In a recent episode of the “Search Off The Record” podcast, Google’s search relations team, consisting of John Mueller, Gary Illyes, and Martin Splitt, addressed a topic that is often discussed among website owners and SEO Professionals: The Impact of Keywords in Domain Names on Search Engine Rankings.
The keyword controversy
The discussion started when Mueller asked, “Moving into domain names, should I put keywords in my domain name or should I choose a brand?” Illyes responded with a laugh, indicating that the answer was not simple.
“From a Google perspective or a search perspective … Well, I can’t say whether it’s a search perspective. But from Google’s and Steve’s perspectives, I don’t think it matters,” he said Illyes.
The user’s perspective
Illyes explained that while the presence of keywords won’t necessarily affect search engine rankings, it could influence user behavior.
“For example, if I want to take a passport photo, I’ve got weird sites that will target any kind of photo. And then you have passportphoto.com. And I’m more likely to click on passportphotos.com for some reason as a user,” he said. explain Illyes.
The role of scripts and exact match domains
When Splitt asked if the presence of hyphens in a domain name or exact match domains would make a difference, Illyes replied:
“Anything in the URL can technically be manipulated by the site owner. So we probably don’t want to give that type of input as much weight. Which means that in ranking, it might not help as much as people think it does.”
In other words, from the search engine’s perspective, it doesn’t matter if there is a hyphen in the domain name.
However, Illyes added that from a user experience perspective, “having the domain name with a hyphen is probably more readable.”
Looking beyond keywords: the brand perspective
As the conversation turned to the long-term implications of choosing domain names, Mueller advised focusing more on branding than keywords.
He explained, “Your website will probably evolve over time. And you might be selling potato peelers now, but you might also be selling avocado peelers a year from now. And if your website is called bestpotatopeeler2023.com, to start selling avocado peelers would be awkward.”
Ultimately, Google’s Search Relations team suggests that adding keywords to domain names should be a business decision rather than an SEO strategy.
As Mueller noted, “You should think long-term because changing your domain name is always a hassle. And you want to keep it for a long time if you can.”
For more information on domain name selection best practices, see the full episode from the Google podcast.
Featured image: Dmitry Strizhakov/Shutterstock
