[Penguin Update] Stop Using Exact Match Domain Names

[bhagya]

Just today received email from exclusivewordpress.com:- "[Penguin Update] Stop Using Exact Match Domain Names" -- how true is that?????????
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Yes, the exact match domain names used to be a great way to get your website ranked for that particular keyword phrase such as "website-design-company.com".

Not anymore, it's now much harder to convince the Penguin that your site is not spam. The solution is to focus on BRAND-ABLE and UNIQUE domain names.

Read what the gurus said about this matter:

"Oh and for the most part "Exact Match Domains" are history. There are some exceptions of course, but unless they are a .com and have AGE and SIZE, they have been pushed back into the nowheresville just for being an EMD."

"This time EMD's [Exact Match Domain] has got hit i.e. most of the domain containing exact keywords have got penalty. Most probable reason of penalty is link building structures these websites are using. Since this website contains main keyword with their domain name, hence link building is done with same anchor text."

Right now, what we need to quickly rank a new site are AGED domain with GOOD PageRank (read: an old domain with authority).

 

[Eagle Eye]

Maybe you should not use the exact keyword for anchor text or at least not very much. Diversify the anchor text and you should still be able to rank EMD's

 

[bookmarc]

i will second that...
two of my EMD lost SERP from top slot

 

[joaquin112]

Great news, I knew this was gonna happen some day. I'll go back to work on my awesome authority sites now...

 

[karupoiss]

I'd like to hear more discussion about it.

 

[ajithrocksca]

This is not completely true.. While pre panda days, a website with an EMD with few articles and good backlinks is all that you need to rank. However now things are different, even website with emds need to have all quality parameters in place to rank. This doesn't mean that all emds will fall in the serps, but only those emds which solely depends on the domain name alone.

 

[bashx]

This is not completely true.. While pre panda days, a website with an EMD with few articles and good backlinks is all that you need to rank. However now things are different, even website with emds need to have all quality parameters in place to rank. This doesn't mean that all emds will fall in the serps, but only those emds which solely depends on the domain name alone.

I will second this, the EMD domains that I just tossed online with a couple of articles got demolished.
The EMD sites that I have done campaigns on have kept their rankings.


This is only my opinion not exactly enough evidence to make widespread claims.

 

[heavenInside]

This is not about the domain name, it's about the link building strategy and content, I don't see why EMDs would't rank if you do it right.

 

[johnmancho]

google can in no way penalize you for an emd. they can only penalize you for your artificial backlinking. In some niches, emds are still at the top.

 

[cloakme]

I have just done a batch of emd's and 8 out of 13 are ranking well already. (Two weeks) I don't see how true this post is. I am doing quality on page and off page SEO for all of them. The ones not really ranked well are of hard ranking keywords. The low to medium domains are doing well.

 

[BigBuddy]

surprise, my emd domain (3 months old) still ranking in first page #5. and first 4 also same emds with diff extensions. only edu backlinks was built in my domain. let me wait for some more days...

 

[BLIXX]

Spammy EMDs get penalized or relegated to the back of the bus when they are spam. Non-spammy EMDs do fine. Nothing has changed except Google's ability to catch spammy link profiles and thin content that no one but the site owner thinks should be in the top 1,000 anyway. EMDs are still the quickest way to rank garbage, actually; Google just smells it quicker now (when it is in fact garbage).

 

[dbyrn]

If the power of EMDs is lower nowadays it doesn't mean that you should stop using theme. You just need more (and better) links.

D.

 

[HostStage]

I would extend above from not completly to completly wrong.

Please post prooves when you tend to believe something.


SEO is not a black or white area, there are tons of paramaters...

My EMD are fine and one even climbed 1st today.

 

[Catt Mutts]

While i was an average surfer i always liked emd-s. Devaluing them would be yet another step behind for those suckers. Let's all have zimbio, pimplio poopio "catchy" domains. I'm really sick of those stupid names. If i manage www.howdoiconnecttomyrouter.com domain it's pretty fucking obvious what is it all about.

We are all monetizing our sites, only a fool these days doesn't have ads on their online properties. What difference does it make how many letters do i have in my own domain name? Great time to piss on jobless people, Google!

 

[azguru]

I don't believe this at all.

My EMD's are doing way better after Penguin - every single one of them. While I do believe that brandable domains are more sustainable in the long run, EMD's still carry power and are good for smaller sites.

 

[radiant13]

Completely disagree. I have one for a local service business that was created a few months ago. Each page has at most 2 sentences. Have done no backlinks other than creating a youtube video and putting that video on the home page. It's in number 2 position, outranking much older sites with much more content. Actually, I'd been scratching my head on how it got rank so high on so little. Monthly search volume is so low that google keyword tool shows no number, prolly less than 50.

Another local service site is ranked number 3, few years old, about the same small amount of content on each page, have done no backlinking what so ever other than maybe 15 social bookmarks from the free onlywire service a few years ago. Monthly search volume is 590.

 

[balsagoth007]

My EMD's are fine. I don't think G can penalize a domain for being EM. SEO is more complex then that.

 

[hawke]

I have an Exact match EMD thats only 2 months old, with 5 articles... and have rotated between 4th and 5th position for that KW since the first week it was born... I only use the keyword twice in each article, and I include it in the post title...

 

[blackhatnotes]

just checked my EMD, still rank #1..