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?

 

[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.

 

[Traveler]

The previous post is spot on from my experience. EMD has been dialed way back, but it is still worth having if you are going for search engine traffic when it makes sense.

If you wanted to rank for something like "make payments online", sure you would get a little boost by having makepaymentsonline.com, but in that case having the EMD would be a bad choice. The little SEO boost you would get is not worth having such a clumsy name in a very competitive market.

On the other hand, If you wanted to rank for "funny jokes", having funnyjokes.com would be a good choice if the price is right. That name is currently for sale (not mine, wish it was). The search numbers are great and it is not as competitive.

Just my two cents.

 

[Traveler]

Just an update...

I did ask about the price of funnyjokes.com

They are asking $382,352 I almost fell of my chair. The price is not right for that name.

 

[enlytend]

I forgot to mention before - EMDs are still a pretty strong ranking factor on Bing. Not as much as they used to be on Google, but seem to be more so than on Google now.

And before you say "pfffft -who cares about Bing?" Bing now has an estimated 21.6% of search share.

 

[mr-x]

In 2013, firesiderv.com was #1, above the manufacture product page on google, with only three backlinks.

EMD may not matter as much as it did, but overall still a large factor in ranking and authority.

 

[Jackie]

It is quite easy to rank in the top positions of Bing with an EMD and a title tag optimized for your keywords.
With Bing sitting at 20 - 30% of US search market share, that is not insignificant.
Great discussion, I couldn't agree more that an EMD encourages other sites to link back to you with your keywords in the anchor text, and it can also help boost CTR - both positive ranking factors.

 

[venturefile.com]

An EMD gives you a top shelf foundation to build on and it can give you a leg up in the serps.

The quote below is correct for Google, but not for Yahoo and/or Bing.

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.

 

[Nick]

Are exact match domains getting a huge boost in google ranking?

Straight from the horse's mouth:

Paraphrased ending summary:

Some people complained we were giving too much weight to keywords in domains. We have been thinking about adjusting that mix, so that it wouldn't help you as much.

 

[mr-x]

Good exact match domains also have the added value of type-in traffic. When I type carsforsale.com, I know exactly what I'm going to find.

 

[mr-x]

Straight from the horse's mouth:
Paraphrased ending summary:

I doubt the owners of Cars.com or Insurance.com will be switching to a brandable.

TechNews.com - Reg'd in 1994. TechCrunch didn't have a choice. Brandable domains are alternatives to exact match domains.

 

[Nick]

I doubt the owners of Cars.com or Insurance.com will be switching to a brandable.

Right, why would they? I never implied they should. Their CONTENT and age is what makes them rank high. I am pretty sure had they chosen to rebrand to a new name, they'd have the same ranking.

 

[enlytend]

Straight from the horse's mouth:

Matt put out that video right around the time complaints were making them think twice.

They dialed back (as he "threatened") but they did NOT totally eliminate the domain as a ranking factor. Just made it less critical one. EMD's and PMD's are still useful - in some situations more than others.

In theory they bring type-in traffic. More true of single word or strong 2-word phrases. And mobile/voice search may be heavily cutting into direct navigation overall, but that's a topic for a different thread.

 

[mr-x]

Right, why would they? I never implied they should. Their CONTENT and age is what makes them rank high. I am pretty sure had they chosen to rebrand to a new name, they'd have the same ranking.

I'm not discounting the importance of good content. I'm disagreeing with the idea a brandable domain is easier to market or remember.

People use brandables because the good .com's are unavailable.

 

[Nick]

I'm not discounting the importance of good content. I'm disagreeing with the idea a brandable domain is easier to market or remember.

People use brandables because the good .com's are unavailable.

I agree.

I feel like there's a big misconception among domainers, though, that an EMD is going to rocket a brand new site to the top of searches. As much as I would love for that to be true, it simply isn't.

 

[JayT]

Good exact match domains also have the added value of type-in traffic. When I type carsforsale.com, I know exactly what I'm going to find.

Yea usually! I do remember our computer class in school, whitehouse.com was pretty popular.

 

[VaibhavA]

Which forums are good to join for SEO purpose?