+20%
more clicks on identical ads
GlobeRunner, Google Ads test
Best for SEO
Be the result people choose.Win the click, and Google learns from it.
A .Best domain starts on equal footing with .com in Google, then works through the click: a name that repeats the searcher's word wins more clicks at the same position, and Google's ranking and ad systems both learn from clicks.
−8%
lower cost per click; −21% for movers
Same test
~2×
as likely to click a domain holding the search keyword
Verisign, 11M results
25%
of relevance judgments flipped by showing the domain
Microsoft Research, WSDM 2012
How it works
From the name to the click to the ranking.
On a results page, the domain is one of the few elements a site owner fully controls. .Best puts the searcher's own word into it.
Equal footing from day one.
Google treats new generic TLDs such as .best exactly like .com and .org: keywords in a TLD give no advantage or disadvantage in search. A .Best site can rank anywhere a .com site can; whatever it adds, it adds to a level start.
The domain is on show.
Google now identifies each result by its site name, favicon and domain; since January 2025, mobile results show only the bare domain. A domain that says something uses that line to make a promise.
The address moves the choice.
Showing the domain flipped users' relevance judgments in about 25% of cases (Microsoft Research), and users were almost twice as likely to click a domain containing their keyword (Verisign).
Google learns from clicks.
Google says it uses aggregated interaction data to assess relevance; Navboost has used click data since about 2005 (U.S. v. Google testimony); the 2024 leak, confirmed authentic, names goodClicks and badClicks.
Paid clicks cost less.
Expected click-through rate is one of the quality signals Google weighs in every auction. In the only controlled test, identical .Best ads paid 8.1% less per click than .com, and 21.1% less for movers.
Easier to remember.
Easy-to-process names are judged more favourably (Alter and Oppenheimer, PNAS) and real-word names are recalled more often; a remembered name brings visitors back without another search or paid click.
The evidence
Same ads, same bids, same pages. Only the domain changed.
GlobeRunner, a Dallas search agency, ran matched Google Ads campaigns for four local service sectors, such as DallasMovers.Best against DallasMoversBest.com. The .Best ads earned 80 clicks from 5,398 impressions against 72 from 5,854, from the same average position (2.0), and paid less for each.
CTR was higher on .Best ads in three of four sectors
Google Ads click-through rate, identical ads and landing pages on .Best vs .com, four Dallas service sectors
- .com
- .best
Relative liftAll four sectors
1.23%1.48%
+20%Movers1.03%1.46%
+42%Air conditioning1.37%1.83%
+33%Dentist0.88%1.05%
+19%Fencing3.94%3.91%
−1%GlobeRunner, .BEST vs .COM Case Study, pp. 11–14 · 11,252 impressions, 152 clicks
.Best ads paid less per click overall and in three of four sectors
Average cost per click, identical Google Ads on .Best vs .com, four Dallas service sectors
- .com
- .best
SavingAll four sectors
$9.95$9.14
8.1%Movers$11.93$9.41
21.1%Air conditioning$10.96$9.82
10.4%Dentist$9.73$9.01
7.4%Fencing$7.22$8.17
−13.2%GlobeRunner, .BEST vs .COM Case Study, pp. 11–14 · average CPC by sector
This is one controlled test, of 152 clicks in all. Confirming a 20% lift with 95% confidence takes about 35,000 impressions per domain, which is why the white paper sets out how to run the same split test on your own account.
Why it matters more each year
Fewer clicks to go around.
Searchers decide fast: 5.7 seconds on average before the first click, and the top three results draw 59% of clicks (Nielsen Norman Group).
AI summaries make those clicks scarcer. Searchers clicked a traditional result on 8% of visits when an AI summary appeared, against 15% without one (Pew Research Center). A name that tips the choice recovers traffic competitors lose.
AI Overviews cut the clicks at every position, so each won click counts more
Organic click-through rate by position, Google US desktop, July 2026
- No AI Overview
- With AI Overview
20.02%
9.69%
10.36%
3.69%
3.89%
1.7%
Position 1
Position 2
Position 3
Advanced Web Ranking, organic CTR, Google US desktop, July 2026 · positions 1–3
Playbook
Getting the most from the click.
- 01
Win the click.
Write titles and descriptions that keep the promise of the address, so the result reads as one consistent answer.
- 02
Earn engagement.
Pages that satisfy the visitor turn extra clicks into the positive interaction signals Google's systems learn from.
- 03
Use the name in links.
Encourage partners and press to link with the domain itself as anchor text: a link to crm.best reads “CRM” and “best” by default.
- 04
Put .Best in the display URL.
That is where the GlobeRunner test found its click-through and cost-per-click gains.
- 05
Align ad, address and page.
Message match supports ad relevance and landing page experience, the other two quality components.
- 06
Run your own split test.
Identical ads to identical pages on .Best and your current domain show the gain in your market: about 35,000 impressions per arm for a 20% lift on a 1.23% CTR.
Honest limits
What it will not do.
It is not a ranking switch.
Keywords in a TLD give no advantage or disadvantage in Google. .Best works through the click, and Google has not published how heavily click signals are weighted among hundreds of others.
It does not replace the work.
Fast pages, clean internal linking, genuine backlinks and content that keeps the name's promise remain the base every ranking stands on.
Sources
- GlobeRunner, .BEST vs .COM Case Study (controlled Google Ads test, four Dallas sectors).
- Google Search Central, “Google's handling of new top level domains”, July 2015.
- Google, How Search Works: ranking results.
- Oard rebuttal testimony, United States v. Google, November 2023; Wikipedia, 2024 Google Search documentation leak.
- Google Ads Help: About Quality Score; Ad Rank; Expected clickthrough rate.
- Ieong et al., Domain Bias in Web Search, WSDM 2012 (Microsoft Research).
- Verisign, How keyword-rich domain names positively affect search click-through results.
- Nielsen Norman Group, The pinball pattern; Love at first sight.
- Advanced Web Ranking, Organic CTR, July 2026.
- Pew Research Center, Google users are less likely to click on links when an AI summary appears, July 2025.
- Alter and Oppenheimer (2006), PNAS.
Every figure, with links: the white paper. The chain from search to conversion, step by step: why it works.
Disclosure: domains.best is the registry operator of .Best.