However, there may be times when you are faced with a forced choice. For example, when the gTLD is not available for the chosen domain - this often happens when choosing more common and less “branded” names for a business.
But what if you’re not ready to pay for such a localized strategy? Here’s what you can do in the meantime:
secure the ccTLDs of high potential countries ;
track users from these countries (or language x users) with Google usages of car owner database Analytics so you can see when you're getting enough traffic.
This way you will know when it is time to act and you will be ready to get involved.
What are your competitors doing?
Another criterion to use to decide is to see how the main players in your sector are behaving.
In addition to the type of domain used, it is important to investigate the backlink profile.
Knowing your competitors’ backlink profile will allow you to quantify the popularity gap that separates you. Based on this, it will be clearer which structure to opt for.
An example? If the link popularity gap is very large, it might be more cost effective to use a gTLD by leveraging the Domain Authority of your main domain (assuming you start from a gTLD).
With SEMrush Gap Analysis you can compare the backlink profile of up to 5 sites , for example your website and those of 4 of your competitors, and get insights on how to earn backlinks to improve your rankings:
How to Analyze Competitor Sites Backlink Profile
To learn more you can read the post: Gap Analysis: Compare Keywords and Backlinks of Your Competitors .