Kırşehir Dijital Pazarlama: Ekim 2013

Hi Peter,I must say that I still see EMD quite strong in the SERPs, but with some variation that - IMHO - should be taken into account.For instance, give a look to these two SERPs snapshots: http://imgur.com/a/3odQn (be aware their are from Google.it, which can play a role here not being the .com)In the first you will see how an EMD is outranking the Not-EMD site, even though they have better link profiles (see SEOmoz data in SERPs). More over, it is prized with a second organic result, so it copes place 1 and 2.In the second case, the most interesting IMO, you can see a mix of EMD, partial EMD and synonim/little variations domain names presented in the 1st page. This last case makes me wonder if we should start considering more variables, as how EMD may take advantage of the SERPs shrinkage and how what seems the new intent-base confection of the SERPs by Google is related also to EMD and partial EMD.But probably we are saying the same, as you write the not every EMD are created equal :).About Penguin and EMD, I agree with you that it is a correlation into play and not causation. The correlation is that EMD are usually commercial keywords, and an apparently "branded" anchor text may fall into the Penguin trap if the owner of that domain didnt do any branding of its site and domain.

Hi Peter,

I must say that I still see EMD quite strong in the SERPs, but with some variation that - IMHO - should be taken into account.

For instance, give a look to these two SERPs snapshots: http://imgur.com/a/3odQn (be aware their are from Google.it, which can play a role here not being the .com)

In the first you will see how an EMD is outranking the Not-EMD site, even though they have better link profiles (see SEOmoz data in SERPs). More over, it is prized with a second organic result, so it copes place 1 and 2.

In the second case, the most interesting IMO, you can see a mix of EMD, partial EMD and synonim/little variations domain names presented in the 1st page. 

This last case makes me wonder if we should start considering more variables, as how EMD may take advantage of the SERPs shrinkage and how what seems the new intent-base confection of the SERPs by Google is related also to EMD and partial EMD.

But probably we are saying the same, as you write the not every EMD are created equal :).

About Penguin and EMD, I agree with you that it is a correlation into play and not causation. The correlation is that EMD are usually commercial keywords, and an apparently "branded" anchor text may fall into the Penguin trap if the owner of that domain didnt do any branding of its site and domain.

One thing that Im not sure I communicated well is just how small a range most of these graphs represent. The overall EMD influence graph ranges from about 3.3% to 4.1% of total URLs, for example. Given how many legitimate sites and big brands use EMDs, I dont think Google can afford to simply start hacking away at them. They have to find work-around to separate high-quality applications from low-quality ones. I think Penguin was part of that - a more nuances approach to a complicated problem. I strongly suspect Penguin 1.2 is going to shuffle things a bit.The one clear pattern, IMO, is how inherently lower quality partial-match domains are declining over time. Still, though, they represent over 4% of URLs even at their low point. Theyre definitely working in some cases - theyre just not working quite as well as they used to, all else being equal.

The one clear pattern, IMO, is how inherently lower quality partial-match domains are declining over time. Still, though, they represent over 4% of URLs even at their low point. Theyre definitely working in some cases - theyre just not working quite as well as they used to, all else being equal.

I think that for low competitive keywords exact match domain make much better sense. I have started a discussion in SEOmoz group on LinkedIn. Here is the link, http://tinyurl.com/9khkvg8Interesting answers came from the people. Few have also shared their experience as well. I have also checked the competition of your keyword "dentisti croazia" in Google Adwords keyword tool it has approx 1900(exact) searches per month. SO what I believe is, the combination of local business, country specific domain and EMD or PMD still work fine. At the same time I also agree with Dr.Peter that aggressive and spammy link building can cause a problem post penguin.

I think that for low competitive keywords exact match domain make much better sense. I have started a discussion in SEOmoz group on LinkedIn. Here is the link, http://tinyurl.com/9khkvg8

Interesting answers came from the people. Few have also shared their experience as well. I have also checked the competition of your keyword "dentisti croazia" in Google Adwords keyword tool it has approx 1900(exact) searches per month. SO what I believe is, the combination of local business, country specific domain and EMD or PMD still work fine. At the same time I also agree with Dr.Peter that aggressive and spammy link building can cause a problem post penguin.

As the owner of MiamiFishing.com (and other fine EMDs) I can say that there are both pros and cons to EMDs. Theres something valuable about having your domain "say on the box" what you do. Theres a lot of credibility in a .com EMD. Ive ALWAYS found it worth while to pony up the extra dough for a domain that includes your top keywords. Penguin was a tough blow, but good EMD owners knew it was coming, and there are ultimately fixing "over optimization" is generally easier than fixing "under optimization" ;)Most folks that claim that EMD.com/net/orgs are spam are the folks that couldnt get them, or didnt want to pay for them. There is obviously a line that often gets crossed with these domains. Due to the way the algo worked, there have always been advantages to them. There are still advantages, but they are diminishing - that said - a good EMD is almost ALWAYS worth it imo.

Ive ALWAYS found it worth while to pony up the extra dough for a domain that includes your top keywords.  Penguin was a tough blow, but good EMD owners knew it was coming, and there are ultimately fixing "over optimization" is generally easier than fixing "under optimization" ;)

Most folks that claim that EMD.com/net/orgs are spam are the folks that couldnt get them, or didnt want to pay for them. There is obviously a line that often gets crossed with these domains.  Due to the way the algo worked, there have always been advantages to them.  There are still advantages, but they are diminishing - that said - a good EMD is almost ALWAYS worth it imo.

Hey, stranger - nice to see you over here ;)I think its the nuance where most people fail. You own MiamiFishing.com, with a two-word, targeted EMD, built out a real business (thats actually in Miami) with decent content, and guess what - it works. Someone else sees your site (lets pretend) and registers "Miami-Fishing-Swordfish-Fishing-Florida-Fishing.org", spins out 10K pages and puts every city X fish combination in the footer links, and suddenly is surprised because their site tanks. So, are EMDs good or bad? Well, good EMDs used well are good. Crappy EMDs used crappily are crap.

Hey, stranger - nice to see you over here ;)

I think its the nuance where most people fail. You own MiamiFishing.com, with a two-word, targeted EMD, built out a real business (thats actually in Miami) with decent content, and guess what - it works. Someone else sees your site (lets pretend) and registers "Miami-Fishing-Swordfish-Fishing-Florida-Fishing.org", spins out 10K pages and puts every city X fish combination in the footer links, and suddenly is surprised because their site tanks. So, are EMDs good or bad? Well, good EMDs used well are good. Crappy EMDs used crappily are crap.

Definitely man. Great piece by the way. Its a pretty tough thing to test.So the question is - wheres the line. I would say:Anything more than one dash sucksUp to 3 and even 4 word .coms can be okay2-3 word .net/.org are still pretty good2nd tier EMDs .mobi .stupid .dummy arent ever worth itThe big question is - where does Google draw that line.The other big question is when do you decide to just rebrand and do 301s ;)One of the big advantages of an EMD was always the ability to build strong keyword anchor text. With recent changes, that is a bit less of an advantage. That said - I think its always easier to fix "over optimization" than "under optimization".

Definitely man.  Great piece by the way.  Its a pretty tough thing to test.

So the question is - wheres the line.  

I would say:

Anything more than one dash sucks
Up to 3 and even 4 word .coms can be okay
2-3 word .net/.org are still pretty good
2nd tier EMDs .mobi .stupid .dummy arent ever worth it

The big question is - where does Google draw that line.

The other big question is when do you decide to just rebrand and do 301s ;)

One of the big advantages of an EMD was always the ability to build strong keyword anchor text.  With recent changes, that is a bit less of an advantage.  That said - I think its always easier to fix "over optimization" than "under optimization".

An earlier post stated, Anything more than one dash sucksUp to 3 and even 4 word .coms can be okay2-3 word .net/.org are still pretty good2nd tier EMDs .mobi .stupid .dummy arent ever worth itJust a quick question... why would you say that .mobi is not worth it? Does google frown on .mobi websites? My competition has all the (one word) .tlds locked up. Im trying to get a presence with a one word EMD and develop a mobile site as well. I could go with the 2-3 word .net and .com route if need be. However, I would appreciate your thoughts. Id hate to waste my time or money. Thanks for your opinions.

An earlier post stated,

Anything more than one dash sucks
Up to 3 and even 4 word .coms can be okay
2-3 word .net/.org are still pretty good
2nd tier EMDs .mobi .stupid .dummy arent ever worth it

Just a quick question... why would you say that .mobi is not worth it?  Does google frown on .mobi websites?  My competition has all the (one word) .tlds locked up.  Im trying to get a presence with a one word EMD and develop a mobile site as well.  I could go with the 2-3 word .net and .com route if need be.  However, I would appreciate your thoughts.  Id hate to waste my time or money.  Thanks for your opinions.

I would say build it out on the .net/ .org - you may want to 301 that to a branded site later after its built. .mobi and other 2nd tier tlds rarely work in my experience.

I would say build it out on the .net/ .org - you may want to 301 that to a branded site later after its built.  .mobi and other 2nd tier tlds rarely work in my experience.

I think some businesses dont spend enough time selecting their domain. Like Dr. Pete said, a company could come along and try to capitalize on your traffic and create a similar domain, but this will only give them short term traffic. A business should try and create a unique domain, and a unique brand to exist in the long term.

I think some businesses dont spend enough time selecting their domain. Like Dr. Pete said, a company could come along and try to capitalize on your traffic and create a similar domain, but this will only give them short term traffic. A business should try and create a unique domain, and a unique brand to exist in the long term.

Good piece, nice to see some data that means something - I will say that EMDs, when treated ethically and promoted properly, have a quicker chance of ranking - I wrote about it here so wont bang on about it at length but in short - I started an EMD, no links, half-built, no.2 for target keyword in 4 months, continues to get 30-80 visits a day on associated terms.I still agree with the author that building a brand is the best way, but we can use EMDs to support brand growth...

Good piece, nice to see some data that means something - I will say that EMDs, when treated ethically and promoted properly, have a quicker chance of ranking - I wrote about it here so wont bang on about it at length but in short - I started an EMD, no links, half-built, no.2 for target keyword in 4 months, continues to get 30-80 visits a day on associated terms.

I still agree with the author that building a brand is the best way, but we can use EMDs to support brand growth...

"we can use EMDs to support brand growth"

My thoughts precisly.

Ive made my living by being able to (almost) predict income on a site using EMDs, but I always knew that Google would eventually downgrade EMDs in favor of a broader means of measuring a sites worth.

Good comment on a very helpful post.

