Matt Cutts, the best connection us web developers have to the insides of Google, recently posted a video about domain names in terms of SEO. Many companies face the decision to get a URL that is short, simple and easily brandable/usable or a domain that has targeted keywords in it to help with SEO. Keyword URLs have been known to help your rankings but is really only one very small piece of the puzzle when it comes to SEO. Matt says that Google is considering “turning down the nob” on how much weight the domain name plays as a ranking factor – so it could go from 0.1% to 0.01%. He ends the video with a recommendation that it is likely better to go for the brandable URL and not necessarily the keyword stuffed URL.

AshWebStudio.com isn’t stuffed with “san diego web design” yet we currently rank #1 for the term. We have also put websites up on keyword rich URLs for our clients in the past (see www.moldremovalsocal.com), but their primary and marketed URL of www.ekwallco.com simply redirects to the other domain. They get the keyword domain and can still use their business name URL.

Check out the video:

[youtube rAWFv43qubI]