question Does EMD help SEO?

[JayT]

Are exact match domains getting a huge boost in google ranking?
Google 'domain' and see, (past ADS) what is #1? It's domain.com! Other registry are better, bigger, more seo, more traffic, but domain.com on top.

Do search "domains" and what? Surprise, domains.google, ranked #1! Turn the page, just over to p2: domains.me! can you believe it?!? domains.me (.me official homepage) ranks over every other .TLD homepage in existence!

Now the evidence is already pretty convincing, but I check on p3 and there it is finally, domains.com. Domains.com doesn't even have metatags, no robots.txt, I view the site, and it is lacking compared to most! Why does Domains.com rank over a registrar like dynadot.com, p4, for this term?

 

[HKIBC]

What's EMD?

 

[JayT]

What's EMD?

Exact match domain (search terms in domain name). Much debate, and plenty SEO experts says it doesn't matter.

 

[Apprich]

It gives bonus but it's not the only thing in SEO. There are plenty of things that is effecting to SEO.

 

[JayT]

It gives bonus but it's not the only thing in SEO. There are plenty of things that is effecting to SEO.

"Bonus"? Can we figure it out more mathematically? I used "huge boost" to describe it. What else ppl?

 

[HKIBC]

I believe it does give a boost, how huge, that depends on the age of the domain.

 

[TRY]

It's all about relevance and you can't get more relevant than an exact match. 3 or more keywords are not as effective imo as then it starts to look spammy and less credible.

 

[TRY]

.

 

[JayT]

I can't believe some people push that it doesn't matter. Some might say 'a little helpful' I am finding that it helps immensely. I never looked into it very hard until now... Here are some facts i found from a study (couple years old though)

• Keyword domains rank on average 11% higher than branded domains.
• Brand (non-EMD) domains needed an average of 40,000 more links to hit position one,and 35,000 more links to reach the Top 10.
• Branded domains needed 69% higher Domain Authority and 22% higher Page Authority to rank in the Top 10.
• Keyword domains were able to reach position one with half as much content, and only using the keyword half as frequently.

All the terms i'm checking are page one. I guess a better topic would have been "why do people think EMD hardly matters?"

 

[HKIBC]

It's biggest boost comes from a higher ctr.

Isn't ctr a result of positioning, hence mostly dependant on given domain's content and other non-EMD factors? Hence, as much a general factor as age of the domain?

 

[TRY]

Isn't ctr a result of positioning, hence mostly dependant on given domain's content and other non-EMD factors? Hence, as much a general factor as age of the domain?

I would say it's the other way around
" positioning is a result of ctr"

 

[GBA]

I can't believe some people push that it doesn't matter. Some might say 'a little helpful' I am finding that it helps immensely. I never looked into it very hard until now... Here are some facts i found from a study (couple years old though)

• Keyword domains rank on average 11% higher than branded domains.
• Brand (non-EMD) domains needed an average of 40,000 more links to hit position one,and 35,000 more links to reach the Top 10.
• Branded domains needed 69% higher Domain Authority and 22% higher Page Authority to rank in the Top 10.
• Keyword domains were able to reach position one with half as much content, and only using the keyword half as frequently.

All the terms i'm checking are page one. I guess a better topic would have been "why do people think EMD hardly matters?"

Mind sharing a link? Just curious to see what names were compared. Are we talking about domains with no website, or altogether? A fresh and unique content under bad domain will likely beat a self-standing domain, on serp. I have a few ngtld with monthly searches over 1M, still after being indexed they sit modest on serp, that's been proved many times.

 

[JayT]

I was reading this blog, https://econsultancy.com/blog/65696-do-exact-match-domains-still-work-as-an-seo-tactic/ copied those stats a ways down on the page, but they say those stats come from http://canirank.com =/

oops @Grossu gave wrong blog link at first

 

[DomainVP]

It's rare... but almost every post in this thread is incorrect.

EMD's do not give SERP boosts, and haven't since at least 2012.

However, and this is a big however, having an EMD improves the occurrence of your EMD keywords being used as anchor text for backlinks.

So if you have an EMD TigerShark.com most of your links will look like this Tiger Shark
This will allow you to rank better for the keyword, allowing your EMD to help you rank better for the keyword.

The top things that matter in 2016 SEO are:
1) The anchor text of Backlinks coming from authoritative sites.
2) Design & User experience
3) On-topc content
4) Social Signals

Those are the facts of SEO in 2016, good luck to all.

 

[TRY]

It's rare... but almost every post in this thread is incorrect.

EMD's do not give SERP boosts, and haven't since at least 2012.

However, and this is a big however, having an EMD improves the occurrence of your EMD keywords being used as anchor text for backlinks.

So if you have an EMD TigerShark.com most of your links will look like this Tiger Shark
This will allow you to rank better for the keyword, allowing your EMD to help you rank better for the keyword.

The top things that matter in 2016 SEO are:
1) The anchor text of Backlinks coming from authoritative sites.
2) Design & User experience
3) On-topc content
4) Social Signals

Those are the facts of SEO in 2016, good luck to all.

You definitely get a boost if the keyword search includes the extension, especially so if .com, right?

P.s. although google does not give emds as much weight as it used to on the free side (seo), it's probably one of the largest factors on the paid side (sem).

