do search engines reward you for key words in the URL if not in the domain?

tsgeric · 08-30-2010, 12:43 AM

hi all,

Quick question. if you are trying to rank for certain keywords, and you have those keywords in the URL but not in the domain name itself, is that less attractive to search engines?

For example, just to pick an example, if I'm trying to rank for weight loss, is it far less powerful to have content at randomdomain.com/weight loss than it would be to have weightloss.com?

I assume it's always better to have the keywords in the domain itself. But, I'm trying to understand sites like about.com, which serve as encyclopedias of sorts. Of course that site will be recognized as a high authority site for many, many reason, but is it fair to say it is taking at least a tiny hit for not having a keyword optimized domain name?

SledgeHammer · 08-30-2010, 01:17 AM

It's not difficult but it would be little bit easy if you are having a domain with the targeted keyword.

Bob Monie · 08-30-2010, 02:35 AM

Domain names that exactly match a specific keyphrase get a huge boost in rank, known as the exact match bonus. The domain name weightloss.com would rank extremely well with very litte SEO for the search term "weight loss" but thats the only keyphrase it gets the bonus for. It still gets a little boost for "loss weight" but only about 1/3 of the exact match.

Only TLD domains (.com, .net, .org) get the exact match bonus, 6 - 8 months ago, .org had more exact match ranking power than .com but since a certain IM guru let the cat out the bag about the power of the exact match .org domains, everyone jumped onboard and google devalued .org to about 1/2 of its original power. Suxxxx

Matt Cutts has stated in a recent webmaster radio interview that Google are looking at urls a lot more these days, they want their results to look attractive and having a descriptive URL is a pretty good factor to look at when determining what a page is about.

Chris Kent · 08-30-2010, 03:03 AM

You leave easy money on the table if you don't put the keyword in your domain.

The only time I don't do that these days is if the brand name is more important.

hayman · 08-30-2010, 03:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SledgeHammer

It's not difficult but it would be little bit easy if you are having a domain with the targeted keyword.

It is a lot easier for search engines particularly Google to find your site, as what my friend told me.

tsgeric · 08-30-2010, 01:28 PM

Thanks all for your replies. SEO aside, I like the idea of having a site that is a collection point of content on a lot of different topics. even though the URL can't be targeted in this case, I would hope that the SEs would like seeing a site with a lot of content and maybe consider it a reference site.

So, that is why the best I could do would be to target keywords in the URL, but not in the domain.

08-30-2010, 12:43 AM	#1
tsgeric HyperActive Warrior War Room Member Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Bellevue, WA Posts: 193 Thanks: 31 Thanked 18 Times in 17 Posts	do search engines reward you for key words in the URL if not in the domain? hi all, Quick question. if you are trying to rank for certain keywords, and you have those keywords in the URL but not in the domain name itself, is that less attractive to search engines? For example, just to pick an example, if I'm trying to rank for weight loss, is it far less powerful to have content at randomdomain.com/weight loss than it would be to have weightloss.com? I assume it's always better to have the keywords in the domain itself. But, I'm trying to understand sites like about.com, which serve as encyclopedias of sorts. Of course that site will be recognized as a high authority site for many, many reason, but is it fair to say it is taking at least a tiny hit for not having a keyword optimized domain name?

08-30-2010, 01:17 AM	#2
SledgeHammer Norms Buster War Room Member Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: India Posts: 375 Thanks: 17 Thanked 8 Times in 8 Posts Social Networking	Re: do search engines reward you for key words in the URL if not in the domain? It's not difficult but it would be little bit easy if you are having a domain with the targeted keyword.
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08-30-2010, 02:35 AM	#3
Bob Monie IM Addict Join Date: May 2007 Location: Adelaide, Australia. Posts: 367 Thanks: 7 Thanked 25 Times in 21 Posts	Re: do search engines reward you for key words in the URL if not in the domain? Domain names that exactly match a specific keyphrase get a huge boost in rank, known as the exact match bonus. The domain name weightloss.com would rank extremely well with very litte SEO for the search term "weight loss" but thats the only keyphrase it gets the bonus for. It still gets a little boost for "loss weight" but only about 1/3 of the exact match. Only TLD domains (.com, .net, .org) get the exact match bonus, 6 - 8 months ago, .org had more exact match ranking power than .com but since a certain IM guru let the cat out the bag about the power of the exact match .org domains, everyone jumped onboard and google devalued .org to about 1/2 of its original power. Suxxxx Matt Cutts has stated in a recent webmaster radio interview that Google are looking at urls a lot more these days, they want their results to look attractive and having a descriptive URL is a pretty good factor to look at when determining what a page is about.
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08-30-2010, 03:03 AM	#4
Chris Kent Senior Warrior Member War Room Member Join Date: Jan 2009 Posts: 4,312 Blog Entries: 49 Thanks: 192 Thanked 1,125 Times in 572 Posts	Re: do search engines reward you for key words in the URL if not in the domain? You leave easy money on the table if you don't put the keyword in your domain. The only time I don't do that these days is if the brand name is more important.
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08-30-2010, 01:28 PM	#6
tsgeric HyperActive Warrior War Room Member Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Bellevue, WA Posts: 193 Thanks: 31 Thanked 18 Times in 17 Posts	Re: do search engines reward you for key words in the URL if not in the domain? Thanks all for your replies. SEO aside, I like the idea of having a site that is a collection point of content on a lot of different topics. even though the URL can't be targeted in this case, I would hope that the SEs would like seeing a site with a lot of content and maybe consider it a reference site. So, that is why the best I could do would be to target keywords in the URL, but not in the domain.