EMD or Not?

[Aiden Roberts]

Hi All

I maybe misinterpreting what I am reading around the internet so clarification or opinion would be helpful:

Exact match domains are dying or dead and fast falling out of favour with G and others?

If this is the case then to my uneducated mind it will all be about branding and big sites in the future if it isn't already. When talking about EMD I am not talking about thin minisites to navigate around parking as IMHO they deserve no kudos anyway rather I am talking about tight niches and authoritative content and value on an EMD.

Formulating a plan for 2012 I am now unsure which is better a) interlinked and related niche emd's or b) one big branded site around the broader niche?

Your thoughts are very welcome!

Aiden

 

[murph]

I think EMD is still hot, but age comes into play to prevent recent regged EMD dominating serps with thin sites.

 

[Aiden Roberts]

Thanks murph

I tend to agree, too my mind an EMD that is heavy on useful relevant content in a specific niche should do well in the search results and age will make this better, the general opinion though seems to be leaning towards G feathering their nest with paid results and big brand offerings.

What concerns me is that if the latter is the case newbies will find it difficult to compete as we already know the distinct lack of quality EMD's available and that coupled with little or no budget for brand building makes business so much harder. I fully accept that this is the way of the world and that if it was easy everyone would be doing it, one part of me thinks to succeed learn, research and apply another part of me thinks will all that effort be in vain?

I guess the only way to find out is try!

Regards

Aiden

 

[murph]

Plus the bonus: users seeing a domain match their search term must have an +ve impact on CTR from SERPS

 

[accelerator]

Google might have dialled down the instant win for EMD years ago, but I still see a good advantage on Yahoo and Bing. If you are only using SEO techniques to promote your domains then the EMD still makes sense to me, and some of them have good brandability too.

Rgds

 

[springer]

Long-term, a branded domain is a must (doesn't mean the brand cannot also be the exact match eg underwear.co.uk).

Rae Hoffman has some good posts about branding: http://www.sugarrae.com/affiliate-marketing/examples-affiliate-branding/

Although a book about Adsense, this "master course" has some convincing arguments for creating a big authority site around a broad niche:

• Google Rewards Bigger Sites With Well-Themed Content
• Authority Site Pages Do Not Need To Rank For 1 Main Keyword To Earn Income
• With Authority Sites, It’s MUCH Easier To Rank New “Inner” Article Pages
• It Is Far Less Work To Focus On One Bigger Site At A Time
• Authority Sites Only Get Stronger With Each Google Algorithm Change
• Highly Competitive Niches Can Be Entered With Authority Sites

Going forward, I shall be going for option B: one big branded site around the broader niche.

 

[Aiden Roberts]

Google might have dialled down the instant win for EMD years ago, but I still see a good advantage on Yahoo and Bing. If you are only using SEO techniques to promote your domains then the EMD still makes sense to me, and some of them have good brandability too.

Rgds

I find that interesting "only using SEO techniques" I am assuming you mean SEO for search engines against using social media for promotion? That is a discussion in itself that recently I have seen a few comments stating they will concentrate on the latter and ignore G and I suppose others.

Cheers

Aiden

 

[Aiden Roberts]

Long-term, a branded domain is a must (doesn't mean the brand cannot also be the exact match eg underwear.co.uk).

Rae Hoffman has some good posts about branding: http://www.sugarrae.com/affiliate-marketing/examples-affiliate-branding/

Although a book about Adsense, this "master course" has some convincing arguments for creating a big authority site around a broad niche:

• Google Rewards Bigger Sites With Well-Themed Content
• Authority Site Pages Do Not Need To Rank For 1 Main Keyword To Earn Income
• With Authority Sites, It’s MUCH Easier To Rank New “Inner” Article Pages
• It Is Far Less Work To Focus On One Bigger Site At A Time
• Authority Sites Only Get Stronger With Each Google Algorithm Change
• Highly Competitive Niches Can Be Entered With Authority Sites

Going forward, I shall be going for option B: one big branded site around the broader niche.

Very useful thank you.

Aiden

 

[Silverz]

Hi Aiden,

I personally feel exact match domains, are still very important, I have been reading through google help forums daily, and continually see so many people complaining that their site isn't ranking for keywords they have been investing (heavily) in, are being taken over by EMD's of poor quality, and from some of them that I have seen, they are indeed quite poor, which must be frustrating for those who are investing so much (one example £350k a year).

