Google: Keywords In Domain Aren't Needed For Ranking Well

Jun 6, 2014 - 8:25 am 45 by

popular domain namesGoogle's John Mueller posted a response in a Google Webmaster Help thread responding to someone asking if they need their keyword in their domain name.

In short, John said no, you can rank fine without having a keyword in your domain name. Heck, my company, RustyBrick, doesn't have our money keyword in our domain name. Not that I rank that well for our money keywords. :)

That being said, John Mueller said it isn't needed.

You don't need your keywords in your domain name. Websites without them in there rank just fine. Instead of focusing on that specific keyword, I'd recommend spending the time to make your site the absolute best of its kind.

This isn't new advice, he said something similar back in 2011 and we now have the Exact Match Domain Google filter, so be careful with that.

Forum discussion at Google Webmaster Help.

 

Popular Categories

The Pulse of the search community

Search Video Recaps

 
- YouTube
Video Details More Videos Subscribe to Videos

Most Recent Articles

Search Forum Recap

Daily Search Forum Recap: June 13, 2025

Jun 13, 2025 - 10:00 am
Search Video Recaps

Search News Buzz Video Recap: Google AI Mode Search, Apple Intelligence Updates, Google Live Search, AI Content, SEO & Google Ads

Jun 13, 2025 - 8:01 am
Google

Google Is Now Rolling Out AI Mode In The US

Jun 13, 2025 - 7:51 am
Google Search Engine Optimization

Google Drops Support For Seven Existing Structured Data Markups

Jun 13, 2025 - 7:41 am
Google Ads

Google Ads Shows Audience Size For Custom Segments

Jun 13, 2025 - 7:31 am
Google

Google Search Autocomplete With Back To All

Jun 13, 2025 - 7:21 am
Previous Story: Google Car Search Discontinued