Thanks for the great post Dr. Pete. I really enjoyed the graphical approach. :-)Looking at this from a very long term I think that EMDs had their greatest influence in the past, before sites in competitive niches had a lot of content development and link accumulation. As that trend continues the relative value of EMD compared to other ranking factors goes down because EMD is a fixed variable but other factors such as links and content have no upper limit. Thus, I would expect to see the long long term trend of your graphs to be a steady negative slope.Today EMDs are still kickass assets but only sustain ranking with limited link support in niches where heavy content development and link accumulation have yet to occur.For example... EMD might be great today if you are going after "Scranton auto glass".... but the domain alone would not get you much rankings if you are going after "digital cameras".

Thanks for the great post Dr. Pete.  I really enjoyed the graphical approach.  :-)

Looking at this from a very long term I think that EMDs had their greatest influence in the past, before sites in competitive niches had a lot of content development and link accumulation.  As that trend continues the relative value of EMD compared to other ranking factors goes down because EMD is a fixed variable but other factors such as links and content have no upper limit.   Thus, I would expect to see the long long term trend of your graphs to be a steady negative slope.

Today EMDs are still kickass assets but only sustain ranking with limited link support in niches where heavy content development and link accumulation have yet to occur.

For example... EMD might be great today if you are going after "Scranton auto glass".... but the domain alone would not get you much rankings if you are going after "digital cameras".

Thats an interesting point - even if the "volume" on EMDs stayed the same, its all-or-none and its just one factor. You cant get "more exact" if youve already got a true EMD, whereas you can get more links, build more content, etc. At the same time, as Google adds signals, like social mentions, the weight of any one signal would naturally decrease, even if they never turned the knob (each factor gets diluted by the addition of new factors), theoretically.

I have a emd that gets 30k a month from 2 keywords that only has two links to it and a DA of 11 and ranks #1 outranking much stronger sites- i believe if you emd is providing real value they still work great

I have a emd that gets 30k a month from 2 keywords that only has two links to it and a DA of 11 and ranks #1 outranking much stronger sites- i believe if you emd is providing real value they still work great 

I think that what we are really seeing is that the relationships between EMDs and rankings is, for the most part, spurious. A good percentage of EMDs are throwaway domains purchased for the sole purpose of ranking. The tactics used to rank them tend to be low quality and the content produced on them tends to be as well. However, those that are ranking #1 might tend to be higher quality merely because the lower quality ones have been culled year over year. They will continue to rank #1 not primarily because they are EMDs but because they are high quality. The takeaway, and one that I have supported more and more lately, is that EMDs are a smart buy if you are willing to invest in them the same level of promotion that you would your brand domain. They can also be smart if you are willing to churn and burn them, but most businesses are not comfortable with burning them, even if they think they are.

I think that what we are really seeing is that the relationships between EMDs and rankings is, for the most part, spurious. A good percentage of EMDs are throwaway domains purchased for the sole purpose of ranking. The tactics used to rank them tend to be low quality and the content produced on them tends to be as well. However, those that are ranking #1 might tend to be higher quality merely because the lower quality ones have been culled year over year. They will continue to rank #1 not primarily because they are EMDs but because they are high quality. 

The takeaway, and one that I have supported more and more lately, is that EMDs are a smart buy if you are willing to invest in them the same level of promotion that you would your brand domain. They can also be smart if you are willing to churn and burn them, but most businesses are not comfortable with burning them, even if they think they are.

What about #2-#10?  Looks like Google is allowing first page domination as well.  Not just the #1 spot.

It should be just the #1 spot with some sitelinks so other results can get there.

But hey, Googles algos are always evolving, huh?  Today is going to be completely different to tomorrow.  ;-)

This blog post is already outdated.  LOL

@russviranteThats where Id put my money, if I were a betting man. Maybe Google is sorting the wheat from the chaffe and the rubbish EMDs are failing and dragging the average down.I cant imagine why good EMDs backed by sound, authentic business practices shouldnt do as well as they always have or, possibly even, better.

@russvirante

Thats where Id put my money, if I were a betting man. Maybe Google is sorting the wheat from the chaffe and the rubbish EMDs are failing and dragging the average down.

I cant imagine why good EMDs backed by sound, authentic business practices shouldnt do as well as they always have or, possibly even, better.

Thats true ! I am 100% sure that EMD will still keep some power even if diminish over time. And this dilution is based on the fact that the "formula" is getting more and more complex and for this reason the decrease in "importance".IMHO I would say Penguin has a top -if- statement as far as EMD - its on the same line with the google new "moto "- if it make sense for the user ...Like you also mention : Not all exact-match and partial-match domains are created equal. Should You Buy an EMD?Definitely - if you can still find some good ones (one-two word domains) :)

Thats true ! I am 100% sure that EMD will still keep some power even if diminish over time. And this dilution is based on the fact that the "formula" is getting more and more complex and for this reason the decrease in "importance".

IMHO I would say Penguin has a top -if- statement as far as EMD - its on the same line with the google new "moto "- if it make sense for the user ...

Like you also mention : Not all exact-match and partial-match domains are created equal. 

Should You Buy an EMD?

Definitely - if you can still find some good ones (one-two word domains) :)

I wouldnt buy any EMDs unless our client is willing to change their business name as well. EMDs IMHO are great if your brand name is going to match your EMD. Google likes a natural looking link profile as mentioned above, so having all your links exact match anchored to your brand/EMD(keyword) will benefit you. If you own www.exact.com your natural linking profile will be branded, and targeting your keywords:exact.comwww.exact.comExactMy conclusion is EMDs are great if you are willing to change your brand name for an exact keyword, EMDs automatically receive a natural looking back linking profile for the exact keyword. If my domain is brand.com a natural looking linking profile should be anchored:60-70%www.brand.com Brand.comBrand 30-40%ExactLong TailIf my domain is www.exact.com a natural looking linking profile should be anchored: 100%www. exact.com exact.comExact Long Tail(Edited for formatting only)

I wouldnt buy any EMDs unless our client is willing to change their business name as well. 

EMDs IMHO are great if your brand name is going to match your EMD. Google likes a natural looking link profile as mentioned above, so having all your links exact match anchored to your brand/EMD(keyword) will benefit you. 

If you own www.exact.com your natural linking profile will be branded, and targeting your keywords:

exact.com
www.exact.com
Exact

My conclusion is EMDs are great if you are willing to change your brand name for an exact keyword, EMDs automatically receive a natural looking back linking profile for the exact keyword. 

If my domain is brand.com a natural looking linking profile should be anchored:

60-70%

www.brand.com 
Brand.com
Brand

30-40%

Exact
Long Tail

If my domain is www.exact.com a natural looking linking profile should be anchored: 

100%

www. exact.com 
exact.com
Exact 
Long Tail

(Edited for formatting only)

To me, thats also about overall brand strategy and trust-building. If your business is called "Larrys Widgets" and your site is at "buy-cheap-widgets-best-widgets.me", what does it say to your prospective clients? Its not just a bad quality signal for Google - its a bad quality signal for life.

Right, and if Larry owns or is willing to buy the EMD buycheapwidgets.com he would benefit tremendously if he changed his business name to "Buy Cheap Widgets" Scenario one:Larry buys Larrycheapwidgets.com his backlink profile will reflect his brand name. Majority of his links can not look natural if majority of the keywords are exact.Scenario two:Larry buys buycheapwidgets.com but his brand name is "Larrys Widgets". Majority of his links can not look natural if majority of the keywords are exact "buy cheap widgets".Scenario Three: Larry changes his brand name to match his domain "buy cheap widgets" on buycheapwidgets.com, back link profile can be all exact naturally.

Right, and if Larry owns or is willing to buy the EMD buycheapwidgets.com he would benefit tremendously if he changed his business name to "Buy Cheap Widgets"  

Scenario one:

Larry buys Larrycheapwidgets.com his backlink profile will reflect his brand name. Majority of his links can not look natural if majority of the keywords are exact.

Scenario two:

Larry buys buycheapwidgets.com but his brand name is "Larrys Widgets". Majority of his links can not look natural if majority of the keywords are exact "buy cheap widgets".

Scenario Three: 

Larry changes his brand name to match his domain "buy cheap widgets" on buycheapwidgets.com, back link profile can be all exact naturally.

I suspect that, post-Penguin, Google is not considering scenario #3 to be "natural" links without other, corresponding brand signals. It use to be that if you owned "buycheapwidgets.com" you could pile up on "buy cheap widgets" as anchor text and never have problems. I suspect thats changing. Now, if you build "buy cheap widgets" as a legitimate brand, and it gets social mentions, contextual mentions, high-authority links, etc., then the EMD will be powerful. If you dont have those other factors in play, though, and pile up low-quality, exact-match links, then even with the brand/domain matching, I suspect youre going to run into increasingly more trouble. So, short answer: Its complicated :)

So, short answer: Its complicated :)

Right : ) its complicated, but none the less very helpful info, thanks for the post Doc.

Great thread. Ive been baffled how a competitor of a client made it through Penguin without any issues considering the ratio of exact match anchor links vs brand and other anchor text. The precise scenario SEODinosaur outlines above dawned on me last week. In my opinion, if a company is willing to start a flanker brand with an EMD on a head term, build brand mentions on social media and other real activities... then EMDs are actually more powerful than in the past.

Great thread. Ive been baffled how a competitor of a client made it through Penguin without any issues considering the ratio of exact match anchor links vs brand and other anchor text. 

The precise scenario SEODinosaur outlines above dawned on me last week. 

In my opinion, if a company is willing to start a flanker brand with an EMD on a head term, build brand mentions on social media and other real activities... then EMDs are actually more powerful than in the past. 

Hi Donnie,I agree with you to a certain extent! And your reasoning is logical, but heres a .com EMD that seems to do well even though the brand is completely different.

Dr Pete, Im wondering if the correlation isnt with exact match domains and more with heavily hyphenated domains with crappy content.To me, an exact match domain is the word no hyphens. The more you start adding hyphens, the more youre going for an obvious SEO play. And the more youre going for the play, the often the more youre not backing it up with decent content.Its the "Ive got the domain, I win" mentality.Id be very, very curious for the data when you eliminate hyphenated domains.

Dr Pete, Im wondering if the correlation isnt with exact match domains and more with heavily hyphenated domains with crappy content.

To me, an exact match domain is the word no hyphens. The more you start adding hyphens, the more youre going for an obvious SEO play. And the more youre going for the play, the often the more youre not backing it up with decent content.

Its the "Ive got the domain, I win" mentality.

Id be very, very curious for the data when you eliminate hyphenated domains.

