--- title: "Keyword in URL Study: 72.7% of Top Google Results Lack It" url: https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/keyword-in-url-ranking-study description: "Keyword in URL study of 166,403 Google results: 72.7% of pages ranking first lack the full keyword in their web address. Read the study." lang: en --- Share Share on X: https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.suffdigital.com%2Fresources%2Fdata-studies%2Fkeyword-in-url-ranking-study&text=72.7%25%20of%20Google%27s%20%231%20Results%20Don%27t%20Have%20the%20Search%20Keyword%20in%20Their%20Web%20Address Share on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.suffdigital.com%2Fresources%2Fdata-studies%2Fkeyword-in-url-ranking-study Share on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/sharing/share-offsite/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.suffdigital.com%2Fresources%2Fdata-studies%2Fkeyword-in-url-ranking-study Share on Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/submit?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.suffdigital.com%2Fresources%2Fdata-studies%2Fkeyword-in-url-ranking-study&title=72.7%25%20of%20Google%27s%20%231%20Results%20Don%27t%20Have%20the%20Search%20Keyword%20in%20Their%20Web%20Address **72.7%** of the pages ranking first on Google do not contain every word of the search in their web address, and 85.3% do not use the keyword as a clean URL slug. The top result is no more likely to have it than the results at positions 2 to 6. Analysis of 166,403 top 10 results from 20,000 Google searches · Google US search results, September 2026 ## Key Findings 1. 1. **72.7%** of the web pages ranking first on Google do not contain every word of the search in their web address; 27.3% do. Copy stat 2. 2. **14.7%** of the web pages ranking first on Google use the exact keyword as their URL slug, such as /water-heater-repair. Copy stat 3. 3. Pages ranking first on Google have the full keyword in their web address **27.3%** of the time, no more often than pages at positions 2 to 6, which range from 27.2% to 27.7%. Copy stat 4. 4. **53.5%** of first-place Google results for two-word keywords have both words in their web address, against 7.2% for keywords of five or more words. Copy stat 5. 5. For informational searches, **37%** of first-place Google results have the full keyword in their web address, against 21.6% for searches from people ready to buy. Copy stat ## Summary A business owner reads an SEO checklist that says every page needs the target keyword in its URL. She renames twenty pages, sets up redirects, loses a few links along the way and waits for the rankings to rise. They do not, because the pages beating her mostly never followed that rule. A URL is a page's web address, and the slug is the part after the domain, such as /water-heater-repair. Putting the keyword in it is one of the most repeated items on on-page SEO checklists, and changing URLs on an existing website has real costs: redirects, broken links and lost history. Knowing whether top results actually follow the rule tells a business whether that work is worth it. They mostly do not. **72.7%** of the web pages ranking first on Google do not contain every word of the search in their web address, and 85.3% do not use it as a clean slug. The first result is no more likely to have the keyword in its URL than the results at positions 2 to 6. The length of the keyword matters far more than the position. ## What we measured On September 23, 2026 we searched 20,000 US keywords on Google (desktop) and kept every top 10 organic result, the ordinary listings below the ads, 166,403 results in all, including 20,000 first-place results. For each result we checked two things. First, whether every word of the keyword appears anywhere in the web address, domain included, in any order. Second, whether the keyword appears as an exact slug: the words in order as one joined phrase, such as water-heater-repair for "water heater repair". We compared both rates by ranking position, by search intent (what the person searching wants) and by the number of words in the keyword. ## Most top results skip the keyword in the URL 72.7% of pages ranking first on Google do not have every word of the search in their web address. Only 27.3% of first-place results contain all the words of the keyword somewhere in their web address, and 14.7% use it as an exact slug. Across all top 10 results the figures are almost the same: 26.3% have all the words and 14.6% an exact slug. Nearly three in four pages that win the top spot do so without the keyword in their address. That makes sense once you look at what ranks. Homepages rank under a bare domain, articles often carry a short or dated slug, and large websites use product codes or category paths. Google reads the page itself to decide what it is about, so the web address is a small signal at most. ## The match rate is flat from first to seventh place If a keyword-rich URL helped a page win, first place would have the highest match rate. It does not. Positions 1 to 6 all sit between 27.2% and 27.7% for all-words matches, and between 14.7% and 15.9% for exact slugs. Rates fall only at positions 8 and 9, to about 21% to 22%. All keyword words in the web address by position 1 27.3% 2 27.2% 3 27.7% 4 27.6% 5 27.3% 6 27.3% 7 26% 8 22.1% 9 21.1% 10 23.2% Source: Suff Digital analysis of 166,403 top 10 results from 20,000 Google searches · Google US search results, September 