.Best vs .com

    Same footing in Google. More clicks for .Best.

    Google ranks .Best and .com sites by the same rules. The difference shows up in the click: in a controlled Google Ads test, identical ads won 20% more clicks on .Best and paid 8% less per click.

    Updated

    +20%

    click-through rate on .Best ads

    1.48% vs 1.23%, identical ads

    −8%

    average cost per click

    $9.14 vs $9.95

    +11%

    more clicks from 8% fewer impressions

    80 clicks vs 72

    −21%

    cost per click for movers

    $9.41 vs $11.93

    Side by side

    What changes, and what does not.

    .Best.com
    Technical standingIANA, ICANNGeneric top-level domain in the internet's root zone since 2014, run on CentralNic's registry platform.Generic top-level domain in the root zone since 1985.
    Google rankingsGoogle Search CentralEqual footing: Google treats new generic TLDs like .com and says keywords in a TLD give no advantage or disadvantage.Equal footing.
    Clicks on identical adsGlobeRunner, controlled Google Ads test+20% click-through rate: 80 clicks from 5,398 impressions, from the same average position.72 clicks from 5,854 impressions.
    Cost per clickSame test−8% average cost per click, and −21% in the movers campaign.Baseline.
    What the name saysPeec, 5M fan-out queries, April 2026Carries “best”, the word ChatGPT adds to 24.3% of its hidden searches for advice questions.Says the site is commercial, not what it offers.
    Where to buyRegistry figure; TLD-List300+ accredited registrars; first-year prices from about $1 at entry level.Accredited registrars.

    You don't have to choose: a .Best name can run campaigns or a category site alongside an existing .com.

    The test

    Two identical campaigns. Only the domain changed.

    GlobeRunner, a Dallas search marketing agency, built matched pairs of sites for local trades where people search for “the best” provider, such as DallasMovers.Best and DallasMoversBest.com, and ran them side by side on Google Ads. The domain appeared in the ad's display URL and was the page each click landed on.

    AdDallasAirConditioning.Best

    Best AC Company in Dallas

    Want To Find The Best Air Conditioning Company In Dallas?

    AdDallasAirConditioningBest.com

    Best AC Company in Dallas

    Want To Find The Best Air Conditioning Company In Dallas?

    The same ad, word for word. Searchers saw only the address change.

    Held identical on both sides

    • The same ad copy: two headlines and two descriptions, four ads per campaign
    • The same 232 keywords on both sides, from “dallas movers” to “best air conditioning repair dallas”
    • The same bid on every keyword, on .Best and on .com
    • The same landing page, tailored per trade but identical across the pair
    • Google Search network only: no display ads, no ad extensions
    • Google's recommended optimized ad delivery on every campaign

    232 keywords, four trades

    Each list ran on the .Best and the .com campaign alike.

    Movers
    78
    Dentist
    64
    Fencing
    56
    Air conditioning
    34

    68 of the 232 keywords contain “best”, the word a .Best address repeats.

    The results

    More clicks, from fewer impressions, for less per click.

    Both sides held the same average position on the page, 2.0, and their Quality Scores showed no statistically significant difference. What changed was the share of searchers who chose to click.

    All four trades.Best.comDifference
    Impressions5,3985,854−8%
    Clicks8072+11%
    Click-through rate1.48%1.23%+20%
    Average cost per click$9.14$9.95−8.1%
    Total spend$731.49$716.66+2%
    Average position2.02.0Same
    Clicks
    .best
    80
    .com
    72

    8 more clicks for .Best: 11% more.

    Impressions
    .best
    5,398
    .com
    5,854

    456 fewer impressions on .Best, yet more clicks.

    Total spend
    .best
    $731.49
    .com
    $716.66

    2% more spend bought 11% more clicks.

    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%    Movers
    1.03%1.46%
    +42%    Air conditioning
    1.37%1.83%
    +33%    Dentist
    0.88%1.05%
    +19%    Fencing
    3.94%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

    Trade by trade

    .Best won three of four head-to-heads.

