Why is the .US country code domain extension so undeveloped in comparison with other country's cc tlds? Until recently I assumed it was a natural bias resulting from America being the pioneer in .com. But, I've learned that Google's search algorithms also cripple the .us domain.
Here's what I have found. Launch a handful of websites about different topics with generic descriptive domains like this: applepie.com, blueberrypie.net, peachpie.org, and strawberrypie.us. Assume that each variety of pie is an equally competitive search term. You will find out very quickly that all of your pie websites get ranked by Google for their respective 'exact match' keywords EXCEPT for your strawberrypie.us website. Your .us will not show up in the top 200 rankings even when the other websites are ranking in positions between 10 and 30.
Google wisely grants a ranking boost to an exact match domain. If you search for 'apple pie', it's reasonable to assume applepie.com is likely to have what you want. So why won't a search for 'strawberry pie' help you find strawberrypie.us?
Most likely the .us handicap was a result of local fight against search engine spammers. unfortunately, they have killed prospects for the extension. It's an insurmountable disadvantage for the extension.
The way things stand now, it's a fools errand to take a chance developing a .us website. That's a shame because the extension conveys important information that none of the other extensions do. An example: newcastlerestaurants.com - is that New Castle, USA or is it Newcastle UK? No confusion with newcastlerestaurants.us.
I'd love to see Google get behind the USA's country code by putting in on equal footing with .com, .org and .net. But, if it were me, I'd even give .us a little boost over the others because I believe it conveys more useful information... and maybe I'm also envious of the Brits, French, and Germans who all have a useful country code extension!
I wonder what the ramifications are for the .us registry NeuStar?
Will Google engineers have a change of heart if they look at this? I think they will. Although few have realized it at this point, .us domains are special and they will one day play a more important role in our online experience.
