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SEO Are Exact Match Domain Names with SEO Value Worth More?

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Lonn Dugan

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This came up in another discussion...

Do exact match domain names (natural type in search phrase) still have SEO value that should be considered in domain pricing?

In a video posted today, Niel Patel, an acknowledged leader in SEO strategies and tactics, confirms that exact match domain names still have SEO / SERP Value.

"Now a lot of people say exact-match domain names don't work as well as they used to, and that's correct, but they still do. Now creating a domain that's a exact match to the service or product you're selling is a great way to get some traction in the SERPs. " Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=totiNw9Rypc&feature=emb_logo

What do you think? Are you willing to pay more for an exact match domain name?

#topics / tags: seo
 
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The views expressed on this page by users and staff are their own, not those of NamePros.
Neil Patel?
Ok, I stopped to read when I see Neil Patel.
I can understand that some people see him like a guru.
He's very good to advertise himself and appear like a guru.
Real experts do not consider Neil Patel.
Is like considering Dr. Gregory House (fictional character) a great doctor.
 
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@mpls I agree with much of what you said. Yes, "You can rank any domain if you know what you are doing." And Yes, You will never dominate over saturated, highly competitive SERP with only an EMD.

To be clear, I am not proposing EMD's as an end all, be all, but as a great starting place on which to build. From experience, I myself and MANY Thought Leaders involved in SEO work, believe that a strong EMD makes all the other SEO work perform even better, easier and faster.

Don't really know why some members say EMD have SEO value.
This is a completely false statement.
EMD has NOT any SEO value in 2020.
To be honest are YEARS that EMDs don't work anymore.
You can rank a domain like fehdshfdiufd.cc for EVERY keyword if you know what you're doing.
High quality content, backlinks, social signals, and many other factors are important for SEO not EMD.
Many domainers love keyword rich domains like insurance, crypto, p*rn, but they completely ignore that those niches are impenetrable, extremely difficult and over saturated.
You'll never dominate (aka rank in 1st page on G) in those niches with an EMD domain.
Maybe in '96.
 
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@CodingTheDomain. Yes, exactly. After Penguin, Google and others put out misinformation to try to stop people from gaming the system. The so-called SEO experts who listen too much to the search engines cost their clients some great opportunities. Experience is the best teacher!

Neil Patel is on the cutting edge of Digital Strategy and he and others believe EMDs still work very well in certain sectors

EMDs are not our main focus but after the Penguin update of 2012 we noticed many SEO experts stating they were now useless.

That was a false assumption, many companies missed opportunities to acquire golden generic domains that exactly matched their product or service, because their SEO expert said they no longer worked.
 
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@mpls I must respectfully disagree with the statement that Neil Patel is a fictional character with no authority in the SEO world.

It is a simple fact that some people don't like him, but nobody can deny that Neil Patel has deep penetration and accomplishment with actual SEO SERP Results to support what he says.

Talk is cheap but the proof is in results, right? For instance: The link below is from Google for a search of the term organic SEO techniques where neilpatel.com is the first organic link after snippets - beating backlinks, Ahrefs, and MOZ! That's some real world SEO chops!

https://www.google.com/search?sxsrf...WVK80KHc3hBeAQ1QIoAXoECA8QAg&biw=1920&bih=875

But... I am willing to be wrong.... So... can you show me some so called Real experts who think Neil Patel has a fictional claim on expertise in the SEO Space? If so, please include proof of their actual ranking prowess and business accomplishments so a fair comparison can be made.

Neil Patel?
Ok, I stopped to read when I see Neil Patel.
I can understand that some people see him like a guru.
He's very good to advertise himself and appear like a guru.
Real experts do not consider Neil Patel.
Is like considering Dr. Gregory House (fictional character) a great doctor.
 
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Question here:

My brandable business website is: popvid.com

If I have "TorontoVideographer.com", "MontrealVideographer.com", NewYorkVideographer.com", etc and forward them to my brandable domain, so does this work? or not

If you throw the right backlinks at them and do a 301 redirect to optimized pages with good content, it will help a lot. Good backlinks are hard to come by nowadays. Your competitors are spending mad cash to acquire quality backlinks from high authority websites. Gone are the days when you could spam a ton of backlinks at an EMD and rank within a week.

In your case, it might be better for you buy related expired domains with existing backlinks from high authority websites. If you have a good scraper, you may find a ton for reg fee.
 
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Please define "Worth More". For whom?

For SEO's, affiliate marketers etc. - definitely.

For new startups and other businesses who are looking for brands - unlikely.

Two different markets.
 
