Google continues to emphasize that keywords in domains do nothing for SEO

For years now Google has been sending a clear message when it comes to the role that domain names play in their ranking algorithm, in short, it doesn’t. Recently Google’s John Muller continued to emphasize this message and expanded it to cover new gTLDs:

“This is a really common question that comes up for the new top-level domains.

In short, no. You don’t get a special bonus like that from having a keyword in your top-level domain.

Anecdotally you can see that by searching naturally for anything that interests you.

I’d venture a guess that the top results don’t have those keywords as a domain ending. Often it’s not even in the URL at all. That’s by design.”(Source – Search Engine Journal)

John actually answered this questions specifically about the .JOBS TLD and recorded a whole video about it. So if you feel like hearing this directly from John, here ya’ go:

What I think always gets missed in these conversations is the fact that one factor that Google does look at in their ranking algorithm is how many time people click on a site when it comes up in their search results. I think (and I know I’m not alone here!) that people are more likely to click on a strong, meaningful domain than a junky one.

So, just throwing this out there – if a good domain gets your site more clicks when it comes up in search…and if Google ranks your site higher if more people click on it, then I think there’s a point to be made that a good domain certainly does help you in search.

But that’s just my two cents, what do you think?

Morgan Linton

Morgan Linton