2026 At tenth place the all-words rate is 23.2% and the exact-slug rate 10.3%. A keyword in the URL does not separate the winner from the rest of page one, so it is not what a page is missing when it sits at fourth place instead of first. ## Short keywords match, long keywords almost never do The number of words in the keyword matters far more than position. For two-word keywords, 53.5% of first-place web addresses contain both words. For three words the share drops to 29.9%, for four words to 16.4%, and for five or more words to 7.2%. Long, specific searches almost never find their exact wording in the top result's address, yet those pages still rank first. All keyword words in the web address by first-place results by keyword group Two-word keywords 53.5% Three-word keywords 29.9% Four-word keywords 16.4% Five or more words 7.2% Informational intent 37% Navigational intent 31.9% Commercial intent 26.3% Transactional intent 21.6% Intent matters too. Informational searches, where people want to learn something, have the highest match rate at first place (37%), because how-to articles tend to carry their topic in the slug. Navigational searches follow at 31.9%, since brand names often sit in the domain. Transactional searches, from people ready to buy or hire, have the lowest at 21.6%. ## What this means for businesses Do not rename existing URLs to add keywords. The top results show little benefit, and changing a URL means setting up redirects and risking the links and history the old address has built. If a page is not ranking, its web address is rarely the reason. For new pages, use a short, readable slug that names the topic, such as /water-heater-repair, and stop there. Then spend the effort on what the page says: a clear title, a direct answer to the search, and the details a buyer needs. Those are the changes that move rankings, and they are the focus of our on page seo services (https://www.suffdigital.com/seo/on-page-seo-services). ## Embed this research Paste this on your site to embed the charts. It links back to the source automatically.

Source: 72.7% of Google's #1 Results Don't Have the Search Keyword in Their Web Address - Suff Digital

## Cite this study APA Suff Digital. (2026). 72.7% of Google's #1 Results Don't Have the Search Keyword in Their Web Address. https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/keyword-in-url-ranking-study Plain link 72.7% of Google's #1 Results Don't Have the Search Keyword in Their Web Address - Suff Digital - https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/keyword-in-url-ranking-study ## Frequently asked questions ### How many top Google results have the keyword in the URL? ### Does having the keyword in the URL help Google rankings? ### Do long-tail keywords appear in URLs? ### Should I change my URLs to include keywords? ## Related studies - SEO 78.2% of Google's #1 Results Don't Use the Exact Search Keyword in Their Title: https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/exact-match-title-tags-study - SEO Just 100 Websites Hold 37% of Google's Top 10 Results: https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/top-100-domains-google-share - SEO Featured Snippets Appear on 0.1% of Google Desktop Searches vs 57.6% for AI Overviews: https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/featured-snippets-rate-2026 - SEO Google's #1 Results Are Shorter Than the Rest of the Top 10: 759 Words vs 921: https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/google-top-10-content-length ## Structured data ```json [ { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://www.suffdigital.com/#organization", "name": "Suff Digital", "alternateName": "Suff Digital Marketing", "url": "https://www.suffdigital.com/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://www.suffdigital.com/#logo", "url": "https://www.suffdigital.com/logo.png", "contentUrl": "https://www.suffdigital.com/logo.png", "caption": "Suff Digital" }, "image": { "@id": "https://www.suffdigital.com/#logo" }, "description": "Suff Digital is a full-stack digital marketing agency that turns websites into predictable revenue engines, SEO, paid media, content, CRO, and web design built around revenue, not vanity metrics.", "slogan": "Digital marketing built for what's next.", "email": "hello@suffdigital.com", "telephone": "+1-629-236-0099", "foundingDate": "2022", "founder": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Matt Suffoletto", "jobTitle": "Founder & CEO" }, "contactPoint": [ { "@type": "ContactPoint", "telephone": "+1-629-236-0099", "email": "hello@suffdigital.com", "contactType": "sales", "areaServed": "US", "availableLanguage": [ "en" ] } ], "address": { "@type": "PostalAddress", "addressLocality": "Nashville", "addressRegion": "TN", "postalCode": "37219", "addressCountry": "US" }, "areaServed": { "@type": "Country", "name": "United States" }, "sameAs": [ "https://www.linkedin.com/company/suff-digital/", "https://www.instagram.com/suffdigital/", "https://www.youtube.com/@suffdigitalmarketing", "https://www.tiktok.com/@suffdigital" ], "knowsAbout": [ "Search Engine Optimization", "Pay-Per-Click Advertising", "Paid Social Advertising", "Conversion Rate Optimization", "Web Design", "Digital PR", "Link Building", "Website Migration", "Website Maintenance and Support", "Technical SEO", "Local SEO", "AI Search Optimization" ], "hasOfferCatalog": { "@type": "OfferCatalog", "name": "Suff Digital