Key words and domain names

[JLNorthOC]

I see some sites ranking number 1 on the first page of google because they have the keyword for their domain. Example: cityhomes.com and they rank #1 for city homes. I also realized they have little to no backlinks. I don't get how they stay so high on the page with almost no links. Will they stay #1 as long as they have that domain name?

[gopi krishan]

Yes this tactic is known as keyword targeting in URL.This is affective from the view of ranking but harm your branding.
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[any]

I love the great info, excellent post.

[PaulSmith1]

if your keyword is of 2 words or more than 2 then consider using hyphen after the word it would give you a lot of SEO benefits!

[Rioter]

if your keyword is of 2 words or more than 2 then consider using hyphen after the word it would give you a lot of SEO benefits!

Some people tell it's wrong, where's the truth?

[Maxi2010]

it also depends on how many competitors you have
if your keywords have few competitors so if you have a domain with keywords inside you will reach top positions
with lots of competitors it only helps, but is not enough

[Rioter]

with lots of competitors it only helps, but is not enough

I would say it's not enough at all

[comaryp]

If competition is high then you need to concentrate on quality link building also having keywords in domain.

[jgw899]

My guess is the domain has age, and has been around for much longer than most of it's competitors as well.

[jully]

It is helpful to the ranking of your site.

[Ocido]

It is helpful to the ranking of your site.

I think you are wrong, google doesn't consider domain name for PR

[umardrazpk]

I think both will affect in seo keywords having in domain name and backlinks too. Because while searching any key word why wikipedia.org always come in top results?

And on the other hand lets see that I have a domain name just a few days old not less than a month, that is http://stepstocreateawebsite.com , and when i used to search in google "steps to create a website" it comes in results often on first page and some times on second page.

So I strongly recommend you to use keywords in your own domain. If you have a domain name against your keywords then you have to lot of word to come that domain on the first page of google results.

[Websofy]

well i think keywords in the domain name play an important role but yes it doesn't mean that only domain name having a keyword can help in achieving high rank.

[jamesroy]

I think you are not 100% right. Google or any other search engine not gave PR only on "Keywords in URL"

[eUKhost]

Along with the selection of kewwords or keyword rich domain names, it is necessary to place the keywords at the right place. Right Keyword placement plays a very significant role in ranking websites in SERPs without having much backlinks.

[googinup]

Keywords play an important role for a site and in the unique content these keywords should be repeated for 3 to 5 times this will help for getting good rank for a site

[BODHost]

There is no evidence which can prove that using keyword in domain name has significant advantage. For example. Amazon … a website that don't have any “keyword domain” for everything they sell. So it's totally wrong to suggest use keyword in domain for SERP benefit.