Google's Gary Illyes has called keywords in URLs and domains an "incredibly small signal" for rankings, one that "won't do much" for a page's position. He said it in the first video of a new series Google calls The Non-Canonical Cabinet, posted this week, in which Illyes and colleague Cherry Prommawin explain how Google Search handles URLs.

The video is confirmation, not news. Both claims — the weakness of URL keywords as a ranking signal, and the preference for hyphens over underscores — repeat positions Google has stated before. What is new is the format: a technical walkthrough rather than a conference remark or a Twitter reply.

What did Google actually confirm?

Two statements carry weight here, and Google said them directly.

• Keywords in a URL or domain are an "incredibly small signal" for rankings, per Illyes. Webmasters should not expect a keyword-stuffed URL to move positions.
• Hyphens, not underscores, should separate keywords in URL paths. Illyes framed the hyphens-versus-underscores debate as settled.

Illyes added one point that goes beyond prior statements: Google can detect spamming inside URLs. He did not define the threshold or the penalty, so treat the detection claim as a warning without published mechanics.

Everything above comes from Google's own staff on the record. Nothing in the video relies on third-party tool data, which is worth noting — this is a rare case where the entire story is confirmed statement, not speculation.

What topics does the video cover?

The series opener ranges wider than the two headline claims.

• What can legally go in a domain name
• Internationalized domains, Punycode, and why the "xn--" prefix is not a typo
• Whether an emoji domain such as the chicken-and-fire example can exist — it cannot
• Whether a URL like "best-grilled-chicken-cheap-delicious-amaze-amaze-amaze" can hold the number-one position forever
• Emoji in URL paths, percent-encoding, and how it can ruin a second date
• Hyphens versus underscores, described as settled

The emoji-domain answer is a flat no, and Illyes delivered it with an explicit request to stop asking. The keyword-stuffing example drew mockery by design; the joke itself carries the ranking message.

Should site owners change anything?

For most sites, no. Illyes said the signal is incredibly small, so renaming established URLs would trade a marginal gain for redirect risk and lost link equity. That trade almost never pays.

New sites and new pages face a cheaper decision: use hyphens, keep paths short, skip emoji. The video's percent-encoding discussion implies emoji paths create more technical friction than value, and Illyes framed that friction in deliberately memorable terms.

Verticals that lean hard on exact-match domains — local services, affiliate comparisons — should read the "incredibly small signal" line as a ceiling, not an invitation. Google did not say the signal is zero; it said the signal is small, and that distinction keeps the exact-match industry alive even as it shrinks its claims.

The spam-detection remark deserves a second read. Illyes flagged it as an aside, without enforcement details, but a stated capability from a Google engineer is more durable than a patent filing.

Takeaway: hyphens win, keyword URLs barely matter, and URL spam is on Google's radar.

What should you watch next?

The Non-Canonical Cabinet is a series, so further episodes will follow. Monitor them for the same pattern this opener set: reconfirmed old guidance, occasional new technical detail, and warnings delivered without enforcement specifics. Google's video channel is now publishing ranking guidance directly, and each episode will likely recycle a settled debate or two — which makes it a verification tool, not a news source, for anyone who has followed these topics before.