Yes it does but its not absolutely necessary. But it definitely helps.

An example I was able to rank autobodysantarosa.com for the search term "auto body santa rosa" in the 3rd spot on page 1 of google in about 4 weeks. And its above the google local map. I do believe the domain name helped - but I also think I could have done it without an exact domain name match as well because all of my other on page SEO was set up correctly and I did some solid off page SEO as well.

I think so, many people says that keywords helps although not as much as used to be

And another good point is that results more friendly when a searcher see that keywords in the domain

What a concidence that for example, if you search for song lyrics the first spots have keywords

Fortunately I'm happy to have some good names with keywords

The keyword in the domain definitely helps from an seo perspective. Typically when the spiders crawl your site they give value based on the placement of the keywords (h1,h2,h3 tags, url, etc).

Hope this helps, good luck.

Yeah, it'll help. Especially in ranking for money making advise. You "extra" keyword may end up being essential.

It definitely help.

Consider 2 websites, all things equal but one is an EMD and one is not. The EMD will rank higher. It is not a huge boost but it is a boost nonetheless.

With the new Google Panda updates, I am not so sure that it is a good thing at all anymore to have any keywords in the domain name....

Such practice helps definitely, but not too much. It will affect a little bit in search engines, because now a days there are several upgrades happened with search engine algorithms, inspite of good domain containing keywords the contents must be impressive related to the niche.

as long as your main keyword is in the domain you will get the benefit and like everyone said make sure the domain is not too long.

As long the the keyword you are targeting is an exact match inside your domain name it's alright. Some people prefer to only add one letter to it, but I doubt it makes any difference compared to adding a word, since your exact match keyword is already present.

I find it helps, even if it not an exact match.

Keyword in the domain does help, even better if it is a "perfect match" domain, no other words than the keyword in the name.Still, you need to have lots of great content on your site, the kind that people love to link to and send to social sites.This way you will get better rankings and more traffic.

Yes, it may help, but it is not an essential thing to do. You need to focus on the content, backlinks, social involvement, etc.

Its just a rumor I think. Because for most of the sites you will see that they are ranked for those keywords that are not present in their URL.
But yes they are good to have.

I used to hear a lot about hyphens in between keywords in the url.

And also a number after the keyword.

These techniques are obviously used to emulate an EMD because all the good variations where already taken.

Has anyone noticed this technique still being effective post panda?

Interesting question and even more interesting are the replies, some say yes some say no others dont know but still post, (that's even more interesting) Over all, it can help or hurt depending on how you manage your content and how your website is setup to take advantage or not, its all about target practice...

If you can develop a consistent user experience, where the content reflects the intent of the domain name then yes, and yes, there is a Santa clause.

However, if you do not follow the path through the tulips then sadly just like everything else in life nothing is going to happen...

Yes, it really help your SEO.
Many internet marketer out there looks for a domain that will have the exact keyword of their website because the domain name is something big if it has the exact keyword.

On the other figure, even though the domain name is not the exact keyword or key phrase it still help as long as it has the keyword.

You can always consider the "extra word" as keyword itself and if with your original keyword makes a good expression then this is something really good for your website SEO.

It helps a little. Most important is quality not quantity of backlinks.

Yes this is true it does not help...

yeah of course a keyword tich domain to rank your sites really high in the search engines result pages.. no matter if your domain name has a extra word..it keeps on being well regarded by search engine robots or crawlers!! hope you get the most out of yoyur effort and be a successful online marketer!! a great day to u!!