Google Algorithm Changes for Exact Match Domains

[Robbie]

Google has announced that it is making changes for Exact Match Domains - How are you going to find it affecting your business and domain buying / selling.

You can read an article about it on RobbiesBlog.com

What are you going to do?

Sell your exact match domains?

Develop them all?

Focus on one or two that you know can be built into a strong website... more than just a minisite...

 

[Steven]

This isn't good for those with exact match domains + mini-sites.
I think this will reduce the value of EMD domains.

Why buy 3DNFCWallet.mobi for thousand dollars when I can just buy a brandable 56etwttew3t23t377.com and develop it to rank higher than it (for the exact match of "3D NFC WALLET").

 

[enlytend]

If you're gonna "develop" them, better not be a half a**ed money grab - those are the sites they're after.

Algo rolled out 9/28. Big drop in EMD's in the SERPS that SEOMOZ tracks (graphs on their chart somewhere - can't go look for it right now.) Overall far fewer EMD's ranking.

Took out one of my big sites - one that had happily survived all the Panda iterations and Penguin with no problem. Original, added content, no excessive spammy keyword links, natural IBL's ...Still ranking for some long tail keywords, but they kicked it to the curb for the EM keyword. I haven't looked at all the damage yet, a few others I checked are still where they were, not sure why that one in particular got hit.

One incredibly spammy EMD with their own link farm supporting it is still ranking - maybe because it's owned by a brand, but seriously? They're using every obvious spammy trick in the book and still getting away with it.

How will it affect the market? Good keyword domains will always have value to the buyers who big plans and the resources to build a quality site on them. The low end of the market ... not so much.

 

[lothos]

This isn't good for those with exact match domains + mini-sites.
I think this will reduce the value of EMD domains.

This will reduce the value of LOW QUALITY sites. There are plenty of EMD sites still ranking just fine.

 

[mitok]

I dont like Google

 

[biggie]

de-education spreads fast

 

[ecalc]

Times change but communication principles are timeless. Names, addresses, signs, labels, brands, domains, etc. work best when short, simple and to the point. Don't let the daily chatter cause you to take your eye off the ball. All else being equal, given the choice between an exact match domain and an inexact match domain, I'll take the former, thank you very much.

full disclosure: the last thing I developed was a cold

[ame]http://youtu.be/D59ZWa8ehgI[/ame]

 

[painperdu]

Bad for EMD holders, good for Internet marketers in general.

 

[enlytend]

This will reduce the value of LOW QUALITY sites. There are plenty of EMD sites still ranking just fine.

There are. But there are a lot fewer than there were last week.

Here's the problem: Define "Low Quality". If you've ever read the leaked Quality Raters' Guides, especially the most recent one, you'll see they have a pretty broad definition of that.

(There's already a thread on this topic here - http://www.namepros.com/industry-news/771488-low-quality-exact-match-domains.html - they could probably be combined.)

 

[lothos]

There are. But there are a lot fewer than there were last week.

Yes, and arguably those are "low quality" sites. I have EMD sites that are doing fine. I also have "branded" domains that are doing great, and my competition on an EMD is doing great because they have a quality site.

Yes, some sites got hit that shouldn't have. Some sites aren't hit yet that should be. My guess is Google is still tweaking this update and we'll hear more about it.

Here's the problem: Define "Low Quality". If you've ever read the leaked Quality Raters' Guides, especially the most recent one, you'll see they have a pretty broad definition of that.

Yes, the guidelines are subjective, and I think they're meant to be that way. I'm sure google is taking many more factors into consideration here than just "is it on an EMD". Bounce rate, what quality of links, where the links are coming from, is the page over-optimized? etc etc.

Google isn't the only traffic source out there, and if you're relying on google SEO for 100% of your traffic you're doing it wrong.

Splogs, built for adsense, minisites, spun content, spam sites etc shouldn't be in the SERPS. Users aren't looking for that, and a lot of them rank only because of their EMD. It sounds like google is finally doing something about it and I'm glad.

All of what I just said is a little outside the scope of a "domain name discussion". If you have an EMD with a low quality site, yes I would be worried... but in the context of "domain name discussion" then no, exact match domains are not dead.

 

[Domainace]

I had an excellent EMD site that always ranked at or near the top of Google knocked out of the park. It was one of my first sites, so I put far more work into it than the keywords warranted, all original and in-depth, popular among visitors and Facebook users... and now gone. Possibly it may be the hundreds of cheap directory links that helped sink it - though obviously those don't effect user experience and are pretty hard to fix now.

Others are mostly doing fine (so far), though. I don't do scraper sites.

EMDs have always had value outside of whatever Google's current feelings are. Google search is seeing its dominance slip away. When it finally does, exact matches may well still be there.