Just to clarify, there are no hyphenated domains in the EMD data/graphs. Those were only included in the PMD data. I was thinking earlier today, though, that I could easily run separate stats on the hyphenated domains only. I might try that tomorrow - Ill add it to the post if its interesting.

Is that data Google only?I often see some really poor websites ranking really high on Bing due to EMD and they are nowhere to be found on Google for the same search term.

Is that data Google only?

I often see some really poor websites ranking really high on Bing due to EMD and they are nowhere to be found on Google for the same search term.

i came to make the same reply. bing is definitely rewarding EMD big time. and i think google still has a pretty big bias not necessarily on EMD, but on keyword in domains in general.

i came to make the same reply. bing is definitely rewarding EMD big time. and i think google still has a pretty big bias not necessarily on EMD, but on keyword in domains in general. 

The data is Google only, yes. Weve decided to deep dive into Google on MozCast, before we start tracking Bing, so we dont have Bing data at this point.

The data is Google only, yes. Weve decided to deep dive into Google on MozCast, before we start tracking Bing, so we dont have Bing data at this point.

The data is only for Google not for yahoo and bing ? I think these are also important search engines.

I have a few clients that maintain microsites with EMDs for their keywords (disclaimer - the microsites are high quality unique content with no spammy links with on average 1-5 pages per site). Over the last year and a half we have seen the rankings drop for them across Google. However, they maintain a very high and strong presence in Bing and Yahoo.I would love to see some more research on the other search engines as well, Dr Pete :)Thanks - Kyle

I have a few clients that maintain microsites with EMDs for their keywords (disclaimer - the microsites are high quality unique content with no spammy links with on average 1-5 pages per site). Over the last year and a half we have seen the rankings drop for them across Google. However, they maintain a very high and strong presence in Bing and Yahoo.

I would love to see some more research on the other search engines as well, Dr Pete :)

Thanks - Kyle

Isnt it a contradiction in terms to say that a microsite with 1-5 pages has high quality unique content? Isnt one attribute of high quality content usually depth?

Depending on the level of complication in regards to the topic all you may need is 1-5 pages. So i disagree that it is a contradiction.

You should try to have your company name as your domain name, unless your company name is some silly name that had very little marketing thought put into its selection from day 1.my company name is Info4u, and my domain is info4u.co.za, new york times is at www.newyorktimes.com, redirected to www.nytimes.com and nearly all big companies do something similar.If you do not use your company name as a key word or key word phrase you have an issue with your company name and need to change the company name.....

You should try to have your company name as your domain name, unless your company name is some silly name that had very little marketing thought put into its selection from day 1.
my company name is Info4u, and my domain is info4u.co.za, new york times is at www.newyorktimes.com, redirected to www.nytimes.com and nearly all big companies do something similar.

If you do not use your company name as a key word or key word phrase you have an issue with your company name and need to change the company name.....

HIInteresting but maybe flawed?The reason for the drop in EMD chnages around penquin time was of course not down to the EMD but that so many MFA really poor ones were built on EMDs so they got hit by penquin and panda (late april) because of links and content not because of EMD.Or so i believe.The proof would require you to isolate sites that ranking drops were caused by penquin/panda and then just look at the ranking of the remaining sites.EMDs used in MFA rank as well in september 2012 as they did a year ago. There is a tendency for them to do even better BUT that maybe due to the way MFA are built now (better quality and a lot less of them) weve seen recovery from penquin and panda happening via site owner re-optimisation and link removal so the picture is very complex.if asked the simple question would a .com emd outrank a PMD or random domain the answer is 100% given the same content, links internal and external.Will this last, maybe. The reasoning is that if an EMD is a brand (which inherently they are) then to degrade EMDs would be to degrade brands.Google and @mattcutts could do that, they have shown wiliness to cause friendly fire with a total disregard for causalities, whilst trying to wipe out spammer.My gut says EMD will lower in strength when the next big shock wave hits. Even if its only for a month or 3. The large brand wont be effected as the boost is relatively small for them anyway (the have domain authority etc etc which google could boost to compensate).The effect would be to make even more affiliates and MFA quit overnight as they did in may. Of course many will be come born again authority people and create new sites and ebook telling the new way.(edited for formatting reasons).

Interesting but maybe flawed?

The reason for the drop in EMD chnages around penquin time was of course not down to the EMD but that so many MFA really poor ones were built on EMDs so they got hit by penquin and panda (late april) because of links and content not because of EMD.

Or so i believe.

The proof would require you to isolate sites that ranking drops were caused by penquin/panda and then just look at the ranking of the remaining sites.

EMDs used in MFA rank as well in september 2012 as they did a year ago. There is a tendency for them to do even better BUT that maybe due to the way MFA are built now (better quality and a lot less of them) weve seen recovery from penquin and panda happening via site owner re-optimisation and link removal so the picture is very complex.

if asked the simple question would a .com emd outrank a PMD or random domain the answer is 100% given the same content, links internal and external.

Will this last, maybe. The reasoning is that if an EMD is a brand (which inherently they are) then to degrade EMDs would be to degrade brands.

Google and @mattcutts could do that, they have shown wiliness to cause friendly fire with a total disregard for causalities, whilst trying to wipe out spammer.

My gut says EMD will lower in strength when the next big shock wave hits. Even if its only for a month or 3. The large brand wont be effected as the boost is relatively small for them anyway (the have domain authority etc etc which google could boost to compensate).

The effect would be to make even more affiliates and MFA quit overnight as they did in may. Of course many will be come born again authority people and create new sites and ebook telling the new way.

(edited for formatting reasons).

Um . . . thats basically everything he already said in his post.

Thats what I was trying to get at in the Penguilation/Penguisation section and is also the reason for splitting out the PMDs. This is a complex situation, and I dont think Google can simply penalize EMDs across the board. I suspect that, while crafting Penguin, Google looked closely at EMD abuse and at ways to combat it - in the end, that meant targeting spammy signals that "bad" EMDs use.

Thats what I was trying to get at in the Penguilation/Penguisation section and is also the reason for splitting out the PMDs. This is a complex situation, and I dont think Google can simply penalize EMDs across the board. I suspect that, while crafting Penguin, Google looked closely at EMD abuse and at ways to combat it - in the end, that meant targeting spammy signals that "bad" EMDs use.

I agree. For as long as there are both genuine EMD and spammy EMD, it will never be possible to penalize an EMD just for being an EMD. Google will only be able to discriminate (fairly) by looking at wider signals.

I agree. For as long as there are both genuine EMD and spammy EMD, it will never be possible to penalize an EMD just for being an EMD. Google will only be able to discriminate (fairly) by looking at wider signals.

Absolutely awesome post. Looking for such analysis/research for a long time. Thank you Pete for this!

You know who hates on good EMDs? The people who dont own them. You know why? Because theyve always carried an advantage with them. EMDs will always receive lots of hatorade though because the majority of people dont own them.When a site ranks well - it has to stand up to the scrutiny of the public eye, and many of these sites just road the wave of their SEO rankings. The inclusion of engagement factors with Panda helped to remedy most of this "unfair" advantage imo.Of course a spammy .mobi with dashes is likely to lead to poor user experience, but I dont think thats necessarily the case with a quality non-dashed EMD.net/org domain. The bounce rate on that .mobi will be high enough to pandalize the site into oblivion.If someone is willing to pony up the cash to GET that EMD.com/net/org (almost always through the aftermarket), there is a fair chance theyll probably do their best to build that site out with some budget as well. Its a much higher barrier to entry than crappy-keyword-domain.biz for $6. There is an advantage, but it is an advantage you decide to pay for from the beginning.Consumers associate a QUALITY EMD with credibility. Its only when that initial "blink test" credibility is countered with a crappy user experience that consumers are disappointed with a keyword domain. I would expect Cars.com to know a little bit something about Cars. They cant stand on JUST that fact for aggregated engagement factors like pageviews and time on site, but its still an indicator of quality that they were able to acquire such a fine domain. If you dont own the EMD - stop hating, and try making your website better, or start sending email negotiations.

You know who hates on good EMDs?  The people who dont own them.  You know why?  Because theyve always carried an advantage with them.  EMDs will always receive lots of hatorade though because the majority of people dont own them.

When a site ranks well - it has to stand up to the scrutiny of the public eye, and many of these sites just road the wave of their SEO rankings.  The inclusion of engagement factors with Panda helped to remedy most of this "unfair" advantage imo.

Of course a spammy .mobi with dashes is likely to lead to poor user experience, but I dont think thats necessarily the case with a quality non-dashed EMD.net/org domain.  The bounce rate on that .mobi will be high enough to pandalize the site into oblivion.

If someone is willing to pony up the cash to GET that EMD.com/net/org (almost always through the aftermarket), there is a fair chance theyll probably do their best to build that site out with some budget as well.  Its a much higher barrier to entry than crappy-keyword-domain.biz for $6.  There is an advantage, but it is an advantage you decide to pay for from the beginning.

Consumers associate a QUALITY EMD with credibility.  Its only when that initial "blink test" credibility is countered with a crappy user experience that consumers are disappointed with a keyword domain.  I would expect Cars.com to know a little bit something about Cars.  They cant stand on JUST that fact for aggregated engagement factors like pageviews and time on site, but its still an indicator of quality that they were able to acquire such a fine domain.  If you dont own the EMD - stop hating, and try making your website better, or start sending email negotiations.

Remember that EMD or not, nothing should take the place of having quality content to begin with. Marketing is about value co-creation, not about how many hits we can get. Its very easy to lose sight of that with SEO (and I think most companies who are obsessed with SEO do). 

Content is king, and good content will always get good results in SERPs (Search Engine Results Page listings)No matter what your domain name, poor content = poor rankings = poor ROI (Return On Investment)

Content is king, and good content will always get good results in SERPs (Search Engine Results Page listings)

No matter what your domain name, poor content = poor rankings = poor ROI (Return On Investment)

Please, be assured that is nothing against you, but I had to thumb down your comment for the use of the inflationated phrase "Content is King".

Please, be assured that is nothing against you, but I had to thumb down your comment for the use of the inflationated phrase "Content is King".

I am new here and learning all the time...this community is a real tough one, but very fair..

One of our sites is an exact match domain and it has been in the top spot of Google for the past seven years, never fluctuating or leaving that spot even once. I never bothered with much SEO for it, because it seemed hardly needed. I wonder if doing a bit would be helpful in case Google ever stops taking that into consideration as a ranking factor. I do agree with what you say about thus far the drop being a correlation of Penguin, rather than being caused by it, but I wonder if its only a matter of time . . .

