If you want the short version (which will probably be even more confusing, but you do you), the answer is: yes and no.

Now, let’s jump into the why. Keywords in domains have been a topic – and tactic – for years, but the discussion was brought into the limelight again yesterday when Googleclarified some of the big questions circulating in the community.

Here’s the deal:

• Generally, keywords in top-level domains won’t help you rank better. If you’re wondering what a top-level domain is, it’s the portion after the ‘dot’ in your domain. So, for example: .com, .org, .uk, .bravadomarketing (wouldn’t that be cool), and the list goes on. What Google’s saying is that, for example, using .jobsas your TLD won’t help you rank higher for job-related searches.
• There are some caveats, though. Fortunately, Google’s algorithm is pretty smart. In specific, country-related TLDs like .at or .ro, for example – Austria and Romania – are treated differently. Google recognizes that these are country-specific and will display results accordingly.

At the beginning of this section, I mentioned how the answer was both yes and no. Here’s where the yes portion comes in: keywords in your domain name, the portion before the TLD, can affect SEO.

For example, if you’re trying to rank for ‘Milwaukee Kitchen Installation’, a domain of milkwaukeekitcheninstallation.com can rank better than something unrelated. This isn’t a hard-and-fast rule, though – but it can be a factor, particularly in low-competition SERPs.