Are Exact Keyword Domains - Dead, Dying, On Last Legs or What

Do try to write more on this, please when you have some testing results. I am going to convert a big, rambling blog to a static site using sub domains as the initial form of siloing. Interested in learning more.

About 4 months ago I registered about 8 domains, 5 were exact matches and the others werent.

The exact domains appeared on the first page of google (at least when I first found them) and they have stayed there.

The non exact match domains are not. All sites have had the exact same promotion done to them.

So exact match= first page; non exact match= 2nd & 3rd page rankings.

I think it is important note that I was using a backlink software (that eventually lost its effect but thats besides the point).

But still, the exact match did seem to give it that boost, that little bit extra to put them on the first page when they were first indexed. And it kept them there as well.

Also only 2 of them were .com, 2 were .org, and 1 was .net. They all seemed to be equal, at least in this instance.

All I know is that I will for sure snatch up any highly searched exact match domain I can get. After all it is only a few bucks.

Ashley

I built exact match and phrase match domain sites before the may day algo update, and they are still ranking strong. I don't think this will ever change, heres my opinion as to why.

Google tends to value keyword in domain because it protects company brands from being outranked by other sites.

Consider this:

http://www.mercedesbenz.com

if you went to google and typed in "mercedes benz" and it wasn't the first result or at least in the top 5, that would be a pretty lame user experience.

Moreover, Google really wouldn't some punk SEO trying to rank for a brand name which has such tremendous value, and push his 10 page adsense fodder site to the top! (no offense to anyone, I am also a punk SEO)

Google knows that legal teams from big companies protect trademarks like hawks. I once worked as a paralegal, and basically half the job is scouring the net for trademark infringements.

Therefore, if a keyword is in the domain, it gets treated like a brand, and Google wants to deliver that brand to people searching for it, and protect it from being outranked to some extent in the interests of user experience.

The exploit that they probably won't ever be able to get around, is the fact that business brands can have all sorts of names. They don't really have a pattern to them. So for this reason, Google couldn't really devalue keyword stuffing in domains through an algorithm shift, because there is no pattern to look for. Thats why we can create sites like www.buyportablestereos.com or whatever, because that could very well be my brand name! (not my site, just an example)

Where does Phrase match domaining come into this?

Well lets say I went to google and this time I type in "mercedes".

Obviously I would still want to mercedesbenz.com somewhere in the top rankings, even though I didn't use its full name. So that tends to happen also, though not as strongly as the exact match, for obvious reasons.

Sometimes people don't type in a brand in full, just part of the name. Sometimes brands will have other words in their domains that aren't necessarily related to their brand name. e.g. BMW North America

So phrase match does give an SEO boost, and it is actually quite strong.

The difference between exact match and phrase match tends to be calculated based on keyword density. The less additional letters from the main keyword the better.

From my experience, research, testing and speculation, thats how keyword in domain works.

Bare in mind, however, that as others have mentioned backlinking, on page elements, and competition play significant roles in determining how well this all works.

Gavin

If they're not, they should be and I imagine one day will.

The domain cannot be indicative of quality. You can control the content of your site and pages, but you don't have as much control over the domain name you pick, because of limited availability.

It doesn't make sense to give more weight to one site over another simply because that site managed to snag an exact keyword domain and the other did not. The former could be a bunch of keyword-stuffed but inaccurate information while that latter could be top-notch information. And for the former to be given even a little more weight simply because they lucked out on a domain name just doesn't make sense.

As it stands now, maybe exact keyword domains do give a site some added weight, but I would think that's only going to be short-term and, over the long-term, the domain name itself is going to matter less and less. When that day comes is anyone's guess, but I think it will (and should) come.