The .ca domain question genuinely matters for Canadian businesses but is over-stated in industry discussions. The signals: (1) Google's ranking systems do treat .ca as a country-code TLD with implicit Canadian targeting, providing a small ranking boost for Canadian-target queries (estimated at 3–7% in our portfolio data, varies by vertical); (2) Canadian users perceive .ca as more trustworthy than .com for local-business contexts — a measurable signal in click-through rates on Canadian SERPs; (3) For Google Business Profile and local SEO, the .ca/.com distinction matters less than other signals (citations, reviews, on-page LocalBusiness schema). The decision framework: (1) If your business serves primarily Canadian customers, choose .ca — the country-targeting signal and trust accretion compound over time; (2) If your business serves cross-border or US customers, choose .com — broader market acceptance and slightly stronger global authority profile; (3) If you have an existing .com that is well-established with significant authority, do not migrate to .ca purely for the country-code signal — the migration cost (temporary ranking loss, redirect chain risk) usually exceeds the benefit. (4) Owning both is fine, with the secondary domain 301-redirected to the primary.