Essay · ~10 min read

Is Domain Name a Google Ranking Factor?

Miranda Miller · Search Engine Journal Free Beginner

This piece directly debunks the old belief that putting a keyword in your domain buys you rankings, quoting Google's own people saying it does not. If you are tempted to name your startup after a search term to game Google, read this first: it walks through the history of how exact-match domains lost their edge and why brandability now beats keyword matching.

• Google's John Mueller states plainly that a keyword in your domain gives no ranking bonus.
• Exact-match domains were deliberately down-weighted after 2012 because people abused them.
• The domain name still matters for branding, memorability, and trust, just not as a direct ranking signal.