    The biggest gains came in the trades with the most expensive clicks.

    Movers

    DallasMovers.Best vs DallasMoversBest.com

    .Best ahead

    +42%

    click-through rate

    21.1%

    cost per click, cheaper

    .best
    .com
    Clicks
    26
    20
    Impressions
    1,780
    1,940
    CTR
    1.46%
    1.03%
    Avg. CPC
    $9.41
    $11.93

    30% more clicks from fewer impressions, $2.52 less per click, at the same position.

    Air conditioning

    DallasAirConditioning.Best vs DallasAirConditioningBest.com

    .Best ahead

    +33%

    click-through rate

    10.4%

    cost per click, cheaper

    .best
    .com
    Clicks
    15
    12
    Impressions
    819
    873
    CTR
    1.83%
    1.37%
    Avg. CPC
    $9.82
    $10.96

    25% more clicks from fewer impressions, $1.14 less per click.

    Dentist

    DallasDentist.Best vs DallasDentistBest.com

    .Best ahead

    +19%

    click-through rate

    7.4%

    cost per click, cheaper

    .best
    .com
    Clicks
    25
    23
    Impressions
    2,387
    2,605
    CTR
    1.05%
    0.88%
    Avg. CPC
    $9.01
    $9.73

    More clicks from 218 fewer impressions, and $0.72 less per click.

    Fencing

    DallasFencing.Best vs DallasFencingBest.com

    No gain

    −1%

    click-through rate

    13.2%

    cost per click, dearer

    .best
    .com
    Clicks
    14
    17
    Impressions
    358
    432
    CTR
    3.91%
    3.94%
    Avg. CPC
    $8.17
    $7.22

    Both versions already drew a very high click-through rate and performed alike; here .com clicks cost less.

    At scale

    Small per click. Large per year.

    Google prices ads partly on quality, and expected click-through rate is one of the signals it weighs in every auction. An address searchers click more often helps an advertiser hold the same position for less, and the saving compounds with every click.

    • Movers: $2.52 saved on every click, at the same position.
    • High-value trades: the more a click costs, the more each point of saving is worth.

    Illustration

    What 8.1% off every click is worth

    The test's average saving applied to your volume. Your result depends on your market: run your own split test to measure it.

    $805.95

    per month

    $9,671.40

    per year

    What search marketers said

    Not a novelty: a click advantage.

    “The results of your experimentation clearly demonstrates that user awareness of TLD’s extends to GTLD’s too and they are not just a novelty item to get more type-in traffic.”
    Eli Schwartz · then Director of Marketing, SurveyMonkey
    “I love the idea of using new gTLDs to increase your AdWords CTR and lower your average CPC.”
    David Iwanow · SEO expert
    “10% of your CPC might only be a dollar, but an accident attorney could save a lot.”
    Scott Hendison · CEO, Search Commander, Inc.
    “I am not at all surprised that .BEST domains received higher CTR.”
    Steve Wiideman · President, Wiideman Consulting Group

    Quoted in GlobeRunner's .BEST vs .COM case study.

    The agency's conclusion

    After hundreds of keywords, thousands of impressions and several industries, GlobeRunner said it would choose a .Best domain over a .com for its Google Ads campaigns.

    Read the fine print

    What the evidence does not say.

    One controlled test.

    The click and cost figures come from a single test across four local service sectors, with 152 clicks in total. Click-through rose in three sectors; in fencing the two domains performed alike.

    No ranking bonus.

    A .Best name does not rank higher by itself. Its advantage is the click: Google's systems learn from interaction data, so more clicks at the same position can help over time.

    Your market may differ.

    Run your own split test: identical ads to identical pages on .Best and on your current domain show the difference in your market.

    Sources and method in the white paper; the AI side in the ChatGPT study and the ranking research.

    The .Best research

    The evidence behind .Best.