We have been writing about keywords in the domain name for ages now. In fact, Matt Cutts said keywords in URLs do help on some level. A poll we held a while back had 75% of SEOs feel Google loves keywords in the URL.
But in 2010, is Google still in love with keyword rich domains?
A WebmasterWorldthread has some people saying yes and others saying it depends. One said, "It seems to me, SEO-wise, generic keyword laden domains are still the way to go. That may change in the future, but it hasn't yet."
But is that true with competitive keywords? Tedster replied:
My guess would be that, as a percentage, it's not really as high as our impression says. If you've ever tried to rank a keyword-match domain in a competitive market, you know it takes more than just the domain.
There is a lot more than a keyword in a URL or a bunch of links that makes up Google's ranking algorithm. Of course, everything might help here and there and if you have a keyword rich domain name, people may use plain anchor text of your domain name to link to you. But keeping things constant, how valuable is the keyword in the domain as a stand alone factor? It is hard for you and I to say.
Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.
