintools had a lot of that information. 

Maybe someone else can comment if they know where it’s available for free? 

I did a check roughly two weeks ago through my own program and it resulted in 27 million domains registered in Canada. In the U.S I believe there was 160M domains.

In regards to domains not in use…that’s going to happen in every extension.


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## theinvestor__ (Oct 17, 2021)

That was easier finding than I thought…

See image.


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## Esdiel (Oct 17, 2021)

Thanks!

Domain investors aside, I guess my point is that companies like Canadian Tire own thousands of domains, most of which aren't .CAs, but they still use .CA.

And the fact that something like 90% of commercials include a .CA speaks for itself, for me at least.

I know we probably won't agree on this issue, but that's fine and I'm always happy to learn new things.


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## theinvestor__ (Oct 17, 2021)

Esdiel said:
			
		

> Thanks!
> 
> Domain investors aside, I guess my point is that companies like Canadian Tire own thousands of domains, most of which aren't .CAs, but they still use .CA.
> 
> ...



We have a lot of domain investors in Canada that started with .com. So I’m sure that makes a difference but not a significant difference that you would say it’s simply domain investors driving up the number. I started with owning .com domains and it’s really unfair comparing the two. The amount of offers that you receive for .com domains is massive compared to .ca but again that market is worldwide.


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## DomainRecap (Oct 17, 2021)

theinvestor said:
			
		

> You definitely see more .CA on TV but the fact remains most small businesses and even some medium size businesses still only use .COM.



From my experience, this is just companies being cheap/frugal. 

They look up their brand in .COM, and it's either in use or selling for a fortune, then they go to the .CA and again, find it either in use or priced beyond what they want to pay, so it falls on the 3rd option of "whatever the hell I can hand-reg" and if nothing is appealing in .CA, they always use some godawful super-long .COM as a fallback. 

I mean, if we're talking about a company running under joesautobodyshopca.com, then that's neither here nor there in terms of our conversation, as this guy either has no clue or no money or just doesn't give a crap.

Now if small and medium-sized businesses start forking over 6- and 7-figure prices for premium .COMs, while ignoring the corresponding .CA priced much lower, then we may have a problem, but I do not see that happening. It's just Average Joes looking for whatever is available for $10.


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## moosk (Oct 17, 2021)

This is definitely not true:



> you have virtually no chance at ranking outside of Canada's searches



(that said, I wouldn't use .ca for a non-Canadian audience.)


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## MapleDots__ (Oct 17, 2021)

moosk said:
			
		

> This is definitely not true:
> 
> 
> 
> (that said, I wouldn't use .ca for a non-Canadian audience.)




Exactly, if that were the case .co and .io would not rank outside of their home country.

ccTLD's can rank as high as any other domain


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## DomainRecap (Oct 18, 2021)

MapleDots said:
			
		

> Exactly, if that were the case .co and .io would not rank outside of their home country.



But .CO and .IO are not true ccTLDs and due to open non-resident ownership and worldwide usage patterns, Google ranks them similar to .COM and other generic TLDs.


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## MapleDots__ (Oct 18, 2021)

DomainRecap said:
			
		

> But .CO and .IO are not true ccTLDs and due to open non-resident ownership and worldwide usage patterns, Google ranks them similar to .COM and other generic TLDs.




Not sure if you cannot consider them TRUE ccTLD's because they also represent their individual countries. True they have been opened up but I have seen .ca websites on the international stage that rank right up there on google as well.

I am really trying to remember what site I saw, I remember thinking... wow they are using a .ca for world commerce.

It will come to me eventually and I will post back when it does.


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## DomainRecap (Oct 18, 2021)

MapleDots said:
			
		

> Not sure if you cannot consider them TRUE ccTLD's because they also represent their individual countries.



While the countries still own ccTLDs like .CO, .IO, .TV, .CC, etc. and receive revenue, they are no longer true ccTLDs and Google equates them with generic TLDs like .COM/.NET/etc. in terms of search results, with no local bump. 

Once a ccTLD opens up its market to the world (thus representing a global client base), this automatically changes how Google Search handles it. It effectively switches to a 2-letter gTLD for searches.


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## Esdiel (Oct 18, 2021)

Where do ccTLDs like .CO.UK, .DE and .CN fall then? 

I would consider those true/popular ccTLDs, but can't those be registered by anyone as well?


EDIT: Not trying to be a smart ass here. Asking a real question because i don't know. 

Does anyone really know these things for certain, besides Google? Would this info be published anywhere?


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## theinvestor__ (Oct 18, 2021)

I think when you want factual information you just need to go right to the source. 

https://developers.google.com/searc...en&visit_id=637701754700733859-875935548&rd=1


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## Esdiel (Oct 18, 2021)

theinvestor said:
			
		

> I think when you want factual information you just need to go right to the source.
> 
> https://developers.google.com/searc...en&visit_id=637701754700733859-875935548&rd=1



Can't say I understand all of it but lots of interesting stuff here. Thanks.

I found the very last part particularly interesting:



> *Generic top-level domains*
> 
> Generic top-level domains (gTLDs) are domains that aren't associated with specific locations. If your site has a generic top-level domain such as .com, .org, or any of the domains listed below, and wants to target users in a particular geographic location, explicitly set a country target using one of the methods described previously.
> 
> ...


