You Can Fool Google None of the Time
Whole businesses are built and many millions of dollars are spent on Search Engine Optimization or SEO. They are largely divided into two camps: "Content is King" and "Linking is King". Sounds wimpy, but I say, "Yes!"
If you write good copy, all the keywords will be there. Think back to Journalism 101: Who? What? Where? When? It is important to think about how people will describe your site, so ask them. How would you search for your website? Without the domain name, of course.
Some marketers think that click-thru keyword domain names, with hypens, a good way to drive traffic. Personally, I think it's kind of silly to buy up www.widgets-keyword- another-keyword-great-widget.com and park it on some server. There's much more to a search engine listing than the domain name. Again, we go back to the content.
Off the top of my head, the only site that really needs a hyphen is the perennial IT favorite www.Experts-Exchange.com.
Linking is important, too. You can enter into link exchange agreements with other web sites or you can simply link to other like minded people. People whose websites you admire and like to read. Even if you haven't entered into a reciprocal agreement, I think there's a Kharmic Law at work: Someone may link to you, if your content is interesting enough.
Let's consider the Google philosophy and history. It was founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin when they were each working on their doctorates in Computer Sciences. They wrote a program called "BackRub" with the idea that the most popular website will generally yield the best result. It's a service that works for the Everyman at his computer, looking for Fiestaware or donate to Idaho Great Dane Rescue. Democracy on the web works.
What Google does specifically to achieve its rankings is a mystery. It's based on algrithms that are their own. They are always changing, always tweaking for a better user experience. And, before you start thinking there's a short cut, explore more on Google's site.