 

[deez007]

EMD do still have SEO clout. They do not pack as much as a punch as they used to back in the day BUT they 100% still have considerable value. I know this for fact, not from reading SEO blogs but from my own experience....

That being said an EMD is a nice to have and not a MUST have. Back in the day EMD's were the golden child for anyone involved with SEO. You could rank for low to medium competition keywords with just an EMD, poor quality content and throw in a few do "Do follow" and .edu backlinks. Now days that wont cut it at all. Over and above everything, at the moment content is king. Good quality content and onpage SEO is an absolute must, coupled with a quality back link profile and social media link profile.

 

[golan]

Man this is a wrong place to ask. Most people here dont have a clue in SEO, this question was discussed here a numerous times in the past but all you get there is a lot of fantasy theories.

 

[TRY]

For example I googled pickup trucks, the first free listing is pickuptrucks in .com, should I assume the keywords in the domain name was a factor or just a coincidence?

 

[TRY]

Man this is a wrong place to ask. Most people here dont have a clue in SEO, this question was discussed here a numerous times in the past but all you get there is a lot of fantasy theories.

Do you think the keyword in a domain name is a factor in seo or totally irrelevant?

 

[golan]

Do you think the keyword in a domain name is a factor in seo or totally irrelevant?

It IS a factor. One of the factors. The question is how you use it. From marketing side, naming your site with EM is usually very bad idea. Thus you'd better use your EMD's as pumpers which funnel traffic to your main site.

 

[Aamsra]

It does if being optimized. Simply the EMD doesnt matter if other competitors optimize se using particular keywords (in that specific EMD).

Hopefully, it helps.
Thank you.

 

[TRY]

It IS a factor. One of the factors. The question is how you use it. From marketing side, naming your site with EM is usually very bad idea. Thus you'd better use your EMD's as pumpers which funnel traffic to your main site.

You say it IS a factor, guess you answered his question
As for as how to use it well that's where it gets complicated but that's not what he asked.
I agree you shouldn't have an EMD for your main site. Many companies are incorporating numerous domain names in their marketing strategies many of which are Emd's.

emds are much more important in paid online marketing such as sem/display than with seo.

 

[JayT]

It IS a factor. One of the factors. The question is how you use it. From marketing side, naming your site with EM is usually very bad idea. Thus you'd better use your EMD's as pumpers which funnel traffic to your main site.

kinda right...I think it is a HUGE factor when the search terms are EXACT. I am seeing david beating goliath more often than not! Now, as soon as you change the search term by even 1 letter, the EMD does move down quiet a bit (of course it depends on these 'other SEO factors' on how far).

Now as far as naming your site EMD is usually a very bad idea...it depends. I see CheapHotels.ORG #1 for that exact search "cheap hotels". What if their model isn't to take on huge, many million $$$ companies like travelocity, hotels, orbitz, travago...ect, but just dominate this exact term as efficiently and easily as possible? Effectively they can offer the same service as these other sites, if even just by affiliating. They don't have to sink millions in development and advertising...Obviously the domain is the only way to acheive this. All this can be applied to everything! Look, we know you won't start a serious company with CheapInsuranceRates.com But if you want bang for your buck, and any noob with wordpress can rank #1...Wow Why arn't more domainers after these EMDS and developing them?

 

[Templr]

So where would you go now Google Planner has got rid of EMD with Average?

 

[enlytend]

Interesting mix of information and conjecture - wow! Rather than try to answer individual posts, I'll give some history.

Back in the old days, EMDs were a HUGE ranking factor. Barring very strong competition, you could put up pretty much anything on an EMD with minimal links and rank top 5. I can tell you first hand because I did it, with crappy luxury niche affiliate sites. Parked pages ranked for EMD terms too (before Google yanked them out of the index.) Ah, the good old days!

However webmasters of legitimate sites got pissed at crappy sites dominating search purely on an EMD. Many of them had the ears of people inside Google. So in 2010 or 2011 (you can look up the date, I'm too lazy) Google "dialed back" on EMD influence. This was known as the EMD Update.

EMDs still have some influence, but the free pass days of pre 2010 are over. It's still helpful - occasionally very helpful - but additional factors in aggregate can carry more weight, and pages on non-emds can just focus on the other factors and outrank them.

As was pointed out earlier in the thread, emds naturally accumulate anchor text with the same keywords. if it's a competitive term, that's largely responsible for EMD rankings you see now. (That can be a double edged sword - there is such a thing as "over optimizing". SEO is like cooking - a little salt can be good, emptying the entire salt shaker, not so much)

Extension is not part of the text match for ranking, but again, it attracts keyword anchor text.

If you're running a paid search campaign, searches on a keyword matching the domain in the display URL will be bolded (which may increase click through rate) and it will increase ad / keyword relevance for matching keywords. However campaigns typically bid on hundreds or thousands of keywords so unless it's high search and high commercial intent, this is of limited benefit.

BTW, A healthy site ranks in organic search for thousands of keywords, not just one. The fewer terms you rank for, the more vulnerable you are to losing ALL your organic traffic in the event of an algorithm update or competitor activity. Just throwing that out there for more perspective.

From a branding standpoint, EMDs can be confusing if there are competitors with similar names. NYwidgets, NewYorkWidgets, WidgetsNY, for example. But a category killer keyword will always be a category killer keyword, and non-generic brands can stand out.