How Important is Keyword in Domain Name?

[PowerUp]

How important is having the keyword in your domain name? I did some search in google and most of the time 90% of the top 10 results do not contain keywords in their domain name. This lead me to think if having the keyword in domain name is important at all. If yes...how important? What impact will it have on my ranking with / without the keyword in my domain name?

Also, which is stronger for SEO? Backlink, or keyword in domain name

 

[Monsterman]

I am not an expert in SEO but I do know that if you do not have a huge advertising budget it sure does help to have a meaningful keyword in your domain. ie. AutoAuction. It helps people to understand what your potential message is.

 

[Carlton]

Keyword is a constant advantage. It is very important. Homes.com, Apartments.com, Hotels.com, Cars.com, Jobs.com, Money.com, Shopping.com, Loans.com, Investors.com, Weather.com, Houston.com show keyword power as descriptors of what the site provides. Fanciful names (non-keyword) may catch on after promotional efforts or excellent product offerings (Google, Yahoo, eBay).

And then you have popular keywords (because of their familiarity) which are used in a non-typical fashion to help brand a company (Monster.com: jobs not monsters, Amazon.com: online store not the famous river).

 

[peter phillips]

Search engines identify keywords and deliver the most relevant website(s) as search results to people doing a search for a particular keyword. So using your most important keywords in domain name may have a significant impact on how well a website is ranked in the search results.