keywords in URL

[needhelp]

Is there any benefit in putting keywords in your URL? My URL is my company name, but all my competitors have keywords in their URL. I hope there isn't benefit, cuz I am super afraid to move to a new domain name and risk losing position! Thanks!

[stratocaster]

This bothers me too. I have always focused on building a brand and we all know brands down have keywords in them. My competitors with spam pages with keyword domains are always ahead of me even though I have been around years longer and have far more content compared to their 3 page sites.

I hope google does something to stop the spamming with keyword domains and simply return the best sites for the keyword.

[Ove]

Here is some good reading

[searchengineworld.com...]

/Ove

[rfgdxm1]

Google LOVES keyword rich domains. As such, avoiding a "brand" name if possible is being search engine savvy. Of course, if you sell 100 different items which all would need different keywords for a URL, obviously you have to suffer with building a brand name for your site, and do as best you can.

[DaveN]

top tip get keyword-keyword not keywordkeyword.

google can't really tell where one word stops and the next starts.

good example would be : therapist

one word or two ;)

DaveN

[NedFlanders]

If my url is widget.co.uk would I get a better results than widget-widget.co.uk when someone searches for widget in the UK db?

ie if keyword search is 100% match to url does this give me a better chance of a high position?

[topr8]

ie if keyword search is 100% match to url does this give me a better chance of a high position?

i know of examples of

kw1-kw2-kw3.com

scoring top for searches of keyword1 keyword2

however regarding this discussion in general, remember that the domain name is only one factor and that someone who has taken the trouble to buy a domain kw1-kw2.com to promote kw1 kw2 has probably very much focused the site around those keywords - which could be the reason for the ranking not just the domain name.

i don't think domain name is as important as people think (only indirectly important due to incoming link text perhaps)

check out the following competitive search

insurance [google.com]

and see how many of the top sites have the keyword in their domain name ... about 20 in the top hundred but none in the top 10.

[Helpmebe1]

ned flander.. I do believe so.. I dont know if this is now going to be down played as well but it certainly has in the past.. go with they hyphenated url