One of our sites is an exact match domain and it has been in the top spot of Google for the past seven years, never fluctuating or leaving that spot even once. I never bothered with much SEO for it, because it seemed hardly needed. I wonder if doing a bit would be helpful in case Google ever stops taking that into consideration as a ranking factor. I do agree with what you say about thus far the drop being a correlation of Penguin, rather than being caused by it, but I wonder if its only a matter of time . . .

I think thats exactly right - its not that theres anything bad about your EMD or that it will suddenly stop ranking overnight. Its just that youre banking a lot on that one factor, and I suspect the strength of that factor will wane. This is a perfect time to reinforce that EMD with other positive ranking signals, while its still in the top position.Truthfully, Id say that for any tactic. With 200+ ranking factors (some of them probably being a combination of multiple factors), relying on just one factor is extremely risky. If Google decides that one factor is suddenly no good, you could go from #1 to gone overnight.

I think thats exactly right - its not that theres anything bad about your EMD or that it will suddenly stop ranking overnight. Its just that youre banking a lot on that one factor, and I suspect the strength of that factor will wane. This is a perfect time to reinforce that EMD with other positive ranking signals, while its still in the top position.

Truthfully, Id say that for any tactic. With 200+ ranking factors (some of them probably being a combination of multiple factors), relying on just one factor is extremely risky. If Google decides that one factor is suddenly no good, you could go from #1 to gone overnight.

@underrugswept

You may not have done much SEO consciously but that doesnt automatically mean that your domain name is the only thing you have got right and therefore the only thing that your rankings depend on.

You might have got many more things right as a natural consequence of good business practice.

I agree that the results support a correlation effect and not a causation effect. I cannot conceive how an attack on brands will reduce spam or enhance the user experience.I am jeffdownerbailbondsditcom. How would penalizing me and having somebody using jeffdownerwidgetsdotcom outrank me for the keyword "bail bonds" be helpful to users? Confusing to users? Sure.While exact match is a factor I believe it about exact match text.

I agree that the results support a correlation effect and not a causation effect.   I cannot conceive how an attack on brands will reduce spam or enhance the user experience.

I am jeffdownerbailbondsditcom.   How would penalizing me and having somebody using jeffdownerwidgetsdotcom outrank me for the keyword "bail bonds" be helpful to users?   Confusing to users?  Sure.

While  exact match is a factor I believe it about exact match text.

I dont think its so much a matter of penalizing as turning down the volume, so to speak. Traditionally, Google has rewarded keywords in the domain, but while I dont disagree with you, Id also argue that just buying a domain with "bail bonds" in it isnt necessarily a quality signal. Its just too easy. So, I think Google is looking for ways to gradually reduce the weight of domain keywords, while also targeting spammy tactics that are common among people who abuse domaining (running 100s of microsites, for example).

I dont think its so much a matter of penalizing as turning down the volume, so to speak. Traditionally, Google has rewarded keywords in the domain, but while I dont disagree with you, Id also argue that just buying a domain with "bail bonds" in it isnt necessarily a quality signal. Its just too easy. So, I think Google is looking for ways to gradually reduce the weight of domain keywords, while also targeting spammy tactics that are common among people who abuse domaining (running 100s of microsites, for example).

Google continues to lead us on by saying they are thinking about devaluing them... however I have seen reports that indicate users have more trust in results that are EMD and if you arent asking yourself why so many people just enter EMD into a browser when early on in discovery, then again tya might wanna think about these things a little and try to understand why this factor is an important signal. So IMO, if ya think this will ever not be a considerable ranking factor... might wanna take your head outta your asse and think about this beyond your own incompetence at competing with an EMD. I would be ashamed to tell a client I cant get a a better rank cuz there is an EMD there. It counts but not as much as many SEOs think especially with the new link text algos Penguin seems to be using.

Google continues to lead us on by saying they are thinking about devaluing them... however I have seen reports that indicate users have more trust in results that are EMD and if you arent asking yourself why so many people just enter EMD into a browser when early on in discovery, then again tya might wanna think about these things a little and try to understand why this factor is an important signal.

So IMO, if ya think this will ever not be a considerable ranking factor... might wanna take your head outta your asse and think about this beyond your own incompetence at competing with an EMD. I would be ashamed to tell a client I cant get a a better rank cuz there is an EMD there. It counts but not as much as many SEOs think especially with the new link text algos Penguin seems to be using.

While it is a little surprising that EMDs still work as well as they do, the important takeaway seems to be that site owners need to seriously consider how it looks. Like you said: "If I see six-keywords-strung-together-with-dashes.net and it leads to a slapped together, $75 template site, I see a site I?d never do business with."It becomes a matter of which is more important - being the top result, or being the top result that looks like a serious, professional site with which you would want to do business.This applies to titles as well. The example I like to use for prospective SEO clients is to do a search for "(your city name) SEO" (or whatever keyword). When you see 9 sites that all have titles starting with "CityName Keyword", and one that has the company name up front - which one looks more legit? This of course assumes the rest of your SEO is good enough to get you positioned "above the fold" without a keyword stuffed domain and/or title.Before search engines became the main way people find businesses, people would sometimes name their business "AAA (Business Name)" or "A1 (Business Name)" so they would appear at the top of alphabetical yellow pages listings. While I am sure that worked to some degree, it still looked a little shady to anybody who stopped to think. Domains and titles are no different.

It becomes a matter of which is more important - being the top result, or being the top result that looks like a serious, professional site with which you would want to do business.

This applies to titles as well.  The example I like to use for prospective SEO clients is to do a search for "(your city name) SEO" (or whatever keyword). When you see 9 sites that all have titles starting with "CityName Keyword", and one that has the company name up front - which one looks more legit? This of course assumes the rest of your SEO is good enough to get you positioned "above the fold" without a keyword stuffed domain and/or title.

Before search engines became the main way people find businesses, people would sometimes name their business "AAA (Business Name)" or "A1 (Business Name)" so they would appear at the top of alphabetical yellow pages listings. While I am sure that worked to some degree, it still looked a little shady to anybody who stopped to think. Domains and titles are no different.

Absolutely agree. Common sense should prevail when choosing a domain name and writing Page Titles. Its the car-insurance-ireland type of domains that were rightly hit by Penguin. I still think its no harm to have a keyword term accompanied by the brand name though so long as it reads well and looks professional. Great post Dr. Pete and great stats!

So basically, EMD factor for rankings might not have declined substantially. Only that the latest updates and algorithm changes of Google lessen the competition for other related EMD for certain niche maybe because "some" or "most" of them have been doing against the Google Code of Optimization?

So basically, EMD factor for rankings might not have declined substantially. Only that the latest updates and algorithm changes of Google lessen the competition for other related EMD for certain niche maybe because "some" or "most" of them have been doing against the Google Code of Optimization?

Id suggest that theyve likely never been stronger, irrelevant of link-based, second-order effects.Hat and Feathers was a particular favourite being passed around the office last week.

Id suggest that theyve likely never been stronger, irrelevant of link-based, second-order effects.

Hat and Feathers was a particular favourite being passed around the office last week.

My core problem is that a single example of handful of cases dont tell us much - there are definitely cases where some EMDs have become stronger or EMDs are ranking better in one niche, but:(1) Thats still anecdotal. Thats why Im trying to collect a larger data set (and, admittedly, still have a long way to go).(2) You cant really say "irrelevant of link-based, second-order effects" - links, social mentions, and other factors are nearly impossible to separate, especially with competitive analysis.I absolutely think that, for some queries, EMDs still do very well (and even the data in this post supports that). My argument is that low-quality keyword-loaded domains are being targeted by Google and that targeting is gradually having an impact. Its especially noticeable for PMDs on average, but I suspect well see it more with low-quality EMDs. That said, some percentage of EMDs will continue to do well. Im approaching this from an overall, strategic standpoint. You have to know your niche, no question.

My core problem is that a single example of handful of cases dont tell us much - there are definitely cases where some EMDs have become stronger or EMDs are ranking better in one niche, but:

(1) Thats still anecdotal. Thats why Im trying to collect a larger data set (and, admittedly, still have a long way to go).

(2) You cant really say "irrelevant of link-based, second-order effects" - links, social mentions, and other factors are nearly impossible to separate, especially with competitive analysis.

I absolutely think that, for some queries, EMDs still do very well (and even the data in this post supports that). My argument is that low-quality keyword-loaded domains are being targeted by Google and that targeting is gradually having an impact. Its especially noticeable for PMDs on average, but I suspect well see it more with low-quality EMDs. That said, some percentage of EMDs will continue to do well. Im approaching this from an overall, strategic standpoint. You have to know your niche, no question.

I bet Mr Baxter hopes youre wrong: cheap flights to new york."The problem is that Google can?t just pull the plug on EMDs. Many brands naturally use EMDs."But ? love ?em or hate ?em ? I think this is the cause of their initial, and continuing, strength.If I was a betting man, I?d say they?re pretty safe for now.(Additionally, I think it?s crucial to analyse and discuss EMDs and PMDs in isolation. As youve alluded to in your post, theyre very different beasts.)

I bet Mr Baxter hopes youre wrong: cheap flights to new york.

"The problem is that Google can?t just pull the plug on EMDs. Many brands naturally use EMDs."

But ? love ?em or hate ?em ? I think this is the cause of their initial, and continuing, strength.

If I was a betting man, I?d say they?re pretty safe for now.

(Additionally, I think it?s crucial to analyse and discuss EMDs and PMDs in isolation. As youve alluded to in your post, theyre very different beasts.)

Think its much more likely that EMDs tend to be owned by people who practice webspam techniques like link building. Google cracks down on these, there you go.

Think its much more likely that EMDs tend to be owned by people who practice webspam techniques like link building.

Google cracks down on these, there you go.

Exactly!I wrote a post also mentioning this here.

Exactly!
I wrote a post also mentioning this here.

EMDs (Exact Match Domains) are encouraged by Google, and many brands / product owners  have done this. The SEA (Search Engine Algorithm) will pick up the spammy sites and slowly punish them more and more, whilst rewarding the legitimate brand and product owners slowly over time. this is very evident and even mentioned in the main post above, but it seems that you (wantoothrefoar) and (Freserick Hyldig) have jumped to short term conclusions. take this into account and let us all know what you think

Im sorry, but since youve mentioned this multiple times, when has Google actively encouraged EMDs in their public statements? Theyve rewarded EMDs as a ranking signal, to some degree, and they encourage consistent user experiences and branding, but thats very different from Google saying that you should always buy an EMD. In fact, Id say theyve actually discouraged aggressively keyword-loaded EMDs. Ive never seen a statement where they specifically supported EMDs across the board, especially since the tactic has been abused so often.