Services", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "Offer", "itemOffered": { "@type": "Service", "name": "Search Engine Optimization (SEO)", "url": "https://www.suffdigital.com/" } }, { "@type": "Offer", "itemOffered": { "@type": "Service", "name": "Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Advertising", "url": "https://www.suffdigital.com/services/ppc" } }, { "@type": "Offer", "itemOffered": { "@type": "Service", "name": "Paid Social Advertising", "url": "https://www.suffdigital.com/services/paid-social" } }, { "@type": "Offer", "itemOffered": { "@type": "Service", "name": "Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)", "url": "https://www.suffdigital.com/services/cro" } }, { "@type": "Offer", "itemOffered": { "@type": "Service", "name": "Web Design", "url": "https://www.suffdigital.com/services/web-design" } }, { "@type": "Offer", "itemOffered": { "@type": "Service", "name": "Digital PR & Link Building", "url": "https://www.suffdigital.com/services/digital-pr" } }, { "@type": "Offer", "itemOffered": { "@type": "Service", "name": "Website Migration", "url": "https://www.suffdigital.com/services/website-migration" } }, { "@type": "Offer", "itemOffered": { "@type": "Service", "name": "Website Maintenance & Support", "url": "https://www.suffdigital.com/services/website-maintenance" } } ] } }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://www.suffdigital.com/#website", "url": "https://www.suffdigital.com/", "name": "Suff Digital", "inLanguage": "en-US", "publisher": { "@id": "https://www.suffdigital.com/#organization" } } ] }, { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Article", "@id": "https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/keyword-in-url-ranking-study#article", "headline": "72.7% of Google's #1 Results Don't Have the Search Keyword in Their Web Address", "description": "72.7% of the pages ranking first on Google do not contain every word of the search in their web address, and 85.3% do not use the keyword as a clean URL slug. The top result is no more likely to have it than the results at positions 2 to 6.", "image": [ "https://www.suffdigital.com/images/suff-digital-share-16x9.jpg" ], "url": "https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/keyword-in-url-ranking-study", "datePublished": "2026-09-24", "dateModified": "2026-09-24", "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Matt Suffoletto", "jobTitle": "Founder & CEO", "url": "https://www.suffdigital.com/who-we-are" }, "publisher": { "@id": "https://www.suffdigital.com/#organization" }, "mainEntityOfPage": { "@id": "https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/keyword-in-url-ranking-study", "@type": "WebPage" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://www.suffdigital.com/#website" } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/keyword-in-url-ranking-study#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://www.suffdigital.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Resources", "item": "https://www.suffdigital.com/resources" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Data Studies", "item": "https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "72.7% of Google's #1 Results Don't Have the Search Keyword in Their Web Address" } ] }, { "@type": "Dataset", "@id": "https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/keyword-in-url-ranking-study#dataset", "name": "72.7% of Google's #1 Results Don't Have the Search Keyword in Their Web Address", "description": "72.7% of the pages ranking first on Google do not contain every word of the search in their web address, and 85.3% do not use the keyword as a clean URL slug. The top result is no more likely to have it than the results at positions 2 to 6.", "url": "https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/keyword-in-url-ranking-study", "creator": { "@id": "https://www.suffdigital.com/#organization" }, "datePublished": "2026-09-24", "dateModified": "2026-09-24", "license": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "isAccessibleForFree": true, "measurementTechnique": "Google US desktop results, top 10 organic results" }, { "@type": "FAQPage", "@id": "https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/keyword-in-url-ranking-study#faq", "mainEntity": [ { "@type": "Question", "name": "How many top Google results have the keyword in the URL?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "27.3% of pages ranking first on Google contain every word of the keyword in their web address, and 14.7% use it as an exact slug (September 2026)." } }, { "@type": "Question", "name": "Does having the keyword in the URL help Google rankings?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "There is little sign of it. Pages at positions 1 to 6 on Google all have the full keyword in their web address about 27% of the time, so the first result has no edge." } }, { "@type": "Question", "name": "Do long-tail keywords appear in URLs?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "Rarely. 7.2% of first-place Google results for keywords of five or more words have every word in their web address, against 53.5% for two-word keywords." } }, { "@type": "Question", "name": "Should I change my URLs to include keywords?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "Usually not. 72.7% of pages ranking first on Google do not have the full keyword in their web address, and changing a URL requires redirects that can cost links." } } ] } ] } ] ```