Does Google Care Which TLD You Use? Does TLD Affect SEO?
The short answer is that, no, the TLD you choose does not affect SEO. According to Matt Cutts, Google just tries to find the best content, regardless of TLD.
With that being said, the TLD you choose might have some indirect effects on SEO. For example, if you choose an odd, unknown TLD, visitors might have trouble remembering your site, which could lead to fewer inbound links. GrowthBadger conducted a study comparing top-level domains and found that .com domains are 33% more memorable.
Similarly, if you use an unfamiliar TLD, visitors might be less likely to click on your site in the search results due to a perception of spam, which could lower your CTR rate.
For example, in a survey of 1,000 people in the UK, VARN found that 70% of respondents didn’t trust newer, less well-known TLDs as much as popular TLDs, like .co .uk
