Does keyword in the URL (not just in domain) rank better?

[Whitey]

I think I'm seeing a trend of some key sites that we monitor, ranking strongly in a competitive sector, with the assistance of keyword/phrases contained in the URL:

e.g.

theirurl.com/green-widgets-in-june/ - Ranks well for "green widgets in june"

Has anyone else noticed a more recent tendency towards this?

[steveb]

[webmasterworld.com...]

[Whitey]

Thanks for the heads up - i'd missed the thread before.

It seems that the substantiated comments regarding Google rankings are supporting the above observations.

[Asia_Expat]

I recently ran a test on this to see what effect it would have on my site/pages. I chose a page that was down on the third page for the chosen keywords. The page was named...

www.asiaexpatsdomain.com/country-news/12345.html

... and I renamed it to...

www.asiaexpatsdomain.com/country-news/keyword1-keyword2.html

... and waited. It stayed in exactly the same position down on page 3... not the slightest difference in rank for those keywords, or any other that I could think of.