Well I have a 14 year old domain name we will call blue-widgets.com

Yes that includes keywords. I don't and never have regarded that as keyword stuffing - merely descriptive.

If I'd have had a bricks and mortar business, logically then I would have called it BLUE WIDGETS.

Now, in the modern convoluted world of the internet, if that apparently is no longer good - then tough. I'm sorely tired of the stupid world of ever changing rules and guidelines. Why? Because it diverts you away from your primary goal and purpose.

If I want to labour hours away with nonsense, it would be infinitely more profitable to return to consultancy at obscene daily rates. Then again, I'm already retired.

Then again, I'm already retired.

And never forget that Ian. I did, an offer of silly money for three months work. What a shed load of crap that was. Did no end of damage to my self-esteem, really loads of self-damage to a career that had lasted over 30 years.

It's funny to see this pronouncement coming from bing. My own very limited modest personal experience* is that they are much more devoted to exact matches than the #1 search engine is. If you search for "furry brown widgets" you will be pointed to furrybrownwidgets dot com, even if they have no idea what the site is about.


* I have two domain names that happen to be grammatically complete phrases which someone might conceivably enter into a search box. Bing sends them to me. Google sends them somewhere else.

Forgive me if I am stating the obvious but....

blue-widgets.com is likely to naturally attract lots of "Blue Widgets" anchor anchor text.
So really the ranking is a secondary effect of having the exact match domain.

I use Bing as my "daily" search engine, because after I got used to the results they serve [it took some time to adjust] I stopped using Google -- It was a tough switch, and I'm not saying Google's results are "bad" in every case [they're not]; it's just been that since I switched my default browser's search engine to Bing, Bing's been more consistent at serving what I want to find in a way that's easier to find.

I do think Google has some bigger challenges being #1 and having a huge market-share over Bing, but right now, for me personally, Bing is better.

Bing's been more consistent at serving what I want to find in a way that's easier to find

I believe that is called a "satisfied" market. The golden aim.

I switched my default browser's search engine to Bing, Bing's been more consistent at serving what I want to find in a way that's easier to find.

Funny you should mention that. I just recently switched one of my browsers to Bing. I still have Google as my homepage in my preferred browser. I search for the same thing on both browsers and use whichever one "seems" to have the most relevant results.

In the past two weeks, Bing has won out most of the time … but Google still wins in some areas. I got tired of wasting time so figured this was the best way to find what I am looking for as quickly as possible. Works for me! :)

As far as keywords in a domain name goes … my company name is my domain name and has been since before Google was of any importance to anyone. If my website is in any way punished because my company name happens to describe what I sell, that's just plain ridiculous!

I can see how domain names can be used to spam … but there are very legitimate reasons to have keywords in a domain name. One reason is because (as in my case) it makes sense that a company name should describe what you do or what you sell! That's marketing 101.

If I sell widgets in the Denver area and my company name is Denver Widgets, then you can be sure my URL will also be denverwidgets.whatever! How that could be considered spam is beyond me?

I'm very unlikely to change my company or domain name to "Harry's world of things and services you might be interested in buying" … just to ensure that Google doesn't think I am spamming their index!

Then again, I'm already retired.

And never forget that Ian. I did, an offer of silly money for three months work. What a shed load of crap that was. Did no end of damage to my self-esteem, really loads of self-damage to a career that had lasted over 30 years.

I'm curious how that played out. Can you offer a little more info?

I use bing as my default search engine now.
Unless there is a big change on the way, keywords in the domain name are a much bigger ranking factor than they are in G.
Just searched for "best {two word keyword}"
#1 result is emd

What is this Bing thing? Never heard of it.

What is this Bing thing? Never heard of it.

LOL … you and 99.9% of my potential client base!

blue-widgets.com is likely to naturally attract lots of "Blue Widgets" anchor anchor text.
So really the ranking is a secondary effect of having the exact match domain.

That's why I cited my personal experience. The two places I've noticed the fondness for exact matches are my test site and my newly acquired personal domain-- neither of which has any links from anywhere! Domain name is the only selling point.