Need some help in clarifying between TLD and Hyphen

Hello

I have come across couple easy two alphabet names which seem to be take for .com
The same are available in .org/.net

E.g : howto.com not available
how-to.com available
howto.org , howto.net available.

Even SEMrush doesn't give much backend stats on howto.com (these are not niche words but casual ones) Which one should I go for ? And any technical check required before I buy anything ?

Thank You in advance

Personally I try to go for a straight forward .com (or .co.uk for a UK facing site), then .org if the .com isn't there..
I have a handful of .info and .net too.

I won't bother with anything with hyphens or any of the flaky looking .xyz stuff.

MisterF said:

Personally I try to go for a straight forward .com (or .co.uk for a UK facing site), then .org if the .com isn't there..
I have a handful of .info and .net too.

I won't bother with anything with hyphens or any of the flaky looking .xyz stuff.

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Any specific reason for that? I am solely doing this as a side gig. If I fix on a domain..what should be the next steps any tech backend checking ?

SellOnlineee said:

Any specific reason for that? I am solely doing this as a side gig. If I fix on a domain..what should be the next steps any tech backend checking ?

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Personal preference for me for my main sites.

If you're wanting to experiment on seo, then buy a handful of 99c .XYZ and burn them up.

Do you mean you're wanting to buy an expired domain ?

MisterF said:

Personal preference for me for my main sites.

If you're wanting to experiment on seo, then buy a handful of 99c .XYZ and burn them up.

Do you mean you're wanting to buy an expired domain ?

Click to expand...

Maybe ! Expired or new. I have read expired requires few tools for that and most don't seem to be free