Im sorry, but since youve mentioned this multiple times, when has Google actively encouraged EMDs in their public statements? Theyve rewarded EMDs as a ranking signal, to some degree, and they encourage consistent user experiences and branding, but thats very different from Google saying that you should always buy an EMD. In fact, Id say theyve actually discouraged aggressively keyword-loaded EMDs. Ive never seen a statement where they specifically supported EMDs across the board, especially since the tactic has been abused so often.

@Info4u2use: Im not sure I follow you. All Im saying is that the small decline in representation of EMDs in the top rankings could be due to EMDs tend to be owned by people who practice spammy techniques which Google has caught up with recently.

@Info4u2use: Im not sure I follow you. All Im saying is that the small decline in representation of EMDs in the top rankings could be due to EMDs tend to be owned by people who practice spammy techniques which Google has caught up with recently.

I find it interesting that you class buy-widgets.com as a PMD and not an EMD - the only difference is the hyphen. I wouldve considered it an EMD personally.

Anyway, two words sum up my feelings on the (supposed) fall of EMDs: good riddance. I remember doing a search for "ppc manchester" 1-2 years ago and about 7 of the top 10 were EMDs: I think there was a .com, a .co.uk, a .org.uk, a .me.uk, a .biz and a few more. You could tell they were agencies mini-sites and affiliates rather than people companies. It was utterly ridiculous. If you do the search now, theres only 1 EMD (albeit its in the top spot - but I think its also the actual companys name)...

That said, your Penguilation vs. Penguisation section raises a very valid point - did those 6 EMDs lose their positions due to Panda or Penguin rather than the fact that EMDs have been devalued?

Also, ironically, Ive always wondered if Google assumes if a websites brand is effectively the URL - so if someones site is casinoviagrarealestate.com, it assumes that their name is Casino Viagra Real Estate rather than Joe Bloggs Industries, in which case if those "ppc manchester" EMDs had "ppc manchester" as the majority of their anchor text, surely Google might make the assumption that that is their name and rank them higher than ever? Certainly is a head-scratcher...

Yes, Ive (adjuice dot co uk) been sitting at 2 in the UK for ppc services without really trying.There are no EMD on page 1 and only 1 PMD.Who cares; no traffic but interesting.

Yes, Ive (adjuice dot co uk) been sitting at 2 in the UK for ppc services without really trying.

There are no EMD on page 1 and only 1 PMD.

Who cares; no traffic but interesting.

Id say EMDs have dropped in value, if only because there is a content marketing sink that comes associates with them that now cant be made up for (as strongly) w/ gray hat links. For example, LifeInsuranceQuotes.com will also have a more difficult time getting organic links than Aetna.com, even if nobody had heard of Aetna. Therefore, even if the absolute weight of the domains are still heavily skewed EMD, if Google is doing a better job of forcing people to content marketing as a need to create rankings, the cost-benefit analysis will move more heavily towards Aetna. That said, premium domains are still premium, and there are very few two-word domains that arent still worth the coin you paid for them in 2005. However, as we get to three words, were pushing it, and it seems that Google has created an imaginary chasm there b/c of the hits to content marketing and CTR that come with an EMD thats three words as compared to two (such as LifeInsurance.com as compared to LifeInsuranceQuotes.com).

Id say EMDs have dropped in value, if only because there is a content marketing sink that comes associates with them that now cant be made up for (as strongly) w/ gray hat links. For example, LifeInsuranceQuotes.com will also have a more difficult time getting organic links than Aetna.com, even if nobody had heard of Aetna. Therefore, even if the absolute weight of the domains are still heavily skewed EMD, if Google is doing a better job of forcing people to content marketing as a need to create rankings, the cost-benefit analysis will move more heavily towards Aetna. 

That said, premium domains are still premium, and there are very few two-word domains that arent still worth the coin you paid for them in 2005. However, as we get to three words, were pushing it, and it seems that Google has created an imaginary chasm there b/c of the hits to content marketing and CTR that come with an EMD thats three words as compared to two (such as LifeInsurance.com as compared to LifeInsuranceQuotes.com). 

Thats a really interesting example with 2 domains at the opposite end of the spectrum - 1 is pure keywords, the other is unique or pure brand. What Aetna lacks in terms of domain name keyword influence can easily be made up in terms of branding and wider signals.

Which feels more authentic?

Great data and explanation - Ive been noticing drops in EMD rankings but Ive attributed it to domain crowding more than anything else. Can you run the same analysis but run it for top 10 different domain results?My thinking is that they rank as well as they used to, but Googles change to add multiple listing per domain pushed the EMDs down some rankings (which also explains why those ranking in the #1 spot have increased performance).-Oleg

Great data and explanation - Ive been noticing drops in EMD rankings but Ive attributed it to domain crowding more than anything else. Can you run the same analysis but run it for top 10 different domain results?

My thinking is that they rank as well as they used to, but Googles change to add multiple listing per domain pushed the EMDs down some rankings (which also explains why those ranking in the #1 spot have increased performance).

-Oleg

Thanks Dr Pete. I love your analysis, always considered and easy to read.I have a few clients either embarking on or in the middle of an EMD strategy. I wonder if its a bit different here in Australia where there are less sites generally. i.e. in USA and .com space there are 80 companies that sell widgets and 140+ websites, in Aust there are only 20 (plus the .com and US sites) companies and 40+ websites. I wonder if less competition helps.I also wonder if adding a geo-locator (which I understand your data set doesnt have) changes things at all and in light of my point above if its even stronger in smaller markets?

Thanks Dr Pete.  I love your analysis, always considered and easy to read.

I have a few clients either embarking on or in the middle of an EMD strategy.  I wonder if its a bit different here in Australia where there are less sites generally. i.e. in USA and .com space there are 80 companies that sell widgets and 140+ websites, in Aust there are only 20 (plus the .com and US sites) companies and 40+ websites.  I wonder if less competition helps.

I also wonder if adding a geo-locator (which I understand your data set doesnt have) changes things at all and in light of my point above if its even stronger in smaller markets?

Do you mean just construct your website in a way Google and probably most your visitors like, no matter what the domain is?

Great post, could you please develop a Mozcast desktop app for Mac?

Great analysis as usual Dr. Pete. Pretty surprising to see the continued influence of EMDs, despite their frequent use as spam/splog sites.

I think google are clever enough to decipher themselves what is and isnt spammy (obviously not all the time but for the most) Its not as simple as find EMD and penalise. In typical google fashion there will 200 factors used to work out the end result.I for one have seen a massive improvement in search results recently and I dont have.to scan past dodgy sites to find a result I want. The fact that theres less EMDs showing highlights what many were used for and how they got there.Reputable brands with EMDs need not worry IMHO

I think google are clever enough to decipher themselves what is and isnt spammy (obviously not all the time but for the most) Its not as simple as find EMD and penalise. In typical google fashion there will 200 factors used to work out the end result.

I for one have seen a massive improvement in search results recently and I dont have.to scan past dodgy sites to find a result I want. The fact that theres less EMDs showing highlights what many were used for and how they got there.

Reputable brands with EMDs need not worry IMHO

You couldnt pick a better time to publish this post. I do agree that there are so many spam implications with Exact Match and Partial Match Domains. I actually am running into this now with a few of my clients sites. Though we arent spamming sites, and they hare actually very relevant content-wise, we had multiple domains with the same keyword variation. The lesson to take away is that Exact-Match and Partial-Match domains are only helpful for domains that have real content, that is adding real value to the Internet.This was a very informative post though :)

You couldnt pick a better time to publish this post. I do agree that there are so many spam implications with Exact Match and Partial Match Domains. I actually am running into this now with a few of my clients sites. Though we arent spamming sites, and they hare actually very relevant content-wise, we had multiple domains with the same keyword variation. The lesson to take away is that Exact-Match and Partial-Match domains are only helpful for domains that have real content, that is adding real value to the Internet.

This was a very informative post though :)

Personally, I continue to find it more difficult to rank well with a branded domain name versus an EMD or even a PMD. I think it is even more true if you apply localization (e.g. DenverRealEstate.com).I also think the following is true:I suspect that, by targeting some forms of spammy anchor text, Penguin disproportionately hit EMDs. Many people who use EMDs solely for ranking purposes are also aggressive with exact-match anchor text. The EMD drop was probably collateral damage.Spam + hyphenated EMDs = Penguin fodder.

Personally, I continue to find it more difficult to rank well with a branded domain name versus an EMD or even a PMD. I think it is even more true if you apply localization (e.g. DenverRealEstate.com).

I also think the following is true:

I suspect that, by targeting some forms of spammy anchor text, Penguin disproportionately hit EMDs. Many people who use EMDs solely for ranking purposes are also aggressive with exact-match anchor text. The EMD drop was probably collateral damage.

Spam + hyphenated EMDs = Penguin fodder.

Really great post, im very interested to see how this trend continues. Ive always thought that from Googles point of view a site with the keywords in the domain stands more of a chance of being about a certain topic than a completely different site, with all things being equal, but as mentioned the kind of people who go for EMDs are the ones more likely to be employing other low-value tactics.

This is not true, many people have used their product names as EMD (exact Match Domains) and they are credited with this by Google, who recommends that you do this. By using good URL structure you can get very good results for PMD (Partial Matching Domains) but the current trend in using database driven URLs (Uniform Resource Locators) or web page names makes this very difficult.That being said take a look at the URL (Uniform Resource Locator) naming structure in Google Sites and see the PMD process in action.

This is not true, many people have used their product names as EMD (exact Match Domains) and they are credited with this by Google, who recommends that you do this. By using good URL structure you can get very good results for PMD (Partial Matching Domains) but the current trend in using database driven URLs (Uniform Resource Locators) or web page names makes this very difficult.

That being said take a look at the URL (Uniform Resource Locator) naming structure in Google Sites and see the PMD process in action.

Ive anecdotally noticed EMDs on the wane as the inbox is testimony to a growing second hand discreet market for unsuspecting decision makers to be charmed by EMD resellers with a poison link legacy. Theres a lot of barnacles on shiny domain objects floating about.

Ive anecdotally noticed EMDs on the wane as the inbox is testimony to a growing second hand discreet market for unsuspecting decision makers to be charmed by EMD resellers with a poison link legacy. Theres a lot of barnacles on shiny domain objects floating about.

@Paul Gailey Alburquerque These EMDs (Exact Match Domains) you mention are all the spammy ones and not directly related to products or brands. EMDs (Exact Match Domains) that reflect brands, products or other intellectual property are very desirable URLs (Uniform Resource Locators - web page names) which are well rewarded by all search engines.Black Hat techniques are always punished, it just takes time for the search engines to pick up the tricks used and determine your intent when using the tactic. White Hat SEO is always well rewarded, so you evaluate your intent when using any SEOT (Search Engine Optimisation Technique) and remember that Search Engines use many methods to evaluate your intent as well as the intent of the end user who is using the search engine to locate relevant information.

