How important is it to have your keyword in your domain

[thenotebook]

From an seo perspective how important is it to have your main keyword in your domain?

thanks

 

[angilina]

I personally think that if the main keyword and the domain name are exact match, then it can help a site to rank higher for the main keyword with less affects compared to a other domains. However, keywords in URLs are not as important as other things like quality backlinks/content.

 

[techsniper]

If you have the main keyword in the domain, you will certainly have better chances of ranking higher for some of the keywords.

 

[bevan123]

We can say that the keyword in your domain name help somewhat but I believe it also depends on what kind of keyword it is. Generally domains that users are likely to remember, will carry more weight than others. Make a short list of keywords related to your company, business, service or profession. If your product or brand name is more popular than your company name than you should select domain related to your product or brand name.

 

[jasmor81]

i think it helps as far as return visitors - but ive ranked sites for specific keywords where the domain and the keyword had nothing at all in common.

 

[thewebhostingdir]

keyword in domain helps you out to rank on search engines, those brandable and easy to remember keywords are trendy. If you do have this brandable and easy to remember domain name you will most likely increase your percentage of your returning visitor cause they will easily type it on their browser rather than searching it. Your domain name should also be descriptive, it should describe your product or niche. Other search engines specially Yahoo and Bing do consider this keyword rich domains to rank on their result.

 

[thebutler]

Easier to remember

For search ranking everything helps but obviously its only a VERY small part of the overall ranking.

Now if we're talking trademark names thats a different discussion. If your keyword strategy involves going against something that is trademarked don't bother.

 

[FreshAvails.com]

The domain with a keyword is more significant than VERY SMALL, as previously suggested. In addition to the positive rating a domain with the keyword gets in the search algorithm, it is also a part of content for every link on and to your site. It is not the "end all be all" for positive ranking but it can play an important role. Also if the keyword is in your domain name, it makes it more credible to searchers when they see the URL on the results page and more likely to click...And user clicks from search results pages IS A PRIMARY WEIGHTING FACTOR!!!! Good Luck.

 

[thebutler]

Clear that up

The domain with a keyword is more significant than VERY SMALL, as previously suggested. In addition to the positive rating a domain with the keyword gets in the search algorithm, it is also a part of content for every link on and to your site. It is not the "end all be all" for positive ranking but it can play an important role. Also if the keyword is in your domain name, it makes it more credible to searchers when they see the URL on the results page and more likely to click...And user clicks from search results pages IS A PRIMARY WEIGHTING FACTOR!!!! Good Luck.

I'll clear up what I said earlier since you mentioned it.

If you reg some keyword domain don't expect to rocket to the top just with the domains and some content. You'll still need to do alot of work. Overall it'll be a very small part of the process. You'll still have tons of work to do to make sure you rank. I was trying to point out that getting a good keyword domain still means you'll have a tough time ranking. More of a warning to new domainers that ranking is not easy.

 

[dbtbandit67]

Let's be honest: nobody on Namepros is going to pour their heart and soul into content for a mini-site that would get repeat visitors in which a brandable domain could be worth it. So why even bother hand-regging brandables.

It's best to build mini-sites on keyword domains you want to get ranked for. Hyphens don't hurt it SEO wise but bad extensions will (anything not .com/net/org/us). Even if the benefit of keyword domains can't be objectively verified it's best to have them anyways.