Keywords in a URL

SEO is not an exact science. Professional SEO's don't have any special ways of cracking algorithms. The only way anyone can learn about the latest algorithms is by research and trial and error. Trial and error results are based on personal practices, research can be done by anyone, for any site. Many believe that using keywords in your URL will help your site's ranking, but how much does it actually help? Today, we'll examine two examples.

It should be noted that the following is only a small sample of the big picture. Back-link quality, age and link-building patterns are a major factor that have not been researched, as well as quality of out-bound links and trust history (Trust history is generally based on whether the search engines have ever picked up on any black-hat-like techniques, and as a result, imposed any penalties as a result. Even if these behaviors have come to a halt, penalties may still be in place). On-page optimization is also a factor, but it's assumed that back-links are Google's preffered source of data.

Test Keyword: Boston Website Design

Example 1:
URL: Bostonwebsitedesigns.com
Google Rank: 48
BACKLINK COUNT:
Google: 23
Yahoo: 225
MSN: 1,798
Domain Age: 4 years, 1 month
Keyword Density: 14.15%

Example 2:
URL: boston-web-site-design.com
Google Rank: 119
BACKLINK COUNT:
Google: 3
Yahoo: 93
MSN: 362
Domain Age: 4 years 3 months old
Keyword Density: 5.75%

This is certainly not enough data to form a definitive conclusion on the "Keyword URL" discussion, but it does prove one thing: Using a keyword in your URL does NOT guarantee a high listing. There are simply too many other factors involved.