Dot ORG and Commercial use

[gorilla1]

Is it kosher to set up a commercial site on a dot org address? When you go to submit to search engines, will they reject the site or handle it any differently?

G

[MCookie]

If you play by the rules there's no search engine that will reject a dot.org. But depending on your keywords and search terms it may be more difficult to rank really high. A dot.com has more weight, so to speak.
Another disadvantage may be that no one expects a commercial site behind a dot.org.

[redbeth]

My understanding is that it is more of a convention than a rule, you'd have to check the specific search engines' requirements to see if they place different suffixes differently.

If you can't get the .com try .biz as .org is used by non-profits and schools, it tends to imply not-for-profit or organization.

[whackaxe]

if you cant get a .com try for a .net instead of a .org, it looks better

[brothercake]

I would consider it bordering on fraudelent to do that. One of the directors at the company where I work wanted to do that, for the purpose of adding credibility in the eyes of public sector clients, but I point-blank refused to have anything to do with it; he backed down when I implied that we could be sued for misrepresentation, which we probably could have been, had we done it.

So I would seriously suggest you not.

[gorilla1]

Ya, well I'm in the position of trying to influence soemone that it is not a good idea, but I was hoping there was something definitive I could pin it on (like the search engines would reject it, or there was some form of enforcement, etc.).

G