July 3rd, 2017 · by Domains Direct · 1 min read

You may have already noticed, but Google are no longder bolding keywords in Domain names. Previously if you searched for domains you would have seen something like:

www.domainsdirect.nz

Often I've been asked whether there's merit in using a descriptive/category Domain name as opposed to a business name, for example, books.com instead of amazon.com . In my opinion, a category Domain name does nothing for brand development, or a business's growth path. Imagine if everyone knew Amazon's website as books.com; it would be difficult to get people thinking about DVDs, toys, or clothes with such a specific Domain.

I also don't believe people are randomly typing category words into their address bar in the hopes of getting the best result, such as www.accountant.co.nz or www.catering.co.nz.

It's not clear why Google have made the change to not bold keywords, but it could be a step in the direction of taking focus off website addresses. Ultimately, Google wants users starting their web surfing at Google, as opposed to remembering Domain names.

It will still be important, however, to maintain descriptive folder/file names to help Google (and their users) determine the nature of your page's content. For example, look at the URL in your address bar of this page and you'll see how it's made up of a sub-folder blog and then the file name google-no-longer-bolding-keywords-in-domains.