Domain name matters for websites that want to rank. In the past, Google has penalized exact-match domains or those domains that include the target keyword in the URL but it was mainly for spammy websites. Otherwise, exact-match domains that use relevant and valuable content gain a ranking boost.

However, this should not be a reason to change your URL name. In fact, your URL must reflect what your business or site is all about. This is because Domain age is also an important ranking factor.

A study from Ahrefs indicates that more than 60% of Google’s Top 10 URL rankings are already 3 years old or more. This study includes two million pages and reveals that only a few “less than one-year-old” websites achieve a ranking boost.

As mentioned earlier, site authority is important and it is influenced by content quality and off-page signals including inbound links and social shares.

Using the Moz Open Site Explorer allows you to determine the authority of your domain.