Google reconsiders keyword domains

[Will]

Article is here (http://econsultancy.com/uk/blog/7295-google-reconsiders-keyword-domains) and best summed by quote:

"...we have been thinking about at adjusting that mix a bit and sort of turning the knob down within the algorithm, so that given 2 different domains it wouldn't necessarily help you as much to have a domain name with a bunch of keywords in it."

[tomjeatt]

Sounds like a good move - after all, lots of very good domain names are used just to drive traffic (and ad revenue) without providing any worthwhile content. The last paragraph was interesting:


publicizing the fact that it might decrease the weight given to what is already likely a minor ranking signal seems like much ado about nothing.

I disagree with this - I suspect that Google often makes small adjustments like this, which when taken together have a significant impact on ranking. I'd imagine it also helps keep people on their toes!

[Will]

Going forward the new Spooky Reads domain will be www.2jdj3.com. That's just because www.asdfg.com was already taken :lol:

[David]

This move makes sense. In any case, I've always been doubtful of the importance of keywords in domain names, I'm sure it's already some way down the list in terms of weight. But when you consider that many sites with excellent content have domains that do not contain relevant keywords, either by design or necessity (relevant domains not available), and the fact that keyword-rich names are often used as link farms, it's clear that to put too much weight on this SEO factor would be wrong.

[mac928]

Interesting article here ... I’m also still deciding on my new domain for my thesis project. I think It might be better be have brand able domain name and easy to remember.

[Will]

Totally agree Tom and David. I think what's come out of this is a suggestion that Google had previously given some weight to the SEO scoring of sites to their title, maybe moreso than many had assumed. Going forward it's obvious sites can't all have high quality domain names (i.e. beer.com) but who's to argue that b33r21.com wouldn't offer a suitable quality of content.

I do like the way that original content is consistently being ramped up for greater attention in recent weeks by Google vs. a depreciation in value further for site utilising link farms/page sculpting practices which were all but transparent in their shilling and shoddy nature anyway. The more I've studied the subject of SEO, followed Google's SEO blogs, it seemed this is to be the case going forward. Regarding page rank itself I think that we're going to see changes in the year or two ahead which totally change how it's used or the scores given to sites. I personally think pagerank is outdated, and based on the Internet of 1996, not 2011.

As far as regards my study of SEO in the keywords in a domain title, I guess my plans for http://nicewhiteteeth.co.uk/ will be put on the backburner for a while ;)