Matt Cutts, SEO Guru from Google
For anyone that does not keep-up with search engine optimization (SEO) happenings, events and notable figures, Matt Cutts is arguably THE most notable figure in SEO today and he makes events happen.
And if you’re buying domain names that are keyword-rich in hope of the keywords placing your website at the top of Google organic search results for those keywords, this is one video that you need to watch.
Matt works for the Search Quality group in Google, specializing in SEO issues. He helps direct the Google Webmaster Guidelines and advises the public on how to improve website visibility in Google organic results.
When Matt talks, people listen. As well they should.
So when Matt put out a video entitled “How important is it to have keywords in a domain name?” domainers and webmasters alike all over the world took notice. Matt’s focus in this video is on answering a user’s question regarding whether to purchase a brandable domain name (e.g., Twitter, Facebook, Yahoo, Google) or keyword-rich domain name (BuyViagraOnline).
The question came from McDot in Berlin:
“How would you explain ‘The Power of Keyword Domains’ to someone looking to take a decision what kind of domain [name] to go for?”
Matt Cutts’ Key Take-Aways
- It is possible to succeed with a brandable domain name, as evidenced by companies like Reddit, Digg, Zynga, Twitter, Facebook and Yahoo, but it’s going to take more than SEO tactics.
- Brandable domain names are more memorable to people than strictly-keyword domain names, so if you are trying to build a company that has name recollection — go brandable.
- One advantage of having keywords within the name of your business is that inbound links will be to the business name and include keywords — two really important factors in Google’s ranking algorithm.
- If you are going for a “big success” dot com-type business, a brandable domain name may be better; conversely — and implicitly stated by Matt — if you’re going for a smaller success, a keyword-rich domain name may be better.
- Google is “thinking about adjusting that mix a little bit, and sort of turning the knob down within the algorithm so that given two different domains it wouldn’t necessarily help you as much to have a domain with a bunch of keywords in it.” (The emphasis is mine to point out that they’re not eliminating the algorithmic benefit of keywords in domain names entirely.)
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Matt Cutts on The Power of Keyword Domain Names
[Photo credit: Wikipedia]
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