The Importance of Including a Keyword in Your Website's Domain Name

In the digital age, the way web pages are named can significantly impact their visibility on search engines. A recent study has shed light on the usage of keywords in URLs across various industries.

Interestingly, when it comes to the hospitality sector, 70% of top page results for "hotel" do not include the term "hotel" in their URLs. However, this trend changes when we search for "reservations hotel", with only 25% of results using these terms in their URLs. On the contrary, 80% of top page results for "credit card" explicitly include these terms in their URLs.

The findings suggest that URLs in the hospitality sector might not necessarily need to be descriptive, unlike other industries. For instance, in the weight loss industry, 80% of top page results make use of keywords related to weight loss in their webpage addresses.

However, the story is different for government and trade policy-related results, which are the second to least likely to use these keywords in their URLs, with only 60% doing so.

Region-specific keywords, such as "San hotel" (as in "San Francisco" or "San Diego"), are always included in page URLs, with 100% compliance. Similarly, 85% of top page results for "LA Weight Loss" (as in the LA Weight Loss Program) also include these keywords.

When it comes to financial services, 75% of top page results for "chase credit card" (as in Chase Bank) and "no credit card" include these terms in URLs. Interestingly, 85% of results for "hotel city" and "hotel beach" also include these keywords in page URLs.

However, the usage of keywords in URLs for combined searches, such as "weight loss and", is less common, with only 45% of the highest-ranked results using these keywords in their URLs.

Overall, while URL keywords play a crucial role in search engine optimisation, the study indicates that the importance of these keywords varies across industries. Semantic relevance and structured content seem to be more significant factors in achieving high search engine rankings than the use of specific URL keywords alone.