@Paul Gailey Alburquerque These EMDs (Exact Match Domains) you mention are all the spammy ones and not directly related to products or brands. EMDs (Exact Match Domains)  that reflect brands, products or other intellectual property are very desirable URLs  (Uniform Resource Locators - web page names) which are well rewarded by all search engines.

Black Hat techniques are always punished, it just takes time for the search engines to pick up the tricks used and determine your intent when using the tactic. White Hat SEO is always well rewarded, so you evaluate your intent when using any SEOT (Search Engine Optimisation Technique) and remember that Search Engines use many methods to evaluate your intent as well as the intent of the end user who is using the search engine to locate relevant information.

I have a question. Our company bought an EMD last year. We didnt buy it because it was an EMD for ranking purposes, we bought it more for vanity reasons. However, it is a two word top level domain.

We have spent six figures developing the site, most of that money going into hiring writers with English degrees to rewrite 15,000 product descriptions.

I have gone through great lengths to make sure this site follows best ppractices for on page optimization. So my question is, are we screwed for having an EMD now? Is this going to be an uphill ranking battle just because of the domain name?

No youre not screwed. What hes saying is be careful (as always) with your marketing ...especially with the use of anchor text. IMO, though, having a true exact match like yours does give extra room with anchor text. But its better to be extra safe, as Penguin will likely be expanded to look for more manipulative signals.

No youre not screwed.  What hes saying is be careful (as always) with your marketing ...especially with the use of anchor text.   

IMO, though, having a true exact match like yours does give extra room with anchor text.  But its better to be extra safe, as Penguin will likely be expanded to look for more manipulative signals. 

No, not at all. In fact, the EMD could very likely help you. The key is that youre developing the site/business, building content, building links, and the EMD is just one facet of your strategy. The only thing Id warn against is heavily targeting the two-word phrase in inbound anchor text - some exact-match text is fine, but just dont pound on it. The people at the most risk, IMO, are the ones who treat the domain as their entire strategy.

Id definitely agree with the EMD influence on #1 spot (in fact Id say it was 1 - 3) over the last few months there have been some strange sites popping up into the top positions for keywords they wouldnt have been able to attain previously.Exact match domains have to be phased out at some point - although Im sure Google has to be cautious because there are a lot of businesses out there that have built a brand around an exact match phrase. Id be interested to see any research youve done on exact match anchor text as well - like you say, they could target that next and then come back to exact match domains.

Id definitely agree with the EMD influence on #1 spot (in fact Id say it was 1 - 3) over the last few months there have been some strange sites popping up into the top positions for keywords they wouldnt have been able to attain previously.

Exact match domains have to be phased out at some point - although Im sure Google has to be cautious because there are a lot of businesses out there that have built a brand around an exact match phrase. Id be interested to see any research youve done on exact match anchor text as well - like you say, they could target that next and then come back to exact match domains.

The research staff at Google are not idiots, and understand the importance of EMD (Exact Match Domains) on branding issues, and will always give credit where credit is due. The technical staff that set up Googles Algorithms are also very aware of tricks and black hat stuff that the SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) community use, and have written subroutines to check these over. They believe that one must give credit where it is due, and punish all who cheat with equal passion to both sides of the fence. The staff at Google have always said that use of key words in your URL is the best way to get noticed, and have also said that they will punish all who use deception in any shape manner or form, so be careful how you use your domain name in your HTML and other coding...

The research staff at Google are not idiots, and understand the importance of EMD (Exact Match Domains) on branding issues, and will always give credit where credit is due.

The technical staff that set up Googles Algorithms are also very aware of tricks and black hat stuff that the SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) community use, and have written subroutines to check these over. They believe that one must give credit where it is due, and punish all who cheat with equal passion to both sides of the fence.

The staff at Google have always said that use of key words in your URL is the best way to get noticed, and have also said that they will punish all who use deception in any shape manner or form, so be careful how you use your domain name in your HTML and other coding...

I dont think they are quite there in their smartness yet though - theyd find it difficult to tell which people people build small sites on exact match domains and use the exact match phrase as though its their brand. Theres loads of these all over the internet if you start digging around for them.

I dont think they are quite there in their smartness yet though - theyd find it difficult to tell which people people build small sites on exact match domains and use the exact match phrase as though its their brand. Theres loads of these all over the internet if you start digging around for them.

Ive always been a strong believer of brand names being the domain name then using a correct URL structure to target keywords. EMDs used to be the way forward but of late they dont work as well, so using a well structured site and providing quality content, you will go far.

Ive always been a strong believer of brand names being the domain name then using a correct URL structure to target keywords. EMDs used to be the way forward but of late they dont work as well, so using a well structured site and providing quality content, you will go far.

using an exact match domain has always been highly recommended by Google, never underestimate its power. That said you do need to have good content with well written pages with all the trimmings, like KEY WORDS META TAGS, title tags, description tags and other sneaky stuff like using words in the domain name as image names and text anchors for links.All the little things add up to much more than the sum of all its parts due to the application of high level mathematics in the Search Engine Algorithm which uses calculus and trigonometry in ways you never dreamed of. All things have limits set, and when a page exceeds the limit for any word, a flag is raised by the algorithm, and the in page SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) techniques are checked, and listed for further investigation by the search engine. this is where BH (Black Hat) SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) specialists get into trouble.....and where Google comes back many times to check and will eventually improve your score if you have not cheated.....This is evident in the slow recovery of EMDs (Exact Match Domains) into higher SERPs (Search Engine Results Page Listings)

using an exact match domain has always been highly recommended by Google, never underestimate its power. That said you do need to have good content with well written pages with all the trimmings, like KEY WORDS META TAGS, title tags, description tags and other sneaky stuff like using words in the domain name as image names and text anchors for links.

All the little things add up to much more than the sum of all its parts due to the application of high level mathematics in the Search Engine Algorithm which uses calculus and trigonometry in ways you never dreamed of. 

All things have limits set, and when a page exceeds the limit for any word, a flag is raised by the algorithm, and the in page SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) techniques are checked, and listed for further investigation by the search engine. this is where BH (Black Hat) SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) specialists get into trouble.....and where Google comes back many times to check and will eventually improve your score if you have not cheated.....This is evident in the slow recovery of EMDs (Exact Match Domains) into higher SERPs (Search Engine Results Page Listings) 

You are so right that I never dreamed of the ways that the search engine algorithm uses trigonometry.How does it use trig? Is it in the meta keywords tags?

You are so right that I never dreamed of the ways that the search engine algorithm uses trigonometry.

How does it use trig? Is it in the meta keywords tags?

Good news, but we have to wait :)I think that its depend. This kind of drop can be seen from another point of view as you stated in the post...so its with high probability also related to the fact that often EMD are very very poor quality sites. We should check balanced and good quality ones to check if the EMD factor decreases its power.I hope that in the future the EMD will loose all its importance cause it is a monster to knock down.

Good news, but we have to wait :)

I think that its depend. This kind of drop can be seen from another point of view as you stated in the post...so its with high probability also related to the fact that often EMD are very very poor quality sites. We should check balanced and good quality ones to check if the EMD factor decreases its power.

I hope that in the future the EMD will loose all its importance cause it is a monster to knock down.

Give credit where credit is due, and put yourself in the shoes of those who are ignorant, then evaluate what you have said....SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) is often not done well because the web site owner has not defined his / her target market clearly, and so wrong words are targeted in keyword META TAG lists causing other unrelated issues and poor ranking of pages within SERPs (Search Engine Results Page listings)

Give credit where credit is due, and put yourself in the shoes of those who are ignorant, then evaluate what you have said....

SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) is often not done well because the web site owner has not defined his / her target market clearly, and so wrong words are targeted in keyword META TAG lists causing other unrelated issues and poor ranking of pages within SERPs (Search Engine Results Page listings)

What are you talking about?

I cant understand what you mean.

many EMDs are product / brand names, and the owners have taken the time and effort to secure these domain names for their sites. you need to give them credit for that. that is one of the reasons Google and other Search engines rank EMDs so well. all SEO should start with target market in mind, as this is used to determine the words used in your SEO efforts. The language and words used by your target market are very important. like you say when competing against an EMD you have great difficulty in beating it from an SEO viewpoint.Exact match domains are really tough to beat, and so they should be.

many EMDs  are product / brand names, and the owners have taken the time and effort to secure these domain names for their sites. you need to give them credit for that. that is one of the reasons Google and other Search engines rank EMDs so well.

all SEO should start with target market in mind, as this is used to determine the words used in your SEO efforts. The language and words used by your target market are very important. like you say when competing against an EMD you have great difficulty in beating it from an SEO viewpoint.

Exact match domains are really tough to beat, and so they should be.

I think that because exact match domains are "too easy" to rank for, thats why theyre slowly being devalued (speculation) by the algos. Theyre still a valuable tool to help new entrants compete for a competitive kw.

I think that because exact match domains are "too easy" to rank for, thats why theyre slowly being devalued (speculation) by the algos. Theyre still a valuable tool to help new entrants compete for a competitive kw.

I see this explains it. Ive been wondering what is wrong with EMD this year.... Thank goodness this was brought up I thought my mind was just playing tricks on me.

I see this explains it. Ive been wondering what is wrong with EMD this year.... Thank goodness this was brought up I thought my mind was just playing tricks on me.

Not trying to get a link here - we are running a test on www.dogbeds.co.uk - clean link building, Penguin friendly and within 4-5 months No 1 for dog beds (18k exact searches per month) in the UK Google SERPS - traffic is growing - so our conclusion is keep it clean and if you get an exact match domain that isnt too spammy then it still works extremely well.

Not trying to get a link here - we are running a test on www.dogbeds.co.uk - clean link building, Penguin friendly and within 4-5 months  No 1 for dog beds (18k exact searches per month)  in the UK Google SERPS - traffic is growing - so our conclusion is keep it clean and if you get an exact match domain that isnt too spammy then it still works extremely well.

I agree with your analysis and have experienced very similar results since April. Been fun to watch exact match EMDs make a comeback. Hoping .net gets a push.

I agree with your analysis and have experienced very similar results since April.  Been fun to watch exact match EMDs make a comeback. Hoping .net gets a push.

Awesome data, really appreciate the separation of non-hyphenated and hyphenated results to show that hyphens themselves arent necessarily a death sentence.

