Poll: Do You Trust More .net or .org Domains?

We all know that a .com extension is always the best way to go for a commercial or content website. Educational institutions might prefer .edu, and some people targeting a specific country might prefer a local extension like .co.uk, but on all other cases .com is king.

Unfortunately, finding a good and available .com domain these days is a tough task, and often times people need to settle for a .net or .org. Usually, in fact, only the .com version of their wanted domain will be taken, while both the .net and .org will be still available. In those situations, do you think the person should go with a .net or with a .org?

Notice that I am not asking what is your personal preference, but if you trust more a .net or a .org domain?

Suppose you were searching in google for “video games.” There are only two results: videogames.net and videogames.org. Which one would you click if you could check only one of them?

Have your say in our poll! (RSS and email subscribers might need to visit the website to see the poll)

Do you have more trust in .net or .org domains? ( surveys)

Daniel Scocco on October 21, 2008 Subscribe to our RSS Feed

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42 Responses to “Poll: Do You Trust More .net or .org Domains?”

Ruchir Chawdhry on October 21st, 2008 9:01 am

I generally tend to trust .net domains more than .org ones. I’d click videogames.net instead of videogames.org, of course assuming all other things such as desc. and title are the same…
Daniel Scocco on October 21st, 2008 9:08 am

@Ruchir, yeah all other things are equal.
Hussein on October 21st, 2008 9:08 am

I first trust .com domains as I think they are more original and there are some tendency that the site .net and .org are just a clone site.

In the poll, answer .net We all know that first is .com then.net then .org then .info ^_^
Danny Cooper on October 21st, 2008 9:15 am

If I was searching for a games website I would click the .net, as I familiarise games with .net, if it was a informational site, or an official site I would choose .org.
banji on October 21st, 2008 9:16 am

I however tend to trust .org

The newbie in me seem to associate .org with association. Hey, there’s a formal organization for it, it must be “more” trustworthy

That said, no one should put his entire trust on the net (by net I mean the internet)
Joel Drapper on October 21st, 2008 9:22 am

I trust .com domain names first, but out of those two I think it is .net. I am not sure why, but it just it.
SEO Genius on October 21st, 2008 9:23 am

I wouldn’t choose over the domain extension but more over which is first in the search results.
Daniel Scocco on October 21st, 2008 9:37 am

@Hussein, I am not sure if “we all know.” The poll is saying more people trust .org domains over .net ones.

@Seo Genius, suppose they came side by side .
Matej on October 21st, 2008 9:42 am

.org surely. From mine experience, there are a lot of high quality sites on .org domain name. I tend to think many people choose .org for official sites.

Although, I think it’s more fore static sites.

.net tends to be more … spamy? I see a lot of sites with .net domain name that only generate content from feeds, never liked them …

And I always liked sites on .tv domains, that’s maybe because I visit a lot of them because of my site niche ….

everyone sees it different …
Matej on October 21st, 2008 9:43 am

By the way, don’t you just hate polls where you can’t see how many people voted
Daniel Scocco on October 21st, 2008 9:48 am

@Matej, I don’t, but thanks for letting me know that I might switch to numbers instead .
Alan on October 21st, 2008 9:54 am

I always think of .org as sites for charities, that yes, I would look at.

I can’t think of any .net sites that I have ever visited ?

So I guess my answer is .org
Christine on October 21st, 2008 10:32 am

I tend to trust .orgs more — just a gut feeling, I suppose. Which is why I chose a .org for my blog!
Rajaie AlKorani on October 21st, 2008 11:23 am

It really doesn’t make the slightest difference to me.

But since that doesn’t answer the question, I’ll vote for .net!
Tumblemoose on October 21st, 2008 11:23 am

I guess it kinda depends on what it was I was looking for in the first place. For some kinds of information, .org sites would have a bit more credibility in my book. the .net extension makes nary a difference to me in my search for information, credible or not.

Cheers!

George
SEO Genius on October 21st, 2008 11:25 am

Ha if they were side by side let alone by being shocked to see that come up. I would go off some thing else such as the title tag or description instead of the URL.

I am not trying to ruin your poll here just trying to express that the URL is one of the last things I usually glance over anything such as .org .net .com I will click on.
Jodith on October 21st, 2008 11:29 am

I voted .org because you didn’t give a “neither” choice.

Really, I don’t even notice the url most of the time. And we all know that any scammer out there can use a .org address.
Daniel Scocco on October 21st, 2008 11:34 am

@Seo Genius, I know that. The objective of the poll, however, was not to find how important the URL factor is for web users when accessing the trust of a website.

It was rather to check if, all other things being equal, they needed to choose between a .org and a .net domain, what they would do.
Jerry Ong on October 21st, 2008 11:37 am

.ORG give the better impression and it normally was for non-profit organization but who is behind the domain was more important for me
Rajeev Edmonds on October 21st, 2008 11:55 am

I would give preference to .net over .org, simply because my perception is that .org is normally associated with a non-profit organization.
Mr. I on October 21st, 2008 12:07 pm

I agree with Rajeev Edmonds and I trust .net more. .org = Non Profit Organisation. I am not interested in Non Profit Organisations.

