Spammy domains, maybe the EMD killer

[paulgl]

Answering another thread on ways google is cracking down on spam
got me to thinking about exact match domains. I have always hated
exact match domains. One, it's not how the big boys do it, and it's
not a short, cool, memorable, easy type-in domain. That's why kayak
and zoosk did what they did, as well as anything from amazon to ebay,
even the warrior forum.

But how about this for an argument against EMDs? Spam! Can google
look at a domain name, (the algo, that is) and come up with a judgement
that it's spam? "beststainlesstoasters.com for example. Would a bonafide
site on toasters actually use that? Or would the go for something short,
like crispit.com? Which domain looks like spam?

So the next time you are arguing uselessly with yourself over a domain
name, ask yourself, is it spammy?

What do you think has spam, buy.com or wii-product-reviews? Which site
do you think was created just for search engines?

Yeah, I may be completetly wrong. But if google is on the look out for spam,
seems to me the next thing hit is spammy domains.

Think outside the box for a domain. You can rank anything for anything.

I don't know if anyone has thought of this before. But what would be a good
tip off to a useless MFA site? Could be the domain name.

Paul

[packerfan]

I like your theory, and I'm also not a big EMD kinda guy. But I think in reality it's going to be really hard to penalize a site for it's domain name.

Sure, beststainsteeltoasters sounds spammy. But what about toasterreviews, or reviewsfortoasters? How will differentiate between spammy EMDs and non-spammy?

What I could see is them not giving any additional weight to a domain match in the SERPs. That would make sense to me.

[paulgl]

Originally Posted by packerfan

I like your theory, and I'm also not a big EMD kinda guy. But I think in reality it's going to be really hard to penalize a site for it's domain name.

Well, they just canned all free .co.cc sites.

Nice to meet a fellow "not a big EMD" for a change.

What really is the need for a Specific-product-review.com site?

Paul

[cctvinstallers]

I see a lot of EMDs ranking top and usually a lot of effort to beat.
Also the search term is highlighted in the url part of search results.
I also believe cost of domains is a factor , and term of registration.

[drewsg]

Originally Posted by paulgl

What really is the need for a Specific-product-review.com site?

Paul

Does it matter as long as it provides the content Google is looking for?

[chimehost]

I think users who have keyword-keyword-keyword.com domains should consider moving to some form of brand name because it looks like Google will start penalizing spammy sites in the future. They already banned co.cc domains and they are very aggressive lately.

[paulgl]

Originally Posted by drewsg

Does it matter as long as it provides the content Google is looking for?

Well, are there any free .co.cc sites that had good info that google
was looking for? Hmmmm. They could not have all been spam.

Taking this logic to the next step was my point. If google can
ban an extension, they can certainly tell what a spammy domain
is.

What sounds like spam:
best-video-game-controller-reviews.com
or Nyko.com ?
Which sounds like a business? Which sounds like a site set up
just for adsense? Or spam? The domain of an authoritative site
on video games? Read: Nyko.com

I chuckle when I hear they are hard to beat. They get beat all the
time by websites that rock. Warriorforum.com one of them.
Nyko as another.

People argue "provides content google is looking for" all the time.
Especially when complaining they got an undeserved penalty.

Paul

[BlakeM]

Sorry dude, but this is stupid. If some one searches for "best toasters" that means they want to see a review on best toasters! Unless the domain is misleading, there is nothing wrong with it... not every site has to be the next Amazon!

[packerfan]

Originally Posted by paulgl

Well, they just canned all free .co.cc sites.

Nice to meet a fellow "not a big EMD" for a change.

What really is the need for a Specific-product-review.com site?

Paul

I suppose there really isn't a need per se, but if I have a site about specific-product-review, and you're looking for specific-product-review, is my site automatically spammy?

Like I said, I'm on your side, I just don't know how the big G can do this without penalizing a ton of sites that aren't really spam. Then again, they could probably get rid of all the EMDs and only affect about .0000001% relevant sites.

I've talked myself into getting rid of all EMDs. Down with the garbage...

[hashbury]

Ill chirp in on this as I am really big into EMD's

I honestly cant see google banning EMD's. Figuring out the exact match domains from company sites is going to be very difficult.

I also have a few EMD's that I have devolped into full informational sites that really do help people. Should I really be penilized just because my domain has a keyword in it?

While I do understand your complaint about EMD's I dont think we will see anything done about them in the next few years. The only thing I could really see happening is giving EMD's less ranking ranking power (if you belive in that anyways).

However, if google wants to deindex all the .info's that wouldnt bother me one bit.

[36burrows]

I'm just not understanding how an EMD automatically means spam?

Spam sites are autoblog sites and the like, not EMD's with unique content that truly are useful and related to what the person is searching for.

[yukon]

Originally Posted by paulgl

Well, are there any free .co.cc sites that had good info that google
was looking for? Hmmmm. They could not have all been spam.

Taking this logic to the next step was my point. If google can
ban an extension, they can certainly tell what a spammy domain
is.

What sounds like spam:
best-video-game-controller-reviews.com
or Nyko.com ?
Which sounds like a business? Which sounds like a site set up
just for adsense? Or spam? The domain of an authoritative site
on video games? Read: Nyko.com

I chuckle when I hear they are hard to beat. They get beat all the
time by websites that rock. Warriorforum.com one of them.
Nyko as another.

People argue "provides content google is looking for" all the time.
Especially when complaining they got an undeserved penalty.

Paul

Google didn't ban the TLD extension, they banned all sub domains under a single domain (not extension).

Example, Google says 696,000,000 results still exist for a site:cc search.

http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=site%3Acc

[paulgl]

Originally Posted by yukon

Google didn't ban the TLD extension, they banned all sub domains under a single domain (not extension).

They banned all free sites using the .co.cc, which were nothing but subdomains
of .co.cc. Yes, not the whole .cc extension. I kept emphasizing free.

But hey, Yukon, nothing on my theory(?)

As far as EMD, it's funny how nobody tries for the travel deal niche. Nary
an EMD in any of the big players. kayak, orbitz, priceline, bookit, hotwire,
etc.

Paul

[bummed.out]

For what it's worth, I have seen legitimate companies using EMDs that would be oft-queried terms. For example, I was looking for fiber optic cables the other day. I found a site that had the words "fiber optic cables for sale" - or something like that - in it's domain name. It is a real business, with physical product, that has utilized an EMD to its advantage.

I like using EMDs - and all mine have unique (non-spun) informational content on them.

[strategic seo services]

Originally Posted by paulgl

Answering another thread on ways google is cracking down on spam
got me to thinking about exact match domains. I have always hated
exact match domains. One, it's not how the big boys do it, and it's
not a short, cool, memorable, easy type-in domain. That's why kayak
and zoosk did what they did, as well as anything from amazon to ebay,
even the warrior forum.

But how about this for an argument against EMDs? Spam! Can google
look at a domain name, (the algo, that is) and come up with a judgement
that it's spam? "beststainlesstoasters.com for example. Would a bonafide
site on toasters actually use that? Or would the go for something short,
like crispit.com? Which domain looks like spam?

So the next time you are arguing uselessly with yourself over a domain
name, ask yourself, is it spammy?

What do you think has spam, buy.com or wii-product-reviews? Which site
do you think was created just for search engines?

Yeah, I may be completetly wrong. But if google is on the look out for spam,
seems to me the next thing hit is spammy domains.

Think outside the box for a domain. You can rank anything for anything.

I don't know if anyone has thought of this before. But what would be a good
tip off to a useless MFA site? Could be the domain name.

Paul

I agree. You should try your best not to make your domain name look spammy.