Awesome data, really appreciate the separation of non-hyphenated and hyphenated results to show that hyphens themselves arent necessarily a death sentence.

I was actually starting to think that they were beginning to rise again as Ive been doing some ranking research on a key phrase over the past week and out of nowhere an EMD has shot right up to the top spot. Not a newly registered domain as it has been active since 05. Also its appearing quite high in searches that are close matches to the key phrase too.

I was actually starting to think that they were beginning to rise again as Ive been doing some ranking research on a key phrase over the past week and out of nowhere an EMD has shot right up to the top spot. 

Not a newly registered domain as it has been active since 05. Also its appearing quite high in searches that are close matches to the key phrase too. 

Cant wait for the EMTLD study.Can we agree that EMTLD stands for Exact Match Top-Level Domain?Regards,Jean Guillon

Cant wait for the EMTLD study.

Can we agree that EMTLD stands for Exact Match Top-Level Domain?

Regards,

Jean Guillon

Very interested to see how Google plans to move ahead and evaluate which EMDs are relevant and which ones are not. I can foresee a lot of major websites who have EMDs take a hit.

Very interested to see how Google plans to move ahead and evaluate which EMDs are relevant and which ones are not.  I can foresee a lot of major websites who have EMDs take a hit.

Dr Pete,What are thoughts on the following scenario:Imagine there is an 3 year old, established website that ranks fairly well for its keywords.Now lets say one of the keywords for this established site ranks in position 20, and I manage to secure an EMD for that keyword, would forwarding the EMD to the established site help SEO in terms of making that specific keyword rank higher?

Dr Pete,

What are thoughts on the following scenario:

Imagine there is an 3 year old, established website that ranks fairly well for its keywords.
Now lets say one of the keywords for this established site ranks in position 20, and I manage to secure an EMD for that keyword, would forwarding the EMD to the established site help SEO in terms of making that specific keyword rank higher?

It really depends. If you buy a brand new EMD with no history and 301-redirect it to your site, that EMD will have no value. Long story short, theres nothing to forward. Once you redirect, the value of the domain is gone, and that brand new domain has no links, inbound anchor text, or history.If you buy an EMD with history and that history is relevant to your new site (and includes rich inbound anchor text from relevant pages), then redirecting it could provide a lot of value. This tactic has been abused in the past, so you have to be a little careful, but buying and redirecting a relevant site can still have value, done well.If you buy an EMD and then decide to use that as your main URL from now on (redirect to the new domain instead of from it), you may get some value from the EMD itself. This is risky, however, because its a full site move and youre losing value from the old domain. As EMDs seem to be declining in influence (not entirely, but gradually over time, IMO), this is something Id think through very carefully.

It really depends. If you buy a brand new EMD with no history and 301-redirect it to your site, that EMD will have no value. Long story short, theres nothing to forward. Once you redirect, the value of the domain is gone, and that brand new domain has no links, inbound anchor text, or history.
If you buy an EMD with history and that history is relevant to your new site (and includes rich inbound anchor text from relevant pages), then redirecting it could provide a lot of value. This tactic has been abused in the past, so you have to be a little careful, but buying and redirecting a relevant site can still have value, done well.
If you buy an EMD and then decide to use that as your main URL from now on (redirect to the new domain instead of from it), you may get some value from the EMD itself. This is risky, however, because its a full site move and youre losing value from the old domain. As EMDs seem to be declining in influence (not entirely, but gradually over time, IMO), this is something Id think through very carefully.

Thank you very much for the very through answer. Now I know what I should do.

Excellent post. Such a clear view of Penguins effect. I do agree though with some of the other posts, its only fair that a good EMD with good, relevant content need not be penalized bc they were lucky enough (or could afford) to capture such a choice domain. There was a time when EMDs were rewarded and not penalized. I hope Google does not get too carried away with their algos...

The last graph shows the Non-com EMD Influence, where it is suggested that a .com tld will perform better than a non-.com one.

However, lets consider local search. In the US, .coms work great. However, lets say youre in Canada, and you have a .ca EMD, all with local, Canadian results. Would the expectation be that the .com equivalent still perform better?

The last graph shows the Non-com EMD Influence, where it is suggested that a .com tld will perform better than a non-.com one.

However, lets consider local search. In the US, .coms work great. However, lets say youre in Canada, and you have a .ca EMD, all with local, Canadian results. Would the expectation be that the .com equivalent still perform better?

We have several .ca EMDs that were performing quite well prior to the beginning September. Unfortunately the sites were down for about a month. When we brought them back up, traffic was merely a fraction of what it used to be.

Great info.. Thanks for clearing this up about EMDs.. I think this is another hit to small business owners...

Not long ago I decided to develop a site about art on my domain Painting-Artist.com. I liked it because it seems to be easy to remember and was connected with a paintings about which I was going to promote there.

The short answer is no - the exact-match domain isnt going to be penalized, as far as we know. Its just not going to count as much as it used to. If that domain choice still makes sense for your site/brand, then keep it. Id diversify your anchor text and try not to abuse the EMD, tactically, but its not inherently bad. Its just not going to magically boost your rankings.

The short answer is no - the exact-match domain isnt going to be penalized, as far as we know. Its just not going to count as much as it used to. If that domain choice still makes sense for your site/brand, then keep it. Id diversify your anchor text and try not to abuse the EMD, tactically, but its not inherently bad. Its just not going to magically boost your rankings.

May it be, that Google began all this because of coming of new gTDL in the nearest future? And the purpose of this was not to allow new sites with domains with keywords, which will be registered soon in these gTDL to compete in easy way with old sites in .com, which domains are not "so nice" as domains in new gTDL will be?

I think the key point here is to remember that EMD/PMD is not the whole story when looking at correlation, as the author rightly highlights. Owners of these domains are likely to have content which will be affected by Googles algorithm changes. I think EMDs or PMDs a still a valuable SEO asset when used in conjunction with good, relevant content. This article strongly supports that fact. Thanks for all your hard work and research!

I think the key point here is to remember that EMD/PMD is not the whole story when looking at correlation, as the author rightly highlights. Owners of these domains are likely to have content which will be affected by Googles algorithm changes. I think EMDs or PMDs a still a valuable SEO asset when used in conjunction with good, relevant content. This article strongly supports that fact. Thanks for all your hard work and research!

Though I obviously dont have the knowledge of the all the research you guys have done, Ive seen a lot of high ranking through EMD, specifically in local searches here in Phoenix, and more specifically in two very big, very competitive industries.Its frustrating, and confusing. I strictly follow all the "best practice" guidelines, yet progress is a slow roll.

Though I obviously dont have the knowledge of the all the research you guys have done, Ive seen a lot of high ranking through EMD, specifically in local searches here in Phoenix, and more specifically in two very big, very competitive industries.

Its frustrating, and confusing. I strictly follow all the "best practice" guidelines, yet progress is a slow roll.

This is good for new entrepreneurs as every one knows that getting an exact match domain is not possible now a days. Domain and Hosting Mafia are working good to sell exact match domains for thousands of dollars, which is not in range of new and young entrepreneurs.

can anybody let me know. if suppose i have pen business, it is obvious I will take a keyword name "PEN" what is my fault if someone has taken www.pen.com. How can you justify it. I dont think then there will be any good keywords remain in this world which do not have a domain with the same.

I wonder ~ "the trend certainly suggests that EMDs are weakening" ~ or does it just show, as a percentage, its getting much harder to find an EMD thats both not spammy and not already taken? And what about all the PMDs that are not just an SEO device and entirely justified by the brand on co-name? Shouldnt they be excluded from these results?

Due to some requests in the comments, Ive add two epilogues and four new graphs:Non-Hyphenated PMD InfluenceHyphenated PMD Influence.Com EMD InfluenceNon-Com EMD InfluenceIll let you draw your own conclusions, but there are some interesting takeaways.

Due to some requests in the comments, Ive add two epilogues and four new graphs:

Non-Hyphenated PMD Influence
Hyphenated PMD Influence
.Com EMD Influence
Non-Com EMD Influence

Ill let you draw your own conclusions, but there are some interesting takeaways.

Id love to see .com/.net/.org vs. OTHER 2nd tier TLDs as well. I think this is an important distinction to make.IMO - .org/.net EMDs are of the generally pretty UNDER valued (or at least for the last 2-3 years they have been). They are credible like a .com, but generally available at about 10% of the price. They make a great place to build out a new site with an advantage of building some non-spammy anchor text if you do it the right way.

Id love to see .com/.net/.org vs. OTHER 2nd tier TLDs as well.  I think this is an important distinction to make.

IMO - .org/.net EMDs are of the generally pretty UNDER valued (or at least for the last 2-3 years they have been).  They are credible like a .com, but generally available at about 10% of the price.  They make a great place to build out a new site with an advantage of building some non-spammy anchor text if you do it the right way.

Thought-provoking post, Dr. Pete.Id be interested to see if there exists any correlation between having an EMD and adhering to general SEO best practices.

Thought-provoking post, Dr. Pete.

Id be interested to see if there exists any correlation between having an EMD and adhering to general SEO best practices.

Great post. My thoughts on this is... Because business owners secured their XY&Z URL years ago and now realising the online marketing is the way forward. Since 2010 maybe the data displays that more none keyword rich / EMDs have been optimised due to the increase in digital marketing. Also the ability to use keywords in URLs following the root.com/buymywidget/smallgreenthingy is just as powerful as a EMD because the whole root has got much more domain auth overall. Does that make sense? I think maybe that EMDs have naturally fallen because of better use of existing url structures and overall domain auth/metrics. You need lots-a-money to buy a good EMD for places like sedoThey sometime get abused unintentionally like for cheapholidays.com on the first panda update. They got hammered because all their anchors were cheap holidays which they have now changed and diversified there anchors now. But they did drop of the 1st page. again Does that make sense?Just a thoughtCheers,@JosephGourvenec - #seojoe

Great post. My thoughts on this is... 

Because business owners secured their XY&Z URL years ago and now realising the online marketing is the way forward. Since 2010 maybe the data displays that more none keyword rich / EMDs have been optimised due to the increase in digital marketing. 

Also the ability to use keywords in URLs following the root.com/buymywidget/smallgreenthingy is just as powerful as a EMD because the whole root has got much more domain auth overall. Does that make sense? 

I think maybe that EMDs have naturally fallen because of better use of existing url structures and overall domain auth/metrics. 

You need lots-a-money to buy a good EMD for places like sedo
They sometime get abused unintentionally like for cheapholidays.com on the first panda update. They got hammered because all their anchors were cheap holidays which they have now changed and diversified there anchors now. But they did drop of the 1st page. again Does that make sense?

