Why Google can't get rid of exact match domains
- SEO |
Take this as spurring debate only and not as gospel.
There has been a lot of talk recently about Google taking actions against EMD recently. Matt Cuts even talked about it recently and how they would look into it.
I don't think EMDs or keyword rich domains name are going out of fashion anytime soon.
The reason? Brand searches.
As clever as Google would like you to believe they are, there are still limits to their AI.
Here's an example:
A lot of people are searching for brands every day. I know it's not the best example, but take Amazon. If someone were to search for 'amazon uk' in Google, chances are they would be looking for Amazon the online store and not warrior women in the UK. Sending people to the Amazon store and not some random page is a big concern. However since Google really does not understand context that well, particularly for one or two word keywords, how does Google know this isn't the case?
The answer is BRAND. One of the key factors in delivering brand results for brand searches is the domain name. Most, if not all, businesses try to get their company name in the url or simply take their URL to be the company name.
Google naturally uses this info to send people searching for brand searches to the brand website.
But.. How is this different than bluewidget.com and people searching for 'blue widget'? The answer is that it really isn't. For Google's algorithm this could be a brand search. It's the price they pay for giving big biz their place in the results.
So what is Google up to now?
Instead of combating EMD's trough the algo, Google is probably more likely to combat affiliate sites directly.
They do this by expanding their local results, by offering more 'shopping' results and lately there has been lots of talk about Google using data (Google Analytics) perhaps to categorize a website into for example 'info sites' or 'webshops'. That means that Google will try to classify your site from visitor behaviour. If your site is not commercial in nature, then it won't get commercial searches. They are also rolling out stuff like Hotpot to classify sites better.
For now though, I think the 'sky is falling' discussion about EMDs is exaggerated.
Anyway, I thought I'd share my thoughts on this, so everyone has a chance to stay ahead of the game.
Your thoughts?
There has been a lot of talk recently about Google taking actions against EMD recently. Matt Cuts even talked about it recently and how they would look into it.
I don't think EMDs or keyword rich domains name are going out of fashion anytime soon.
The reason? Brand searches.
As clever as Google would like you to believe they are, there are still limits to their AI.
Here's an example:
A lot of people are searching for brands every day. I know it's not the best example, but take Amazon. If someone were to search for 'amazon uk' in Google, chances are they would be looking for Amazon the online store and not warrior women in the UK. Sending people to the Amazon store and not some random page is a big concern. However since Google really does not understand context that well, particularly for one or two word keywords, how does Google know this isn't the case?
The answer is BRAND. One of the key factors in delivering brand results for brand searches is the domain name. Most, if not all, businesses try to get their company name in the url or simply take their URL to be the company name.
Google naturally uses this info to send people searching for brand searches to the brand website.
But.. How is this different than bluewidget.com and people searching for 'blue widget'? The answer is that it really isn't. For Google's algorithm this could be a brand search. It's the price they pay for giving big biz their place in the results.
So what is Google up to now?
Instead of combating EMD's trough the algo, Google is probably more likely to combat affiliate sites directly.
They do this by expanding their local results, by offering more 'shopping' results and lately there has been lots of talk about Google using data (Google Analytics) perhaps to categorize a website into for example 'info sites' or 'webshops'. That means that Google will try to classify your site from visitor behaviour. If your site is not commercial in nature, then it won't get commercial searches. They are also rolling out stuff like Hotpot to classify sites better.
For now though, I think the 'sky is falling' discussion about EMDs is exaggerated.
Anyway, I thought I'd share my thoughts on this, so everyone has a chance to stay ahead of the game.
Your thoughts?
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