When picking a domain name: Why doesn't a typical search term automatically put me at top of Google search?

Having an "exact match" domain name doesn't guarantee results. In fact, you can have an exact match domain and never rank for that term at all. Ranking for an exact term is complicated and relies on dozens of factors -- how many links are pointing back to your site with that term? How many of those links are from sites that actually matter, as opposed to bookmarked links or links from no-name blogs? How much activity is that website getting on Facebook/Twitter/Google+? This is why sites like "Motor Trend" currently rank at the top of Google for "new cars." It's because that site has proven itself to be relevant enough to rank for that term. They didn't need to own & operate "newcars.com" in order to achieve that rank. On that same topic, search engines - especially Google - favor "brand names" more than ever these days. When it comes to geo-local ranking, it depends on a whole new set of factors. Is the site listed on local directories? CitySearch, Yellowpages, Yelp, HotFrog...or any local state and county websites? These all *help* to rank for a geo location but also don't guarantee it. Nothing is guaranteed in SEO, all you can do is follow the basic guidelines and keep working at it.

Companies have to pay to be at the top of a search engine. They can do this buy purchasing keywords and paying the company for the amount of times people click on their link.

You can never achieve the top rankings on the basis of only domain name, you have to optimize it on Google which is called Search Engine Optmization or you can also make use of Search Engine Marketing to place your website on the top of the search engine Google wants quality recommendation about a website before it appears on its search engine. So you need to do SEO of that website first Read my article about SEO for more details below