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## Esdiel (Oct 19, 2021)

> Let me ask you this: do you know any American company using a dot US (.us) domain for their business? This domain extension exists, and yet no American company bothers with it.



This is a **** argument too btw. He picks the absolute worst ccTLD to make his point, and ignores how successful so many other ccTLDs are around the world.

Like Morgan Linton and others have said many times, .COM is the United States’ ccTLD… Although I think .US can only continue to improve before getting worse. Zoom.us also gave them a little boost at least.

Again, I’m pretty sure they’re just bitter about not owning the .CA after all these years. It’s been owned by someone else since 2006…


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## theinvestor__ (Oct 19, 2021)

I am not really sure they are bitter. I mean the .com has been registered since 1997. There are truly many out there that don’t care about .CA. 

I even had someone negotiate with me for a .com (in the mean time they hand registered the .ca) domain. It took a bit to negotiate and complete the sale. Once they took over the .com shortly after their registration lapsed for the .CA. 

This is just one example how there are still many that still prefer .com. I would like to see CIRA do a bit more than just a couple of commercials to promote .CA.


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## Esdiel (Oct 19, 2021)

I'm starting to lose sight about what exact issue we're discussing here. I never said .COM wasn’t king. It is, and everyone knows it. 

I’d trade in almost all my .CA domains for the .COMs tomorrow if I could, because I would make more money. But that’s not realistic or going to happen, and I could never own all the equivalents in .com. The .COM isn’t my ballgame, nor is it the ballgame of most people here on a .CA forum. The fact .COM is king worldwide also doesn't speak to the popularity of .CA within Canada.

The fact that a Canadian company called "Ottawa Life" is going out of their way to argue why .CA can bad for business certainly aligns with my hypothesis. And just because they might not have cared about ottawalife.ca prior to 2006 doesn't mean they don't care today.


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## DomainRecap (Oct 20, 2021)

Esdiel said:
			
		

> Where do ccTLDs like .CO.UK, .DE and .CN fall then?



Those are tweener ccTLDs, with enough history and country usage to remain ccTLDs under Google search and anyone buying one realizes its main usage will be for business within Germany, China, UK, etc.

And Google did outline how its search engine handles global 2-letter domains like TV, CO, CC, IO, et al, and it was as a gTLD. These are smaller countries (other than maybe Columbia) with virtually no historical country-specific user base and they have all embraced the worldwide market


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## DomainRecap (Oct 20, 2021)

theinvestor said:
			
		

> when you want factual information you just need to go right to the source.



Yep, and it was exactly what I said previously - Google treats global ccTLDs like CO, IO, CC, ME, TV, etc. as gTLDs for search purposes.


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## DomainRecap (Oct 20, 2021)

Esdiel said:
			
		

> I’d trade in almost all my .CA domains for the .COMs tomorrow if I could, because I would make more money.



You would also spend more money, as investing in COM is exponentially more expensive than CA. And there is a big reason for that, as the COM market is also exponentially much larger than CA. 

It all comes down to value and whether you can turn your domain investment into profit, and do so in a timely manner that allows additional investment and a consistent cash flow.


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## DomainRecap (Oct 20, 2021)

Esdiel said:
			
		

> This is a **** argument too btw. He picks the absolute worst ccTLD to make his point, and ignores how successful so many other ccTLDs are around the world.



This PR guy (*who may technically be Canadian but has lived and worked in the US for well over a decade*) obviously has an agenda (or is a moron) as there are plenty of examples that clearly support the opposite finding, such as DE, which is much, much, much more popular in Germany than COM. Similar to IN in India or .UK or .EU or .TW or .FR, etc.

.US sucks in terms of popularity because .COM is effectively the US ccTLD and nothing will ever change that.


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## DomainRecap (Oct 20, 2021)

It's also a very self-serving article, as this (cough) Canadian (cough) has been running a NY-based web development firm https://ironmonk.com/ since 2010 and quite obviously has a .COM horse in this race. The article is almost-certainly a feeble attempt to drum up .COM "upgrades" for poor Canadian businesses.

And Iron Monk in NY also has a subsidiary/partner in Canada which uses the following CA domain, LOL: https://littledragon.ca/


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## moosk (Oct 20, 2021)

DomainRecap said:
			
		

> It's also a very self-serving article, as this (cough) Canadian (cough) has been running a NY-based web development firm https://ironmonk.com/ since 2010 and quite obviously has a .COM horse in this race. The article is almost-certainly a feeble attempt to drum up .COM "upgrades" for poor Canadian businesses.
> 
> And Iron Monk in NY also has a subsidiary/partner in Canada which uses the following CA domain, LOL: https://littledragon.ca/



This entire "article" likely all for the backlink in the bio section.


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## Eby__ (Oct 21, 2021)

DomainRecap said:
			
		

> And Iron Monk in NY also has a subsidiary/partner in Canada which uses the following CA domain, LOL: https://littledragon.ca/



Don't know when this Little Dragon will grow up to be a Big Dragon!!

BTW, BigDragon.ca is still available at the time of posting this and BigDragon.com is available for purchase, if they really are thinking of expanding!! LOL


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## Eby__ (Oct 21, 2021)

moosk said:
			
		

> This entire "article" likely all for the backlink in the bio section.



I would agree with you on that.


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