Should I get a .ca or .com Domain for a Construction Company?

Should I buy a .ca or .com domain?

At growth360 - we often work with companies that are looking to expand their business with online leads. As a part of our Turnkey Marketing System we help them decide if a .ca, .com or another domain is the best solution for their business.

People often look for the silver bullet. The truth is - your domain should serve your business goals and your audience first. Search engines can work with almost any extension. People are the ones who click, remember, and trust.

In a nutshell: both .ca and .com domains can rank on Google, and have virtually no impact on SEO. From this perspective it is more important to consider User Experience - make sure it looks right for your customer. For example, a New Zealand domain may look confusing if you are marketing your business in Canada. But both .com and .ca domains will look familiar enough. My personal opinion - I find that .com domains can be more useful in the future in case your business expands abroad. However, using a .ca domain name won't really limit your business expansion as you can always buy a .com domain later and migrate or redirect the two domains.

How Google sees domain extensions

From a ranking perspective, Google has said for years that most domain extensions are treated equally. A .ca, .com, .net, or .agency can all rank if the site is well optimized for the queries you care about and the locations you serve.

However, John Muller at Google did mention that:

The main thing I’d watch out for is ccTLD (“country code” — like nl, fr, de) vs gTLD (“generic” – com, store, net, etc). ccTLDs tend to focus on one country, which is fine if you plan on mostly selling in that country, or if you want to sell globally. If you mostly want to target another country (like “nationwi.de” but you want to target the US), then make sure to get either that ccTLD or a gTLD.

However, some of the useful nuances to consider include:

• Country-code domains send a location signal. A .ca tells users, and search engines that your site is intended for Canada. That’s helpful if you are a Canadian business serving Canadians.

• Generic extensions are neutral. A .com (and most new extensions like .shop or .agency) doesn’t by itself target a country. Google relies on content, links, on-page location info (addresses, currency, phone numbers), structured data, and your broader presence (like a Google Business Profile) to understand what countries you serve.
  

Image Source: Unsplash

The user experience angle (often overlooked)

Domain choice is a trust and clarity decision more than an SEO hack. Think of the moment before someone clicks: a Canadian shopper comparing two search results might instinctively trust a .ca because it feels local. On the other hand a shopper from the US can be puzzled by a .de or .fr if your copy is in English and you ship domestically.

Things to consider include:

• Where will most of your traffic and revenue come from in the next 12–24 months?

• What do your customers expect to see in their market?

• Will your domain appear on packaging, business cards, radio, or signage? Will people try to “autotype” .com out of habit?
  

If you’re Canada-only, a .ca often improves click-through and comfort. If you’re selling globally, .com is still the default expectation.

Other potential solutions include:

• Buy both domains, and redirect them - local businesses like a plumber, or a contractor: can potentially choose .ca domain. It signals local presence and can lift trust. If the .com is available, buy it too and redirect it to your .ca to protect your brand.

• Canadian business expanding to the US - If you are planning to expand to the US, you may want to try starting with .com and localizing for Canada (prices in CAD, Canadian shipping details, local content, hreflang tagging, etc.). Secure the .ca and point it to the .com. If expansion is a big “maybe” years away, a .ca is perfectly fine for now.

• eCommerce businesses - it may be a good idea to go with .com. It’s neutral, familiar, and avoids country bias. Pick up the .ca if you’re a Canadian company to protect the brand.

• Multi-country, multi-language play: Consider a structure that scales, like a .com with country folders (example.com/ca/, example.com/us/) and proper hreflang tags. Some brands do separate ccTLDs (example.ca, example.co.uk) for deep localization, but it may be operationally heavier.
  

What about email and ads?

Email deliverability isn’t determined by your TLD. It’s about good DNS and sender hygiene: SPF, DKIM, DMARC, consistent sending practices, and a clean list. That said, people are more accustomed to .com and .ca addresses, and a familiar extension can help with trust in outreach.

In paid media, your domain can influence click-through if it signals local relevance (.ca to Canadians, for instance). But ad quality, creative, and landing page experience matter far more than the extension itself.

If you’re thinking about switching domains

Source: YouTube channel

Domain migrations are doable, but they’re not casual - watch out video about things to consider when migrating a domain here.

Branding and availability realities

Plenty of great names are taken in .com. Don’t force awkward hyphens or numbers just to fit a .com. A clean, memorable .ca can be better than a clunky .com. Keep it short, easy to pronounce, and hard to misspell.

If you’re often saying your URL out loud, avoid clever spellings that need explaining.

If you love a specific name, check multiple extensions and consider the key ones for brand protection. Redirect the secondary domains to your primary with 301 redirects. From SEO perspective, putting duplicate websites on different domains is usually not a good idea., as it creates duplicate content issues.

Eligibility and authenticity

There’s a practical perk to .ca: you need to have a genuine connection to Canada to register a .ca domain, per CIRA’s Canadian Presence Requirements. That adds helps improve authenticity. It’s a small but one more trust signal.

Newer extensions (.shop, .agency, .io) can work too. They’re clean and sometimes more on-brand. The trade-off: some audiences still default to typing .com, and certain “cheap” TLDs have a spammier reputation. If you go this route, make sure you’re comfortable explaining the extension, and keep an eye on renewal pricing—some have higher annual fees.

The bottom line

You can rank with almost any domain extension. The best choice is the one that matches your market, sets the right expectation at a glance, and fits your brand cleanly. Start with your audience and your business plans, and make sure to talk to SEO experts. And if you need to change your domain later, it is doable, however you'll need to work with experts to do it properly.