In one of the examples, there was no other reason the site of poor quality was ranking much higher, besides that. Whether this will change over time is anybody's guess.

 

[Aiden Roberts]

Hi Aiden,

I personally feel exact match domains, are still very important, I have been reading through google help forums daily, and continually see so many people complaining that their site isn't ranking for keywords they have been investing (heavily) in, are being taken over by EMD's of poor quality, and from some of them that I have seen, they are indeed quite poor, which must be frustrating for those who are investing so much (one example £350k a year).

In one of the examples, there was no other reason the site of poor quality was ranking much higher, besides that. Whether this will change over time is anybody's guess.

Thanks Silverz

You have raised some interesting points, I wonder if these "poor sites" have done it through backlinks rather than content? The EMD still seems to carry some weight but I wonder how long that will be the case or maybe it won't change at all!

You have just reminded me of the one and only time I visited G forums; specifically Adsense forum, couldn't get a straight answer from anyone and it would seem no one else could either

Regards

Aiden

 

[Silverz]

You're absolutely spot on about getting a straight answer (or any answer at all) from those forums, in fact I would go as far as to say they go out of their way to respond with such cryptic messages I wonder if they know the answers at all and are just trying to raise their google 'level', all the while answering in a way that won't make them look like they don't know what they're doing (since no real answer is ever given) lol. Can be an interesting read though sometimes

 

[Aiden Roberts]

You're absolutely spot on about getting a straight answer (or any answer at all) from those forums, in fact I would go as far as to say they go out of their way to respond with such cryptic messages I wonder if they know the answers at all and are just trying to raise their google 'level', all the while answering in a way that won't make them look like they don't know what they're doing (since no real answer is ever given) lol. Can be an interesting read though sometimes

Lol- I wonder if anyone has had a question answered? I seem to remember there was a hierarchy were certain members had some kind of god given right to speak with G directly whilst everyone else had to try and figure out the help pages which didn't help at all.

We are probably being unfair

Aiden

 

[retired_member34]

Not strictly the same subject, but related Five Reasons Domains Are Getting Less Important

 

[Aiden Roberts]

Not strictly the same subject, but related Five Reasons Domains Are Getting Less Important

Thanks GeoMal

I would say it is very relevant as many of us are using alternative devices, it is also frightening how much trust people put in G it's a business that most people are unable to live without; that's clever!

Regards

Aiden

 

[lethal0r]

I think EMD is still hot, but age comes into play to prevent recent regged EMD dominating serps with thin sites.

Google might have dialled down the instant win for EMD years ago, but I still see a good advantage on Yahoo and Bing. If you are only using SEO techniques to promote your domains then the EMD still makes sense to me, and some of them have good brandability too.

Rgds

its taken until this month for 3 exact match domains I bought back in july to get onto page 1 google. a year or two ago they would have taken just a few weeks to get there.

that's with about 20 or so hours of linkbuilding for each domain.

 

[retired_member21]

its taken until this month for 3 exact match domains I bought back in july to get onto page 1 google. a year or two ago they would have taken just a few weeks to get there.

that's with about 20 or so hours of linkbuilding for each domain.

Are they high volume exacts?

Just wondering what kind of competition you have for that

 

[lethal0r]

Are they high volume exacts?

Just wondering what kind of competition you have for that

between 600 and 3000 exact match monthly. i'd be surprised if I got any of them into the top 3 positions but as its the finance sector they are still worth the effort.

theres some big sites on page 1 but not much exact match competition.

 

[MASSEY]

its taken until this month for 3 exact match domains I bought back in july to get onto page 1 google. a year or two ago they would have taken just a few weeks to get there.

that's with about 20 or so hours of linkbuilding for each domain.

If it's the sites in your sig then no wonder. Thin on content and hardly semantic.

Exact match domains have loads of power, always have, and still have.

 

[lethal0r]

a brief check would tell you its not those, as 2 of them are already in the top 3.

 

[Aiden Roberts]

So in conclusion:

EMD still have some value but one big site will be easier to control and will win out in the long term!