Domain Name Does Not Matter for Rank?

7 replies
Does domain name not matter at all anymore? There is a new site that has popped up with a domain name that has nothing to do with the product. Under the search "custom rhinestone shirts" a site with the domain clevelandclinichealth.com has popped up at number 4! The site is about rhinestone shirts...but the domain is totally off.
#domain #matter #rank
  • Profile picture of the author BamaGuy
    Maybe the site had age and someone bought it when it dropped off? I get what you are saying though but it doesn't always make sense these days! Whatever they did obviously works because their name showed up in the results and it was related to what you were searching for.
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  • Profile picture of the author Joan Altz
    Domain names don't matter as much as quality of content. Exact match domains are good for the short term and for keywords with little competition, but in the long haul the sites with both age (site age, not only domain age) and good content will win out.
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  • Profile picture of the author rightwrite
    I figured they bought the domain with age. But it is under 4 years and that doesn't seem that old to me. It is a copy of another site that ranks well in this basic category. Just seemed odd. Time to work on more content! Thanks everyone.
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  • Profile picture of the author Gene Pimentel
    For a well made content rich website, the domain name has very little impact on the search engine rankings. Google ranks web pages, not domain names. There are many other benefits to using a relevant keyword rich domain name though. Recognition, memorable, brand creation, better click through rates (people searching for fuzzy yellow slippers will more readily click on FuzzyYellowSlippers.com before something not descriptive), and more.
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  • Profile picture of the author sbucciarel
    Banned
    Originally Posted by rightwrite View Post

    Does domain name not matter at all anymore? There is a new site that has popped up with a domain name that has nothing to do with the product. Under the search "custom rhinestone shirts" a site with the domain clevelandclinichealth.com has popped up at number 4! The site is about rhinestone shirts...but the domain is totally off.
    Domain name hasn't been a significant factor in ranking for some time now. Google removed the automatic boost that exact match domains had awhile ago. If an exact match domain ranks now, it's due to the content, not the domain name.

    Deconstructing The Google EMD Update

    Google Warns of Upcoming Exact Match Domain Algorithm Change - Search Engine Watch (#SEW)

    Google Drops "Low Quality" Exact Match Domains From Search Results

    The Exact Match Domain Playbook: A Guide and Best Practices for EMDs | SEOmoz
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  • Profile picture of the author Paul Marcoux
    it depends on what anchor text they used in the backlinks
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