Is there any particular advantage I will derive by registering a domain name that contains dot NG? I’m just curious. I’ve noticed that quite a good number of Nigerian hosting companies are wooing their customers to buy the NG tld domain names. Here are some of the arguments they put forth for the promotion of dot NG among Nigerian webmasters:
- Using dot NG will enable organizations and individual to use domain names that are otherwise not available. For example, while it might be impossible (or uneconomical, due to high pricing) to purchase short and memorable names that had already been taken up by the early birds, it is now possible to have same using .ng.com or .org.ng as the case may be. For example, you can’t get www.love.com, but you can easily purchase www.love.com.ng
- The use of NG will easily identify a domain as belonging to a Nigerian business or entrepreneur.
- Search engines may rank dot NG domains higher for subjects relating to Nigeria.
While those arguments sounds logical, only the first argument really holds ground. Even though this website is registered as .com, yet it is well identified as a Nigerian website because the content focuses on Nigerian Entrepreneurs and issues pertaining to Nigerians. Also, search engines will list Wikipedia first before any other website if it has sufficient content to cover an issue even if the issue is 100% Nigerian.
In order words, while it is desirable to have a short and memorable domain name, I don’t buy the idea that registering my website as .ng is of any advantage to ranking in SERP. In order words, calling your website www.nigeria.com.ng does not guarantee you traffic from Nigerian web users.
If you write or provide information that Nigerian web users need, they will come seeking for your site. It doesn’t matter if it was named www.nigeria.co.uk.
Also, many web users are “lazy” and “hasty” they often ignore the prefix that follows the dot. So they end up typing .com at the end of any url they put in their browser. So registering www.love.com.ng may not be an effective method of sharing from the traffic of www.love.com.
The only reason why I will subscribe to using dot NG is because it is Nigerian and I’m Proudly Nigerian. I won’t assume that buying a domain name that contains dot NG will increase my traffic. Well, that is my candid opinion. I’m waiting to hear your argument in favor or against the use of dot NG. Cheers.