How much does a keyword focused domain matter today?

[HiddenPeak]

Is it still better to choose a keyword focused domain lets say over a branded domain in today's world? How much of a part does that have in the grand scheme of things?

[ditoroin]

You can view Moz's 2011 Search Engine Ranking Factors, there is a proof that a domain that starts with a target keyword has more power than other sites. And, keywords which appears in the subdomain name, also boosts rank.

But keep in mind that the keyword should be relevant and the website should be a quality site.

Moz's 2011 Search Engine Ranking Factors: http://moz.com/article/search-ranking-factors

[Carla_Dawson]

Hi Erin,

I have a keyword company name and domain name

Here are the pro's based on my experience

• I sign lots of websites in the footer with my company name with anchor text. Keyword link juice
• Many sites give the link in the company name. If you have a keyword in your company name you get the link juice

Con's

• If links go away in the future and co-citation gets big, generic name companies have an uphill battle

[BrentAllison]

Based on everything I have seen from the direction Google in particular is headed, I would bet on it being less and less of a factor as time goes on as far as search results are concerned.  However, that does not negate the benefit that can be achieved from the confidence a person may feel for clicking through to your site.

[LynnPatchett]

I think it depends a bit on what your plans are for the site and what kind of competition there is already.

Quite a few niches are still showing EMD or partial matched domains in their results rankings. These are often niches with either relatively little real competition in terms of real brands or else in some of the more shady areas of the search world (Matt Cutts was mentioning payday loans today I think, there is a good example).

If you are hoping for a big splash, get ranked, get rich, get out type thing then why not, an exact match domain might well help in that for the short term. If you are looking to be in business for the long term then you should probably be going the brand building route. If the latter and you can still find an available domain that does not look like what-a-lame-domain.biz that you think you can build a brand around, then.... go for it!

A couple of posts with a bit more on pros/cons and the recentish EMD google updates:
http://moz.com/blog/the-exact-match-domain-playbook-a-guide-and-best-practices-for-emds
http://moz.com/blog/googles-emd-algo-update-early-data

[HiddenPeak]

Thank you everyone! As with anything there are two sides to ponder.