Is Google favoring .com over .info domains?

• I have a .info domain which has never done very well in Google. Does Google have a built-in bias against domains with this extension?

Answer: Normally, if you told us Google gives preference based on the domain extension (also know as the top level domain or TLD), we'd smile and file that idea away in the drawer labeled SEO myths. However, something recently occurred that gave reason for us to reconsider such conventional thinking.

Towards the end of May 2008, Google briefly removed nearly all .info domains from their search results for a day or so. And, although it appeared to be a temporary glitch, we've learned from past experiences that such "glitches" are often a precursor of changes yet to unfold.

Then, when we also take into consideration facts such as...

• Google's top spam fighter, Matt Cutts, stated in a recent video that .info domains are more likely to be spam than other domain extensions.
  
  
• GoDaddy sells .info domains for just $0.99, making them a favorite of spammers who can "churn and burn" through such domains at minimum cost.
  
  
• Afilias, the registrar in charge of the .info extension, recently successfully petitioned for permission to confiscate .info domain names if they consider them abusive. That essentially means they are free to seize your .info domain name almost at will.

In our opinion, these developments make .info TLDs nothing more than second class Internet addresses—the kind that might be subjected to all kinds of discrimination by Google and other entities on the net.

Regardless, this doesn't mean that all .info domains can't perform well in the search results. There are indeed numerous examples of high ranking .info domains in Google...

• s...