Just a thought

Cheers,

@JosephGourvenec - #seojoe

I think its due to expansion of top level domains and the growth of the ranking factors in the algorithm. Many one trick ponies just arent able to do any real optimization. They quit playing video games and got a job. lol. Just playin. Sorta Hahaha :-) Great site! Love the articles when I have time to read them.

I think its due to expansion of top level domains and the growth of the ranking factors in the algorithm. Many one trick ponies just arent able to do any real optimization. They quit playing video games and got a job. lol. Just playin. Sorta Hahaha :-)  Great site! Love the articles when I have time to read them. 

Great information here, thanks for sharing. I have been wondering about this kind of stuff for a while. Very well done Dr. Pete.

I would assume that Google will always be keen to return a branded result for any given search.Ignoring the backlink profile, can anyone tell me how Google could differentiate between a brand name like "Amazon" or a brand name like "cheap flights"?

I would assume that Google will always be keen to return a branded result for any given search.

Ignoring the backlink profile, can anyone tell me how Google could differentiate between a brand name like "Amazon" or a brand name like "cheap flights"? 

Well, I dont think we can ignore the backlink profile. Google is looking for brand signals, including link anchor text and social mentions. If thousands of people are talking about Amazon.com on Twitter, for example, it buoys them up as a legitimate brand. No one is talking about cheap-flights-nova-scotia-to-timbuktu.co. Google is trying to figure out how to take offline information online, and its not an easy task. We all know that "Cars.com" is a big brand, but they have to interpret that with the data they have.

The backlink profile IS the brand. Big brands have strong backlink profiles and social signals because people naturally talk about them and link to them.

@richdanI agree with Dr Pete that you cant ignore the backlink profile in practice.But lets suppose for a minute that you could.Theres always the content ... as a last resort.

@richdan

I agree with Dr Pete that you cant ignore the backlink profile in practice.

But lets suppose for a minute that you could.

Theres always the content ... as a last resort.

Brilliant job Pete!  I loves me some real data :-D

Great post Dr. Pete!! We all know that EMD have reduced their relevance over the years, but I was surprised to see the correlation to ranking is still is strong as it is. As @eyepaq said "Not all exact-match and partial-match domains are created equal." Buying an EMD maybe good if you can find a good one.

Great post Dr. Pete!!  We all know that EMD have reduced their relevance over the years, but I was surprised to see the correlation to ranking is still is strong as it is. 

As @eyepaq said "Not all exact-match and partial-match domains are created equal."   Buying an EMD maybe good if you can find a good one.

Very timely information, weve been getting this question a lot lately. Im currently trying to decide between building out a sub-domain or a separate domain to build content around a specific product offering. All of the content will be unique and informative around the product and we dont plan on any spammy backlinking tactics, but from a straight PMD benefit for ranking, would you say its better to do the separate domain or the subdomain?

Very timely information, weve been getting this question a lot lately. Im currently trying to decide between building out a sub-domain or a separate domain to build content around a specific product offering. All of the content will be unique and informative around the product and we dont plan on any spammy backlinking tactics, but from a straight PMD benefit for ranking, would you say its better to do the separate domain or the subdomain?

If it makes sense (brand name or product name) a separate domain always has better results

Im gonna go out on a limb here and guess that "cthulhu sculpture" is not particularly competitive.

@CMC-SDYes. If you wrap it in quotes as you have done there are 3,850 results suggested by google.co.uk.If you remove the space i.e. to match the domain, there are just 368 results.Its number 2 in google.co.uk today, below another .com.There may be more robust tests on EMD ...I reckon if I put that text on my home page, Id rank number 1 before the weekend.

@CMC-SD

Yes. If you wrap it in quotes as you have done there are 3,850 results suggested by google.co.uk.

If you remove the space i.e. to match the domain, there are just 368 results.

Its number 2 in google.co.uk today, below another .com.

There may be more robust tests on EMD ...

I reckon if I put that text on my home page, Id rank number 1 before the weekend.

Great post! I believe that I tend to agree with everyone that EMDs can be very useful, however at the same time its all about quality. As mentioned above if Im Larrys Widget Store and I buy "CheapWidgets.com" this might not be a good play as Google might see this as clearly an SEO trick and not a quality content trick.

Great post!  I believe that I tend to agree with everyone that EMDs can be very useful, however at the same time its all about quality.  As mentioned above if Im Larrys Widget Store and I buy "CheapWidgets.com" this might not be a good play as Google might see this as clearly an SEO trick and not a quality content trick.

I dont know. This change with brands has impacted this as well. I remember someone posting to Google "which bingo", and you can see the domain dominates the first page.So if you can cleverly get an exact match domain then brand that domain, while doing other SEO stuff, you would probably dominate, too.However, Google probably will not allow such a general term to dominate even if it is a brand. If my brand is Video Games Explosion it would be tough to get videogamesexplosion.com to dominate the first page for "video games". Or would it?What would be interesting to know, is how does Google determine all of that.Has anyone seen any traffic losses caused by this brand change? Because the domain your are competing against, is one of your keywords youre trying to rank for. Just wondering.

I dont know.  This change with brands has impacted this as well.  I remember someone posting to Google "which bingo", and you can see the domain dominates the first page.

So if you can cleverly get an exact match domain then brand that domain, while doing other SEO stuff, you would probably dominate, too.

However, Google probably will not allow such a general term to dominate even if it is a brand.  If my brand is Video Games Explosion it would be tough to get videogamesexplosion.com to dominate the first page for "video games".  Or would it?

What would be interesting to know, is how does Google determine all of that.

Has anyone seen any traffic losses caused by this brand change?  Because the domain your are competing against, is one of your keywords youre trying to rank for.  Just wondering.

I have seen a decline in my own EMDs for a few months now, even though they are highly relevant. One was #1 for 6 years, and is now #5 as of July. Things are changing.

I have seen a decline in my own EMDs for a few months now, even though they are highly relevant. One was #1 for 6 years, and is now #5 as of July. Things are changing.

Great post Pete! I think EMDs play vital role to get top rank as I have seen that for what keyword we are searching the top results are of particular keywords domain. I agree with this also that the ratio or EMD is going down but I still believe yes it works.

Great post Pete! I think EMDs play vital role to get top rank as I have seen that for what keyword we are searching the top results are of particular keywords domain.

I agree with this also that the ratio or EMD is going down but I still believe yes it works.

Hi Pete,Good one.Last year I tested the power of EMD with my experimantal website.The website was on page 1 (Google,Yahoo & Bing) for a competitive keyword (facebook related) in 2 months but afterwards Ive seen a rapid decline on rankings and the site is now dissapperard on search results.I was wondering what is your view on new pecial domain extensions such as .forex? Heard some compaines are bidding to buy this special extension (.forex) and willing to pay millions of pounds.Do you think Google will ever rank these extensions?Mehmet

Hi Pete,

Good one.

Last year I tested the power of EMD with my experimantal website.The website was on page 1 (Google,Yahoo & Bing) for a competitive keyword (facebook related) in 2 months but afterwards Ive seen a rapid decline on rankings and the site is now dissapperard on search results.

I was wondering what is your view on new  pecial domain extensions such as .forex? Heard some compaines are bidding to buy this special extension (.forex) and willing to pay millions of pounds.

Do you think Google will ever rank these extensions?

Mehmet

I honestly think only time will tell on those. Some extensions are going to get spammed, and Google is naturally going to treat them with suspicion. Others may be bought by big brands (and used internally) or get adopted widely, and they may be fine. I suspect that a PMD that uses a new extension will be pretty week. If you register "best-forex-site.forex", youre not going to shoot to the top of the rankings. That doesnt mean that every new TLD is doomed, but I wouldnt rush out in a land grab and spend thousands on domains that could be worthless in three months.

Hey Dr. Pete. I think the deal is that you just didnt put enough hard work into creating MozCast, so the community felt you had to earn your keep here.

Thanks for the detailed info and your effort on this post. Good to know :)

As per my knowledge, only those EMD domains would have or will be hit who have no sense to use it as exact match domain.I think the next phase for Google to hit aggressive EMDs in next Penguin update because it all creates spam like aggressive anchor texting. There are many SEO experts who base on this factor to get early rankings.

As per my knowledge, only those EMD domains would have or will be hit who have no sense to use it as exact match domain.
I think the next phase for Google to hit aggressive EMDs in next Penguin update because it all creates spam like aggressive anchor texting. There are many SEO experts who base on this factor to get early rankings.

Well rounded article, Good EMDs are still the cream of the crop in terms of a CTR advantage and from a branding and repeat business point of view. Ranking boosts for EMDs are real but its not the be all and end all.

Well rounded article, Good EMDs are still the cream of the crop in terms of a CTR advantage and from a branding and repeat business point of view. Ranking boosts for EMDs are real but its not the be all and end all. 

Well explained and truly required study Pete. Now we have something to show to people who insist for having EMDs, that its not always about rankings, focus on Branding as well.

Well explained and truly required study Pete. Now we have something to show to people who insist for having EMDs, that its not always about rankings, focus on Branding as well.

Interesting post Pete.  As owners of several EMDs we too are rethinking our long term strategy.

What you got ;-) , id be more than happy to take ties.com off your hands :) 

I agree EMDs work well on well built ethical sites, spammers will try anything for quick gains and they caught on big time two years back or so on EMDs giving you the results you received. Well built sites will not suffer from an EMD but spammers will.

I agree EMDs work well on well built ethical sites, spammers will try anything for quick gains and they caught on big time two years back or so on EMDs giving you the results you received.

Well built sites will not suffer from an EMD but spammers will.

I have been waiting to see the stats from the past few months on EMD... Thanks for sharing.

Heloo, iam new on seo and i have 1 blog hosted on a serverFew 2 weeks i host my on my server http://www.pwnagetool.usits a blog about iphone factory unlock , or iphone unlockMy page rank on *blogspot is 1, but on the new domain is 0 :(Any solutions?

Heloo, iam new on seo and i have 1 blog hosted on a server

Few 2 weeks i host my on my server

http://www.pwnagetool.us

its a blog about iphone factory unlock , or iphone unlock

My page rank on *blogspot is 1, but on the new domain is 0 :(

Any solutions?

I bought a bunch of domains back in 2009/2010 when I was just learning about SEO, specifically to have these EMDs. Thanks for all the data, is good to know that these EMDs arent as valuable now as they used to be.

i was feeling clunky while reading this.. but yeah somewhere it was informative but somewhere little borring...i think i should read more about this EMD stuff...

i was feeling clunky while reading this.. but yeah somewhere it was informative but somewhere little borring...

i think i should read more about this EMD stuff...

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