Google Just Settled the .music vs .com SEO Debate for Artists

Google on generic top level domains for SEO: key details

In the r/musicindustry community, a user asked whether registering a .music domain name offers any search benefit and whether its use is growing enough to justify reserving it for future industry value.

• The original poster noted that their preferred .com domain was unavailable, while the corresponding .music domain was still open.
• Responding in the thread, Google Search Advocate John Mueller wrote,

  There’s absolutely no SEO advantage from using a .music domain.

• Mueller limited his answer to search ranking and did not address branding, legal, or industry perception considerations that might still influence a domain choice.
• His comment is consistent with earlier guidance from Google that generic domain endings do not receive ranking preference in search results.
• The discussion did not include any announcement about changes to how Google handles generic top level domains or any special treatment for .music.

For marketers and business owners, the takeaway is that .music domains can be chosen for branding, availability, or audience fit, but not for SEO ranking gains alone.

Background on generic top level domains

Generic top level domains, or gTLDs, are domain extensions such as .com and .org that are not tied to specific countries. Many newer gTLDs describe a purpose or community, such as .music for music-related projects.

In 2013, ICANN expanded the gTLD program, introducing hundreds of new keyword-based domain endings. This created more options for businesses, creators, and organizations when traditional .com or .net addresses are already taken.

Google's documentation has long stated that most generic domains are treated the same for ranking, regardless of the specific keyword in the extension. Past statements from company representatives have highlighted only a small number of extensions heavily associated with spam as potentially problematic for search.

Source citations

• The question they asked in the r/musicindustry thread on .music domains and artists, containing John Mueller's statement on SEO impact.
• Search Engine Journal article by Roger Montti, "Google On Generic Top Level Domains For SEO," summarizing Mueller's Reddit response.
• Google Search documentation on multi-regional and generic domains, outlining Google's equal treatment of most gTLDs for ranking purposes.