How DEAD are EMDs?

Its all about backlinks and content now, EMDs are dead.

They have never been dead. I have a bunch of EMD's ranking great even after the update. It really DOES MATTER what kind of SEO strategy do you use. Spamming with thousands of links isn't a good ideea anymore. Quality is now essential.

I didnt have any internet for almost 2 months. I guess this explains why my main site dropped from #1 above the map listings to page 7?

Lol, EMD's will NEVER be dead. EMD's will ALWAYS be an exact match domain of SOMETHING.

firstplace said:

You are missing something. Not because a site has an "exact match domain" doesn't mean he's automatically going to dive down the depths of the SERPS. Take a look. If Sony has a url like Sony.com and the keyword is ofcourse "sony" then it would be an EMD case right. But it's not because Sony is a brand, and is currently taking the lead when it comes to technology gadget related search. Brand is still there. If you have created a great brand to your site then you are going to stay there on your spot until the end of time.

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This makes no sense firstplace.. what was attractive about EMD is that they are keywords that people search and many companies offer that service, therefore many companies would bid or optimize for that keyword. Thus it would make sense to get an adsense account as you would have many company advertising on your site. Or even buy the EMD and sell it as it is a money making keyword in certain industries.

Only Sony will want to optimize for Sony. I doubt Kenwood would come along and start optimizing their site for Sony.

For this Reason your should distinguish between EMD and Brands

How ironic, they give you an "[exact]" checkbox on the Google Keyword Tool to show you search volumes for an EM and then penalise EMD domains

Bing loves them afterall. in G EMD lost its boosting.

It depends on your site. Say you have an NFL blog, and is named latestnflrumors.c*m ; I don't think that's bad at all. As long as you have great content, and live up to your name then your blog will flourish.