 

[enlytend]

Splogs, built for adsense, minisites, spun content, spam sites etc shouldn't be in the SERPS. Users aren't looking for that, and a lot of them rank only because of their EMD. It sounds like google is finally doing something about it and I'm glad.

Totally agree. And that goes to what I said about the low end of the domain market - lots of those EMD sales go to people who use them for that kind of site. If EMD's are no longer a viable platform for those sites, that part of the market will dry up.

I had an excellent EMD site that always ranked at or near the top of Google knocked out of the park. It was one of my first sites, so I put far more work into it than the keywords warranted, all original and in-depth, popular among visitors and Facebook users... and now gone.

Sorry to hear that. Pretty much the case as with mine. I don't scrape, spin or (intentionally) get crap links and I have a good track record of staying in G's good graces content-wise (not one of my sites was hit by any of the Pandas.) This was well-ranked for years, has had sitelinks on and off. A couple of thin pages, but a low percentage. Are you still out there for long-tail searches or totally wiped out?

37+ pages of discussion in another forum suggest that there was, as always, collateral damage.

 

[lothos]

Possibly it may be the hundreds of cheap directory links that helped sink it - though obviously those don't effect user experience and are pretty hard to fix now.

You can fix that by getting more backlinks from higher quality sites.

 

[999names]

I have always said that and I say it again Why do you think Chinese love NN NNN and NNNNs

Because as more people get online they d like to have short domain names Fugggget about exact keyword domain names, google search count and etc. Buy short or one word domains in Spanish English Portuguese or numbers.

 

[Domainace]

Are you still out there for long-tail searches or totally wiped out?
37+ pages of discussion in another forum suggest that there was, as always, collateral damage.

My long- tails are still about the same at Google, so it sure appears to an EMD strike. Honestly, I do very little SEO and prefer to work on site content instead. I always thought making Google happy was a dreary and meaningless goal.

I have another successful site that Google has never given fair recognition to, which irritated me. But the up-side of that is, if Google delisted it tomorrow it would only lose 5%-8% of its traffic.

 

[GiftedDomains]

Its all about forcing people pay more and more for Adwords.
First Page of organic results for ALL searches will be Wikipedia, Youtube, etc. soon.
This is just the first step, they start with "low quality" , long keyword domains, then the "mid quality" will be hit, probably only one word premium category defining names who have established sites since years will survive (cause that would be too obvious too ban them!)

I am slowly but surely focusing more on brandable names since few months, since i more or less knew this would happen

 

[enlytend]

This is just the first step, they start with "low quality" , long keyword domains, then the "mid quality" will be hit, probably only one word premium category defining names who have established sites since years will survive (cause that would be too obvious too ban them!)

This is not based on DOMAIN quality. Long keyword domains are not arbitrarily being hit - some SITE QUALITY elements are a factor. There's an example in one article (SEOmoz? Search Engine Land? Sorry - don't have time to go look for it), of a 6 character "premium category defining" .com which got hit (it's a very thin affiliate site.)

 

[freezer]

I have good quality sites that have been hit
but some less good quality sites that where not.
And as Gifteddomains already pointed out, Google wants
to make more cash from Adwords.

 

[enlytend]

And as Gifteddomains already pointed out, Google wants
to make more cash from Adwords.

They do, but that's not very relevant to this update ...

If you use Adwords to drive traffic to certain of those low-quality sites (MFA's, thin affiliates, scrapers), you will be suspended or terminated from Adwords.

 

[gareth1614]

Google's alogorithm change - the death toll for the domain industry?

Without meaning to scaremonger, it seems from these recent changes that Exact-Match Domains (EMDs) will be less sought after. Surely this will mean that the value of keyword generic domains should plummet? What are your thoughts on this? Google rankings have already been affected, but for the domain industry?:?

http://flippa.com/blog/googles-latest-algorithm-change-and-other-links-from-around-the-web/

 

[Jawed]

This new move by Google is basically crackdown on the undeveloped sites. Park domains, poor quality content and MFA sites will be affected. The properly developed generic domain names will get further boost, in my opinion.

 

[surprise]

...

 

[lothos]

no, exact match domains are not dead.

Low quality sites that happen to rank in Google because of their EMD are being hit.

 

[enlytend]

Buying EMD's to put up MFA's, scraped/spun content or thin affiliate sites is dead.

Low quality sites that happen to rank in Google because of their EMD are being hit.

More accurately: Sites that hit some trigger or combination of triggers which Google has decided to declare "low quality" indicators are being hit. Along with the usual collateral damage.

I've seen some total crap EMD sites still out there since this update which SHOULD have been hit but weren't. Google never gets it right on the first try. If you have a decent site that was hit, hang tight - it will bounce back next iteration. If you have a lame site that survived, don't get over confident.

 

[alien51]

it's still an algo. so that means, it can be defeated.