Actually, I had to choose a .net domain for my blog because .com was already taken.
Desk Coder on October 21st, 2008 12:10 pm

I personally don’t care between .net and .org, meaning I see no difference. .info is the one I stay away from.
Bryan Knight on October 21st, 2008 12:17 pm

I voted for .net which is ironic given that I sold my .org site for 5 figures.
Ben Moreno on October 21st, 2008 2:40 pm

I think in the case of video games I would go for .net. But as in general trust I have found that most .org’s are positive and business focused.

There is, of course, exceptions to every rule.
Shoto Azikuri on October 21st, 2008 3:22 pm

I like mostly .com domain, but in this situation i vote for .net, it hear for me
Technotip.ORG on October 21st, 2008 3:42 pm

I would surly prefer .ORG
BioTeccK on October 21st, 2008 3:53 pm

I would definitely go for the .net!
Kurt Avish on October 21st, 2008 4:24 pm

Prefer .com but from .net or .org….. dnt you think a .info too is good for a blog? personal opinion.. I think a .info too sound good..for a blog sharing lots of information… of course the .com is still king.
Laura Christianson on October 21st, 2008 4:37 pm

I would tend to trust a .org extension, because my mind associates it with a non-profit organization.

Laura Christianson
co-founder, HeBlogsSheBlogs.com
Daniel Scocco on October 21st, 2008 4:39 pm

@kurt, stay away from .info, people associate those with spam blogs.
Ari on October 21st, 2008 8:01 pm

It depends on the topic. For video games, I prefer .net
Daniel Bates on October 21st, 2008 8:25 pm

Second place is the first LOSER…If I had to choose .net would have a slight edge. Technically they should serve different purposes. If it were a videogame NETwork site then it should be .net, if it were a video game ORGanization then it should be .net. Of course people in South Carolina are buying up .sc, which is some random countries domain affiliation, so the system makes no sense

My site is .net, because .com was taken, but I’ve since bought the .com as well.
Mr Javo on October 21st, 2008 8:53 pm

Definitively .org
Dennis Edell on October 22nd, 2008 8:43 am

I rarely trust .org at all since they opened the extension to the public.
Gemma Bristow on October 22nd, 2008 10:18 am

I would assume that an .org was less likely to show me adverts about gold farming, etc.
fromtheold.com on October 22nd, 2008 11:40 am

Now that’s a surprise for me. I thought most people trust .net way more than .org
Ted Murphy on October 22nd, 2008 4:16 pm

I usually come across this problem in the results of a search — and I always click on the link closer to the top, regardless of whether it is .net or .org (or even .com).

I guess that’s a pretty strong argument for SEO.
Michael on October 22nd, 2008 10:21 pm

I encourage people to find domains with all three available and then to reserve all three. Why lose visitors to your site because they can’t remember which extension appends your domain? Why risk inadvertently offending them because yoursite.com goes to an adult site or a spam site when yoursite.net is your site?
Chuck Anthony on October 23rd, 2008 2:01 pm

I believe .net is your best bet — .org, forget it; unless you’re an NPO.
Herman on October 24th, 2008 2:54 pm

There are many misconceptions being promoted in the comments.

The .com domain is intended for use by commercial sites (i.e. those whose purpose is to generate revenue, whether personal or corporate).

The .org domain is intended for use by organizations; most notably NGOs and other non-profits.

The .net domain is intended for, well, networks. Portals for families, groups of people sharing a common interest, etc.

When one advocates for the blurring of any of these delineations, the issue of identity dilution comes into play. Personally, I would be less likely to patronize a business who, upon finding that their preferred domain name has been taken, would resort to making use of a .org or .net namespace. Show some originality and devise another. Under the ‘net paradigm of today, few people just plug a brand into a location bar. Search engines do the work. A branded URL is somewhat irrelevant.

By the same token, I cringe when I see non-profits using .com for the sake of expediency or, worse, catering to the lowest common denominator (i.e. the average person will only try the .com domain to locate an organization). People should be give a little more credit. Should that concern reflect the truth, perhaps that demographic is one to be avoided.

I have not voted in the survey, because neither the .org nor the .net domain hold any greater sway over my trust. Properly implemented, they describe too entirely different entities. Truth be told, I am more likely to distrust a .com domain.
Kurt Avish on October 27th, 2008 1:21 am

Oops. Thanks for sharing Daniel. Didnt know about that. I’ll avoid a .info then. Was thinking to get one .info for my blogspot blog. The .com is already taken…i think I’ll look for a .net or .org or even if i can get a country TLD name like islandcrisis.mu -
Mike Pietrs on November 20th, 2008 1:55 pm

.Com means “Business”
.Org means “Charity or Professional Association”
.Net means “News”