Exact Match Domain SEO

Many website platforms empower users to create as many domains as they wish. A small to medium business can create specialized landing pages, seasonal microsites or a completely separate brand website. However something that they should not do – is try to implement an “exact match domain”.

What is an Exact Match domain?

“An exact-match domain is a domain name that exactly matches the searched keyword phrase of a user, and contains no dashes. For example, if you search Google for the keyword phrase “diapers,” then Diapers.com would be the exact-match domain name.”

-domainsherpa.com

For example let’s say Jim owns socceraccessories.com and he heard from his friend that he should buy more domains with that name like the following:

qualitysocceraccessories.com
adidassocceraccessories.com
socceraccesories-etc.com
cheapsocceraccessories.com

Because a domain name is one of the strongest individual signals you can send in the SEO world this makes a lot of sense. Why not multiply your organic traffic by 5x by squatting on these relatively cheap keyword domains?

Well as it stands – you can lose a lot! The time and costs of building, maintaining, and updating a website properly are considerable. It is very difficult for a small business owner to properly furnish 5 websites all selling the same thing, furthermore Google has been looking out for this behavior since 2012.

Minor weather report: small upcoming Google algo change will reduce low-quality “exact-match” domains in search results.

— Matt Cutts (@mattcutts) September 28, 2012

In case you are unfamiliar, that is Matt Cutts – the chief engineer of Google’s webspam team. He is speaking to how EMD’s that have thin content will be penalized on search engine result pages. This particular algorithm change was implemented way back in 2012!

Some other stats have been provided from domainsherpa.com.

The above chart shows a 24 hour cycle in which Google’s percentage of top ten ranked EMD sites dropped from a 3.6% to a 3.2% representation. That 10% drop represents thousands of business owners suffering greatly from investing in the wrong SEO tactics.

Some of the expenses behind an EMD…

Domain Name
$10 – $10,000 depending on the domain this can be pricey!

Hosting
Typically low end shared hosting can be purchased For around $5 a month with bulk discounts.

Dev Time
If you have any special technology requests – this can range from $40 an hour and up. (unless you found a reliable overseas vendor).

Web Designer
If you are a small business – there is a good chance you are doing this one on your own! However a common rate for freelance web design is $60 an hour.

To Persistent EMD Users

If your business began using EMD’s before Google began penalizing them you need to protect your investment. You should continue to maintain and optimize those properties. Some best practices from Moz.com are as follows:

Always be willing to spend 10-15% of your overall budget on the BEST domain name you can get. It will make a big difference in both the short and long run. Dive into the aftermarket, and send some emails.
Skip the second level TLD’s – .mobi / .travel / .info isn’t worth it.
No more than one dash in your domain (better to just skip dash domains altogether)
3-4 words max for .com EMD’s
2-3 words max for .net/.org EMD’s
Best to build a Brand site on a keyword domain so you get both brand mentions and generic intent keywords (see Toys.com owned by ToysRus.com and associates)
Geo-local EMD’s are great to own, and offer lower barriers to entry
You’re going to have to focus some efforts on “de-optimization”

Can you make an EMD without penalization? Yes. Should a business that is trying to drive their SEO efforts move forward with this tactic? In my opinion – no. With the Panda algorithm receiving 12 to 14 updates a year, it seems that using an EMD is inviting disaster down the road. Instead – investing in consistent content creation and quality information on your website would be a better use of your time.
Standing on the Shoulders of Giants

Your SEO efforts should establish a permanent benefit to your business, by working to increase your organic search traffic temporarily you do yourself a disservice. Always think ahead when dealing with your web presence and invest strategically so that over time you develop a long tail of content and optimization that pushes your qualified, relevant content to the top of the charts.

If you would like to learn more about SEO, web analytics, or user experience as it regards to your website and Truvisibility you can learn more at http://www.truvisibility.com/en/blog. If you are interested in trying Truvisibility out today simply go to truvisibility.com and press the “Get Started” button, it is free and easy.

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