.ca or .com? Choosing a Domain for a Canadian Business

Your domain name is the one part of your online presence that appears on everything: your truck, your invoices, your email address. Canadian businesses usually face the same first decision: .ca or .com? The honest answer is that either can work, and the right choice depends on who your customers are.

Who can register a .ca

The .ca domain is managed by CIRA, the Canadian Internet Registration Authority, and it is reserved for those with a connection to Canada. Under CIRA’s Canadian Presence Requirements, eligible registrants include Canadian citizens and permanent residents, corporations formed under Canadian federal or provincial law, and holders of trademarks registered in Canada, among others. That restriction is the point: a .ca tells visitors there is a Canadian entity behind the site.

Does .ca help SEO?

Google treats country-code domains such as .ca as a signal that a site is aimed at that country. In practice this can help a little for searches made in Canada and makes it harder to rank in other countries. A .com is treated as generic, with no built-in country. Neither is a magic advantage. A well-built site with a clear Canadian address, an accurate Google Business Profile and useful content will rank locally on either one.

When .ca is the better choice

• Your customers are in Canada and you intend to keep it that way.
• Being visibly Canadian is part of your appeal, as it is for many retailers, trades and professional firms.
• The .com version of your name is taken or expensive, while the .ca is available.
• You want Canadian shoppers to expect prices in Canadian dollars and Canadian shipping.

When .com makes more sense

• You sell into the United States or internationally, now or soon.
• Your brand is used in several countries and you want one home for it.
• You plan to run Canadian and American versions in folders on a single domain. See our guide to one website for Canada and the US.

Our usual advice: register both

Domains cost little per year compared with the trouble of a competitor or a squatter owning the other version of your name. Register the .ca and the .com if both are available, choose one as your main address, and redirect the other to it permanently. Use the main one consistently in print, email and listings.

Choosing the name itself

• Short, easy to say aloud and easy to spell after hearing it once.
• Avoid hyphens and numbers, which are awkward on the phone.
• Use your brand name rather than a string of keywords. “Smith Plumbing” ages better than “best-cheap-plumber-vancouver”.
• Be careful with place names if you may expand. A Burnaby-specific domain is awkward once half your work is in Coquitlam.
• Check that the name is not confusingly close to someone else’s trademark.

Protecting it

• Register the domain in the business’s own name and account, not a staff member’s or a former web designer’s. We regularly meet owners who do not control their own domain.
• Turn on auto-renew and keep the payment card and contact email current.
• Turn on two-factor authentication at your registrar.
• Use the domain for email. An address at your own domain looks more established than a free webmail account, and it is one more reason to keep the domain safe.

If you are thinking of switching

Moving an established site from one domain to another is possible, but it is a migration, with redirects for every page and a period of fluctuation in search. Do it for a real business reason, not for a small theoretical gain. Our guide to website migration without losing SEO explains the process.

Where Cloud9 fits

Cloud9 Web Developments has helped more than 600 clients over 23 years, and sorting out domains, DNS and email is often the first job. We can check who really controls your domain, set up redirects, and plan a move if one is justified. Read about our web development and brand strategy services, or get in touch with our Greater Vancouver team.