Domain names and Google Keyword Tools results.

Google has eliminated the exact match domain bonus, so the Google keyword tool is irrelevant in domaining now.

It never had much of a legit use in determining values anyway. High search volume keywords tend to stand out as being valuable before looking at the search data.

Thanks for your reply, DubDubDubDot.

Sorry if this sounds like a silly question, i'm very new to this, but how do I find out the search volume of keywords without using the Google Keyword Tool?, I thought that's what it is meant for? Also, what is the 'exact match domain bonus'?.

Cheers,

Alex.

The reason why high search volume keywords had built in value was because Google was giving a ranking bonus if your domain name matched someone's search query.

So if you had a website at RedWidgets.com and someone searched "red widgets", your site may have ranked a little higher in the listings than if the exact same site had been on AcmeProducts.com.

It doesn't work like that anymore though. It used to be that good sites were on exact match domains, but then people started abusing the system and putting crap sites on them. So Google finally ended the bonus.

I don't think i agree with whats being said here at all. Exact match domains still matter bigtime and Google did not just completely remove any benefit from them. What they did do though is reduce the ability to rank at the top for a keyword term purely because you own the exact match domain. You have to build a real and quality website and exact match domains will still have a huge benefit. You can't just throw up a few page minisite anymore though and hope to get a top spot. Search results aren't everything though and you can still have a very valuable Brandable domain which receives little searches. If you're new to domaining though it can be good to focus on domains with high searches. Don't forget theres a difference between exact, phrase, and broad searches though on the Google keyword tool. Broad search results mean nothing really