Are Exact Match Domains no good anymore?

21 replies
  • SEO
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I have being studying and read up a bit on googles algorithm change on Exact Match Domains and Partial Match Domains.

So basically i am confused now whether is would be best for someone to register for example; candles.ie (EMD) or bestcandles.ie (PMD) if they wanted to sell candles as by the looks of things the former domain "candles.ie" even though seemingly better would get penalized by google and "bestcandles.ie" would rank higher.. so since candles is only and example for all other niches.. what's a guy to do when trying to make a small e-commerce site to sell within their country and hopefully rank on their countries google, do they choose EMD or PMD if both are available?

I'm thinking now it has to be PMD which seems unfair.
#anymore #domains #exact #good #match
  • Profile picture of the author yesacpow
    Yes they are still good. DO you think a domain would be worthless and not rank just because it is the exact match for a keyword?

    Ranking has to do with your overall SEO strategy. I recently purchased and exact match domain for a moderate competition keyword and without any backlinks it is already ranking on the first page.
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    • Profile picture of the author BAC
      Originally Posted by yesacpow View Post

      Yes they are still good. DO you think a domain would be worthless and not rank just because it is the exact match for a keyword?

      Ranking has to do with your overall SEO strategy. I recently purchased and exact match domain for a moderate competition keyword and without any backlinks it is already ranking on the first page.
      The same thing with me but it loses its top rank suddenly with time...due to EMD.
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  • Profile picture of the author Magic Mike IM
    Exact match domains are fine... not all EMD's were hit by Google, only the one that had additional "spam signals". They knew that marketers primarily (not all) have EMD's, so they specifically took an "algorithmic" look at them. But, in general, they will still help you as long as you're not "over-optimized".

    Peronally, I would not hesitate to use them, and in fact, in Launch Jacking, for instance, would absolutely recommend it !
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    • Profile picture of the author Byron2k12
      I'm only really keen to know what i should do, because in Ireland one .ie domain costs 3 times more than a .com but i need one because it's only local selling.

      But what i am thinking now is if a guy is going to sell bikes that even if bicycles.ie was available that he would be better off to go with something like onlinebicycles.ie instead just in case the ranking might suffer over it, what do you think?
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  • Profile picture of the author satrap
    EMDs are still good. I think a lot of it depends on your backlink profile as well. Which is why I believe not all EMDs were penalized.
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    • Profile picture of the author yesacpow
      Agree!

      You have to ensure that your seo practices are balances. Meaning don't do too much of one thing and too little of the next otherwise your domain will raise a red flag in Google's eyes.


      Originally Posted by satrap View Post

      EMDs are still good. I think a lot of it depends on your backlink profile as well. Which is why I believe not all EMDs were penalized.
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  • Profile picture of the author Benjamin Ehinger
    They still rank, but if you want to really build your online income it's best to choose a domain you can brand.

    Benjamin Ehinger
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    • Profile picture of the author Byron2k12
      Originally Posted by Benjamin Ehinger View Post

      They still rank, but if you want to really build your online income it's best to choose a domain you can brand.

      Benjamin Ehinger

      This is an interesting one because i have read this a number of times in the past hour. But if your niche is selling LEDlights or TVariels or Frames etc. wouldn't the domain name frames.co.uk or TVariels.co.uk (if selling to only UK obviously) be much better than your own trademarked arbitrary word?
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      • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
        Banned
        EMD's are fine.

        All that's happened is that "thin, poor-quality" EMD's have lost some/most of the artificial advantage they previously had from their domain-name alone.
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      • Profile picture of the author Benjamin Ehinger
        Originally Posted by Byron2k12 View Post

        This is an interesting one because i have read this a number of times in the past hour. But if your niche is selling LEDlights or TVariels or Frames etc. wouldn't the domain name frames.co.uk or TVariels.co.uk (if selling to only UK obviously) be much better than your own trademarked arbitrary word?
        Probably, but chances are a one word domain like that isn't available, so something like BobsFrames.co.uk would work well. I've found that EMDs work for ranking, but actually creating a brand works better if you ever want to sell it. Plus you can still rank well.

        Benjamin
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        • Profile picture of the author JonPL
          If there is an EMD available then I usually take it without looking any further. Otherwise I would look at the other domain names in the top 10 or 20 of the SERPs to see what sort of names come up - EMD/PMD names or authority names or brand names and get ideas from those.
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  • Profile picture of the author datingworld
    recently got one with low searched keyword and its on google page 1 without any backlinks...
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    • Profile picture of the author MRamocsai
      While they may work I tend to stick away from them these days. It's more about creating a brand now when it comes to domain selection, at least for me.
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  • Profile picture of the author bradudan
    If you ask me i should optimize those domains on different keywords , not the EMD one .

    If your site is www.exactkeyword.com try to optimize for "something about keyword" , "like my keyword".

    What i want to say is to not over optimise the EMK( exact match keyword) and the website will work as any other keyword...
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  • Profile picture of the author AngelaLuo
    I see a lot of EMD site still ranking good.
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  • Profile picture of the author Byron2k12
    Trying to grasp the overall tone of the thread, EMDs won't do any "worse" than partial or brand domains, if that is true then that's enough and it is still safe to choose those.
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  • Profile picture of the author richt1984
    They still work but I tend to not use them anymore (just personal preference), having an exact match domain and over optimizing your site for that kw could get you in a spot of bother somewhere down the line. If you do go for and EMD fill out the site with plenty of content give it some authority.
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  • Profile picture of the author paulgl
    The so-called "update" had nothing to do with EMDs per se. Just like
    saying great hockey players come out of Canada has nothing to do
    with being Canadian by itself.

    People just misquote google, then get a following, and more people pass
    the misquote on. Happens all the time.

    Paul
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  • Profile picture of the author Sir Dude
    There's a thorough article on the subject at SEOmoz: The Exact Match Domain Playbook: A Guide and Best Practices for EMDs

    There's also an interesting study about past and present EMD domain behavior in the SERPs: Are Exact-Match Domains (EMDs) in Decline?
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  • Profile picture of the author MaxNiche
    If you build a quality site on an EMD domain,It will perform good even after the EMD algorithm update.
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  • Profile picture of the author jfambrini
    One of my EMD was hit by EMD update and it declines in SERPs on primary keywords included in the domain name and was thrown on page 3 and above but now it is back on page 1 and 2 but still below number 8. Before EMD update it was between 1 and 5 on all its related long tail keywords.

    The interesting thing though is that its ranking on all secondary keywords remained unchanged so if it was hit for spammy content it should have been hit on secondary and tertiary keywords.
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