Keywords in Domain Name
The topic of this piece is keywords in domain name vs generic name SEO, branded vs keyword-rich domain names, keyword domain names and search engine optimisation, Google keyword domain rankings, how to select the best domain name for SEO purposes.
Matt Cutts about that valuable keyword rich domain.
The Power of Keyword Domains, 2011.
Matt Cutts addresses this question in a video posted on Youtube. youtube.com/watch?v=rAWFv43qubI
Matt Cutts: It’s not important to have KW in the domain name. Look at Facebook, Twitter or Wikipedia, they are no keyword domains and they are the top positions.
Vox Populis:
recently google just dropped my ranking from 2nd to 6th … everyone that moved ahead of me has the keyword in their domains, and I don’t … so please google, adjust it
“People have complained that we give too much weight to keyword domains” — Damn right you do!! Almost every keyword I search has at least one crappy site with an exact domain match.
…whether or not Google actually ranks higher a keyword rich domain or a non keyworded domain, assuming that both domains are about the same topic and have all other factors pretty much identical…
Like Twitter or Facebook? Yes Matt, we all have the marketing budgets of Twitter or Facebook…
Everybody who got excited over this video needs to listen to it again very carefully. Google hasn’t done any “turning down the knob on keyword rich URLs”. He specifically said they were looking at that issue and thinking about it, not that they have done it.
It is on Google to determine the relevancy, based on content and not assuming relevancy based on the domain name.
I think that a holding page with little content that has keywords in the domain will do better than the same page with a random character domain. However, once a site has a lot of content, the effect of the keyword rich domain becomes less. That’s anecdotal evidence from my own experience of having a domain parked for years and showing high in the rankings, yet when I started to use it it dropped way down because the content was unrelated to the keywords in it.
Search on “santa cruz custom cabinets” and see the result with the same keywords in the domain. As of 3/2011 Google still rewards keyword-laden urls. This particular one is nothing but a doorway page put up by YP. Only one page, very little copy and going against Google’s doorway page policy. What else could be putting it on the first page but that url? The day I see that fall off the first page is the day I’ll know they dialed it down.
Why to turn down the knob Matt??, if some person is buying keyword rich domain name that means he is more aware of the keyword and related topic. Probably he can write good content about that topic and he is expert. So any one with good keyword rich domain name should get little advantage of course content has to be good.
Thanks Matt for complicated answer as always. Regarding your question McDot, Berili. There is huge power in exact domain name, and if you want to rank you better go with keyword in domain name. If you plan to be next Facebook or something with HUGE traffic, you can pick whatever you want.
Conclusion? Yes, there is an advantage, yes, you are looking at that to turn it down, giants don’t need keyword domains.
I agree with this dude that a brandable domain is best. You can have mydomain.com/unique-set-of-keywords and your keywords are in the URL and weighted the same way.
I wonder what the results would have been if we weren't competing against a brand that had two of the keywords in their domain name.
Vox Tulcicus:
Quite often, remarkably often the top ranking sites have got keywords in their domain names. Unless they are Facebook, Twitter or Wikipedia. Try to search yourself for phrase "keywords in domain name" on Google.
2011
Keywords in domain name vs generic name from the point of view of search engine optimisation.