How important is it to have keywords in a domain name?
Posted on
How would you explain "The Power of Keyword Domains" to someone looking to take a decision what kind of domain to go for?" McDot, Berlin Russian subtitles provided by Mike Shakin. Have a question? Ask it in our Webmaster Help Forum: www.google.com Want your question to be answered on a video like this? Follow us on Twitter and look for an announcement when we take new questions: twitter.com More videos: www.youtube.com Webmaster Central Blog: googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com Webmaster Central: www.google.com
Video Rating: 4 / 5
December 21st, 2011 - 06:21
Check out my latest video to find out how you can win $50 cash!
December 21st, 2011 - 07:14
Nice informational wideo!
December 21st, 2011 - 07:32
Matt, I have just found u thank the universe for guys like you to help peole like me… and Free…XXXX
December 21st, 2011 - 08:06
recently google just dropped my ranking from N.2 to N.6 …. everyone that moved ahead of me has the keyword in their domains, and I don’t … so please google, adjust it
December 21st, 2011 - 08:30
“Branding” is really a shot in the dark.
What are the chances you are going to be on the the level of twitter or yahoo?
Bottom line : if you don’t appear in the google search you have no chance at all. At least with keywords, you have a better chance of at least showing up in the google listings.
Branding = B*llsh*t for the most part.
…
December 21st, 2011 - 09:01
“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.
December 21st, 2011 - 09:34
Really useful info
)
December 21st, 2011 - 10:29
Hi There Matt,
Thanks heaps for your clip, it’s great to have your advice especially as I am starting out in this industry.
regards Jeff.
December 21st, 2011 - 10:46
Matt my friend, you always answer around the questions people ask, not right to the question, as it would be fair. For example, what McDot asked was 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) . It’s as simple as that. You don’t need to tell us what you like.. Tell us what Google – the program wants to find so that we know how to optimize our site
December 21st, 2011 - 10:53
Thank you Mark for sharing your advice with us. My site went from 0 to 4 in three months. I have followed your advice from all your videos and it has worked for me.
Great advice!
December 21st, 2011 - 11:33
I can see why this video was so popular. Great stuff!
December 21st, 2011 - 11:35
WTF ? a businessman saying ‘buy viagra online’ ? He probably buys it
December 21st, 2011 - 11:46
Extact keyword match domains sort of felt like the last stronghold for small publishers wishing to leverage their content through domain memorability. I simply cannot compete with Wikipedia and other giants despite the fact that I have far superior content. Thus far my domains are all I have left to use, sort of like an Alamo. Man, this vid has really got me nervous.
December 21st, 2011 - 11:46
I really hope that any exact keyword match domain penalties are strictly aimed at low quality spammy websites. If this will be aimed at quality websites then it looks like I’m about to get hit again by Google’s updates. This is really beginning to get very discouraging having only one major search engine.
December 21st, 2011 - 11:53
Is this an advance warning for us to start changing our strategy? After farmer/panda are keyword domains next? Interesting to see what will happen over the next few months, maybe a load of keyword domain sites will be slapped down and replaced with branded ones. So grateful I told my clients not to focus on this 100% but to get their business domain name to rank for their keyword PLUS have a keyword domain too. Wonder if this will be different for local business domain names. Time will tell.
December 21st, 2011 - 12:00
I will believe all this if seo.com will be affected.
December 21st, 2011 - 12:55
“How to persuade the little people to opt for a brandable domain name when I know they’re better off, according to our current method for ranking exact match domains, to opt for a target keyword in the domain”. Also known as we have a problem but I will use my intense publicity to provide them with counter-productive advice with a friendly face.
December 21st, 2011 - 13:14
Like Twitter or Facebook? Yes Matt, we all have the marketing budgets of Twitter or Facebook, I know I do.
Why is it every time I watch a Matt Cutts video I feel like I’m being spoken down to from above? Maybe I am.
December 21st, 2011 - 13:48
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.
December 21st, 2011 - 14:42
@IncreaseBiz hehe you’re not the only one!
December 21st, 2011 - 15:20
androiddd androidd, android android android
December 21st, 2011 - 16:13
Interesting move for us all to adapt too! this will be a major distruption for many real estate website sites that rely on location laden domain names in order to rank.
Seems to me that this move is OK for the branded portal but a nightmare for the little guy?
December 21st, 2011 - 17:11
thehortitron, if they WOULD lose rankings because the value of the keyword in the domain is taken – such sites should seriously check their content
Its an unlikely scenario that a site with otherwise good and relevant content would lose ranking simply because G doesnt value the *domain* anymore. It’s like..does your girlfriend/wife become less attractive if she doesn’t wear lipstick?
December 21st, 2011 - 18:07
@Capnwabbit, “basically” yes, but in theory not always. Who says i cannot get a domain “puppytraining dot whatever” and make the cr@ppiest adsense/CPA site on it? That’s the problem. While that common sense might apply in many cases, “snagging” a EKMD is a really rather cheap way for spammers and low quality webmasters to ensure nice rankings for zero content. It is on Google to determine the relevancy, based on content and not assuming relevancy based on the domain name.G should be smarter.
December 21st, 2011 - 18:47
At the end Matt said, “if you’re buying a new domain name” – is this then saying Google is taking the age of the domain name into consideration along with a keyword domain? What about established Web sites or businesses that happen to have a keyword domain, will they lose ranking just because of this?