How important is it to have keywords in a domain name?

[ludojo]

Matt Cutt Kafali, You give great value to %4-5 keyword stuffing and it really turns my contents to "you know". Stop acting like genius and find a solution to give value to real, natural and informative contents that make the keyword domains more valuable and natural.

[retribution1979]

I honestly think that keyword laden URLS should have no more merit than urls that don't. It just invites people to buy spammy URLS that may be hard for people to remember, and doesn't really add any extra value or credibility to the site. For example, most poker gambling sites make heavy use of this tactic, and in reality they offer little or no value to users. The fact that they get any added boost in relation to any other site is realistically unfair.

[dumpstersforsale]

Nice informational wideo!

[GayleDeFaveri]

Matt, I have just found u thank the universe for guys like you to help peole like me... and Free...XXXX

[nashfungmagic]

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

[SteveHoweJeffBerlin]

"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.

...

[thesimpsons2345]

"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.

[JustAskSadie]

Really useful info :o)

[win38727]

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.

[monere5]

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

[costaric100]

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!

[VeronicaBrasten]

I can see why this video was so popular. Great stuff!

[luigiperso]

WTF ? a businessman saying 'buy viagra online' ? He probably buys it

[DianeCorriette]

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.

[Webnauts]

I will believe all this if seo.com will be affected. ;)

[clickworkmedia]

"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.

[clickworkmedia]

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.

[hindslegal]

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.

[incredibulluke]

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[marrinternational]

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?

[flexy456]

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?

[flexy456]

@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.

[thehotiron]

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?

[Capnwabbit]

@flexy456 BIGGLY ranks highly for diet software, workout software and so on, even though biggly dot com doesn't even have software in the domain. However it would be ludicrous to devalue keyword domains, because it's just common sense. If you want to know about puppy training then puppytraining dot whatever is an obviously *relevant* website. It also suggests its an older website, because they grabbed the domain first. If you were just starting such a site you'd have no chance.

[philipjterry]

I think it should be given weight if the domain owner shows long term dedication to helping the user understand a particular niche - with in depth understanding and knowledge that a big brand might not be capable of delivering. It would be horrible to see the big branded companies completely dominate all the search engines...

[flexy456]

Get rid of that power NOW, not only a "little", i mean entirely. Its ridiculous to see what power EKMDs can have. The crappiest sites can rank exceptionally only because they have a EKMD. Get rid of this and focus on CONTENT and not on idiotic things. The latest Google farmer change was good, now its time to scrap EKMDs.

[IncreaseBiz]

Now you tell me when I have invested so much on keyword domains. Pls Reverse this ASAP!!!!!

[MarcoAmaroTV]

@IncreaseBiz hehe you're not the only one!

[localmotionbiz]

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.

[hostroute]

@localmotionbiz I *think* that a holding page with little content that has keywords in the domain will do better thatn 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.

[MrMmaver]

I've waited years to hear Matt Cutts say "Buy Viagra Online". Finally fulfilled.

[nuerotec]

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE!!!! TURN DOWN THE KNOB!!!

[nuerotec]

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE!!!! TURN DOWN THE KNOB!!!

[amitpatekar]

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.

[svtmattUT]

It would be awesome just to lie once and see how many seo guys follow, tell them appending rubberduckie in the domain is a secret google backdoor code to ranking #1. then do a follow up vid which illustrates why you can't tell seo people anything specific...

[sabai2024]

This is turning into my favorite help-channel, and turning Matt into my favorite tech-celeb.

[stanleycrox]

Giants not always have got a brandable domain, examples: webmaster tools, site explorer, search engine land. it seems that now is a trend to use more and more brands, as Matt have said. Let's say that using keyword in domain is a kind of "old school SEO" seonauta.com

[gutrp]

thanks for clarifying...

(..viagra got free publicity)

[LerenDownloaden]

@gutrp Can i buy some?

[katysovas]

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[katysovas]

@LerenDownloaden visit webtasty for more daily domain deals.hope this helps

[katysovas]

webtasty.com will help you to pick a domain ;)

[crashxxx]

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. No problem Matt!

[adithecool]

@crashxxx I'm sorry but Matt clearly explains at 2:22 that there was noise about the exact domain name match, but they have turned it down so it doesn't have any special impact.

[crashxxx]

@adithecool Let me tell you something useful , don't trust everything you hear/see. Some thing, actually most of things you need to try yourself to believe, to realize. Trust me on this.

[dlego85]

soo smug

[biznick100]

One note I'd add to Matt's comments is to be careful what domain you buy to brand. For instance if you buy a word that is slightly misspelled, Google will initially show users the correct spelling results and you will not get the correct placement in searches for your domain until you become more established.

Long term branding is better, but be careful of the word you choose to brand with.

[biznick100]

If I were Google I would look at keyword search history and domain registration history.

For instance if someone registers CheapHosting.co you could look at the history of searches related to "Cheap Hosting". If the search count is unchanged, and the domain was registered after the keyword growth, less keyword weight should be given.

However, in the case of something like Twitter, the keyword searches have increased after the registration, so more weight should be given to its domain name.

[RealVinceSamios]

Good lord Matt, What are you wearing????!!!

[McBrown83]

@RealVinceSamios viagra? :P

[DudeThatsErin]

I really think that it depends on the person. Basically get a domain that you like and relates back to you. It's all about what you like.

[alfonsan]

Thx Matt, but whats the conclusion? Yes, there is an advantage, yes, you are looking at that to turn it down, giants don't need keyword domains...

Should I assume that the answer is "for small and medium websites it is at this moment an advantage unless you get buried between 100 similar names with similar popularity"?

Just because you took the time to look that, and you didn't deny the fact with some overall figure like with no-follow topic, looks like you are confirming kw domains work atm

[JohnTarrJr]

So if I can reasonably plan on selling my business too or becoming a Fortune 500 company, choose a brand domain name.

For people who don't have VCs knocking on their door to fund their startups, which I would assume is everybody watching this video, load your domain name like crazy with keywords. Google may reduce the value of having keywords in a domain name, but certainly not penalize.

TL;DW Yes, you should use keywords in your domain name.

[forthesakeofreason]

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.

[gialex13]

Very interesting.

[BehindBen]

So basically.. the keyword approach is the best. Because people will find your site if they google "twitter" and not if they google "buy viagra online"

[pitpct]

You've choose the best example

[Pankomputerek]

" Buy Viagra"! is it all you search for?

[verbindingsfout]

I'll buy some viagra now

[Y4lt]

Thanks for tips :)



[Charlie151seo]

@Y4lt Maybe you should watch the clip before commenting.

[raulsbo]

@Charlie151seo hahaha

[Y4lt]

@Charlie151seo why i should if i watch every video and i'm thankfull :)