Planning
.in or .com: a domain for an Indian business
Both endings work. The choice depends on who your customers are and whether you may sell abroad. This note sets out what Google says, a simple decision table and the ownership steps that matter more than the ending.
Your domain is the address of the website, such as yourbusiness.in or yourbusiness.com. The ending is a smaller decision than people expect, and the ownership of the domain is a bigger one. This note covers both.
What Google says about endings
Google describes a country-code domain, such as .in for India, as a strong signal that a site targets that country. It says a generic ending such as .com is not tied to a place, and that to target a country with a generic ending you use other signals, such as locale-specific addresses, hreflang annotations or explicit links. Google also says the ending is one geotargeting signal among several, with server location and local content details alongside it.
What follows from this: a .in address gives search engines a clear hint that you serve India. A .com address says nothing about place by itself, and does not stop you from ranking in India if your content and signals are right. Neither ending guarantees any position.
How it looks to customers
This is judgement, not research. For many Indian buyers, .in and .com both look normal. .in suggests an Indian business, which can help if your buyers prefer local suppliers. .com is more familiar worldwide, which can help if you sell or hope to sell abroad. Customers rarely care as much as the quality of the website and how easily they can reach you.
A simple decision table
| Your situation | A reasonable choice |
|---|---|
| You sell mainly to customers in India | .in is a good fit; .com is also fine |
| You export, or may export soon | .com is the safer main address |
| Your preferred name is taken in one ending | Take the other ending, not a spelling trick that confuses buyers |
| You want to protect the name | Register both, choose one as the main address, and redirect the other to it |
If you use two addresses, one should be the main address and the other should redirect to it with a permanent redirect. Search engines should see one site, not two.
What matters more than the ending
- The domain is registered in your name. The registrant is the holder of the domain, as ICANN explains. If a developer or an agency registers it in their own name, you may find it hard to move later. Ask for your name and an email address you control as the registrant.
- You control renewal. Domains are rented for a period, not bought outright. A domain that expires can be lost. Turn on auto-renewal where you can, and put the renewal date in your calendar.
- Contact details are accurate. Registrars and registries can ask you to confirm them, and a domain registered with false details can be suspended. Ask your registrar what it requires for the ending you choose.
- The name is easy to say and spell. Say it aloud on a phone call. Avoid hyphens and numbers where you can.
- The name does not infringe someone’s trademark. Check before you buy; this note is not legal advice.
For what the domain does compared with DNS and hosting, see domain, DNS and hosting: who does what.
What I need from you
For a site I build, you hold the domain and the hosting accounts, and I work with the logins you give me. Before the project starts, who owns your website, domain and hosting is worth a read, and the written proposal should repeat it. If you do not have a domain yet, I can tell you what to ask the registrar for. Message or call Harman.