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@golan

Thanks. Good point. Value is always subjective. I am seo guy first and foremost, who only recently decided to get serious about domain name investing. I kind of 'ass-u-me-d' that an EMD domain name would be worth more in the domain reselling market than a generic or brand type domain name.

From this conversation I have learned that much of the market in domain reselling is in brand name domains space.

Live and learn..

Please define "Worth More". For whom?

For SEO's, affiliate marketers etc. - definitely.

For new startups and other businesses who are looking for brands - unlikely.

Two different markets.
 
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@golan

Thanks. Good point. Value is always subjective. I am seo guy first and foremost, who only recently decided to get serious about domain name investing. I kind of 'ass-u-me-d' that an EMD domain name would be worth more in the domain reselling market than a generic or brand type domain name.

From this conversation I have learned that much of the market in domain reselling is in brand name domains space.

Live and learn..
Exactly, the same here. Came from SEO, at first when i saw domains with zero backlinks i was like wtf what stupid people buying them for thousands bucks. Just like many people here on Namepros looking at mega SEO domain sales and like wtf who buying those nonsense names.
 
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@golan

Thanks. Good point. Value is always subjective. I am seo guy first and foremost, who only recently decided to get serious about domain name investing. I kind of 'ass-u-me-d' that an EMD domain name would be worth more in the domain reselling market than a generic or brand type domain name.

From this conversation I have learned that much of the market in domain reselling is in brand name domains space.

Live and learn..

This is an interesting thread.

Now to buttress the emboldened, I can authoritatively tell you that a domain name with good SEO works on it to rank after building a site on it will sell easily in 8 times out of 10 than a domain name with no content which will likely be confined to one or two end users.
 
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@Bob Hawkes Yes, it takes more work these days, and CONTENT is certainly king!

I know that putting the same content on a non EMD and doing the same on page and technical SEO work will prove out that the EMD name will rank sooner and higher!


Tried using a brandable domain and a PMD (Partial Match Domain) on a mini-site. Used the same content. Applied on-page optimization mainly to check what weight Google gives to on-page optimization and domain name.

To ensure there won't be any duplicate content, I did these:

Site #1: Brandable Domain name
1. I removed the files from my hosting folders.
2. I used Google Search Console's URL Removal Tool so the indexed pages would no longer appear on Google search
3. I waited for 2 to 3 months to ensure the pages were no longer indexed.

Site #2: Partial Match Domain

1. I uploaded the files I removed from site #1. Same content except for the logo and domain name mentions and a few minor tweaks on the meta tags to fit the domain name.
2. Used Google Search Console to let Google bots crawl my site
3. Monitored the stats

Impressions increased by more than a hundred percent. Ranking of targeted keywords and long tail keywords went up to the top 1-50. Both stats show that the SERPs (Search Engine Ranking Pages/Positions) increased.

Since it's just the domain name that was changed and the content was just transferred to the new domain, it's safe to say that it's the PMD that made a difference.
 
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@Anne L.
how long did the PMD stayed in the same position or is it still in the same high ranked position, for the keyword terms you mentioned?

Reason I'm asking is,
I have noticed that, when a new domain first appears on the net, G seems to rank it rather high (possibly due to the initial tests). It's only afterwards that the real position stabilises (which often is lower)

thanks for sharing your findings
 
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A year or so. Some keywords/keyword phrases have traded places during Google's updates (some went to first page, some dipped) but the impressions and the keywords on the SERPs have remained way, way higher than site #1's stats. Darts back and forth between 50 percent to more than a 100 percent of Site #1's stats - depending on the Google update.
 
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Well Done! Thanks for sharing your experiment!

Tried using a brandable domain and a PMD (Partial Match Domain) on a mini-site. Used the same content. Applied on-page optimization mainly to check what weight Google gives to on-page optimization and domain name.

To ensure there won't be any duplicate content, I did these:

Site #1: Brandable Domain name
1. I removed the files from my hosting folders.
2. I used Google Search Console's URL Removal Tool so the indexed pages would no longer appear on Google search
3. I waited for 2 to 3 months to ensure the pages were no longer indexed.

Site #2: Partial Match Domain

1. I uploaded the files I removed from site #1. Same content except for the logo and domain name mentions and a few minor tweaks on the meta tags to fit the domain name.
2. Used Google Search Console to let Google bots crawl my site
3. Monitored the stats

Impressions increased by more than a hundred percent. Ranking of targeted keywords and long tail keywords went up to the top 1-50. Both stats show that the SERPs (Search Engine Ranking Pages/Positions) increased.

Since it's just the domain name that was changed and the content was just transferred to the new domain, it's safe to say that it's the PMD that made a difference.
 
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