Top Level Domains and Differences in Ranking

[thehobbster]

I've never played with many domains because I've always been able to find the .com of what I want. That caused me to gloss over any information regarding domains. So now I need some assistance, and I'm sure it's been told 1000x before but I can't find it after searching a ton.

I am trying to figure out two things.
1. Does Google rank Top Level Domains (TLD) differently?
2. And if this is the case, would I rather have something like "eKeyword.com" or "Keyword.info"

Regarding question one, I found this information:
DomainName TLD Types : gTLD, ccTLD / Global & Country specific / .com .net .info .co.uk .fr etc. ::: Auto-Response ::: - Webmaster Central Help
Here Google claims that all gTLD (global TLDs) are treated the same. They specifically mention com, net, org, and info. But I don't believe anything google says, but would rather get the real from people who have tested and tried this.

So If I rock a .info will I do just as well as the .com. The .com is being squatted on for $977, which is retarded. So it's not even out there. There is no exact match at this point.

Or would I rather get the .com and slap an "e" or "my" in front of the keyword?

Damn me for not having paid attention to this before! Thanks for the help.

 

[robognome]

Regarding how google ranks tld, they probably do rank them the same once the domain is established. But .info probably raises a flag. Also if you are going to begging for links from other webmasters for submitting to legit directories, you will get more benefit of the doubt if you stay away from .info. Having an info is like having 2 strikes against you in the credibility dept.

I don't think there is a similar problem with .net or .org. They probably rate the same as .com as far as credibility with your visitors and human reviewers.

 

[thehobbster]

I did read that Google did some split testing and dropped all .INFO's out of the rankings once, so they obviously consider it a lesser TLD. I think the reason is that they are sold so cheap, and thus used for spammy cheapo sites. That's not what I want at all.

So would you opt for adding a letter or word to the keyword and still go with a .COM or NET or ORG over having the exact match in a .INFO?