Does it take a lot less effort to do SEO on domain names that match the keywords?

[YES MAN]

Example - If i have the domain name ring-tones.com
Does it take a lot less effort on SEO and backlinks to get it high on ranking than say, myphonetones.com

[chela0818]

Many SEO's are split on that issue, some SEO's think that keyterms in a domain name help you rank for the term, I am not one of those SEO's. In my opinion it doesn't make it any easier, you need to have good quality content, backlinks, internal links, good title tags and description tags with keywords or phrases in them. Getting a new website to rank is time consuming and requires a good strategy.

[Tauseef Azhar]

Its good that you your domain name has keyword in it but it does not mean that you don't need to work on SEO. you have to do all the parts of SEO for generating backlincks...your domain in the Internet world, isn't the only one that possess keyword...work hard to compete with your competitors..

[Pearl Pitt]

Yes dear, It would surely help you because the search engine when find the keywords in the URL then they consider it as a relevant site.

[geomark]

Quite a bit of anecdotal evidence points to that. An EMD (exact match domain) has often been easier to rank quickly, although in the long term it can still be beaten by a non-EMD that has better onsite and offsite SEO.

Note that some recent Google algorithm updates seem to be aimed at removing the EMD advantage so the anecdotal evidence may start to emerge that it does not provide an advantage.

[Kenny]

Yeah It has effect on SEO if you have your keyword in domain Name.