Does having your keyword in the domain still matter?

Short answer: yes, having your keyword in your domain name still helps. Not as a magic trick, but as a real relevance signal that makes a site faster and cheaper to rank - which matters most when you're rebuilding or starting out.

Why it works

Remember that Google ranks on relevance times authority. A domain that literally contains what you do and where - something like pagesecuritydoorsmelbourne.com.au - is about as strong a relevance signal as a website can send. Google can see, before it reads a word of the page, exactly what this site is about. That head start on relevance means you need less authority (fewer links) to reach the same position than a plain brand domain would.

A keyword domain doesn't win on its own. It just means you have to buy less authority to get to the top.

Where it matters most: cost efficiency

Because links and authority are the slow, expensive part of SEO, anything that reduces how much of it you need is money saved. A keyword-rich domain does exactly that. It's especially valuable in two situations: a brand-new business with no authority yet, and a rebuild after a domain has been written off - if you're picking a new name anyway, picking a keyword-rich one gives you a discount on all the link building still to come.

The caveats

• It's a bonus, not a strategy - a keyword domain with no decent content and no authority still won't rank.
• Don't stuff it - one clear service-and-location domain helps; a jumble of keywords looks spammy and dates badly.
• If you already have a strong brand domain with real authority, there's usually no case for switching - you'd throw away what you've built.

So it's not the old exact-match-domain gimmick, and it won't carry a weak site. But given a genuine choice - a new business, or a fresh start - a keyword in the domain is a real, lasting relevance advantage and a cheaper road to the top.