Exact Match Domains - Who is feeling the pain?

[webgeek]

My blog is oldwelshguy.co.uk I have been #1 for google expert for years, this weekend I dropped to #3 and a site now at #1 came from nowhere. oldwelshguy is a brand, it is not an EMD. This update was more than what they are letting on. Don't have time to dig at the moment, and it is too early, but there is more to this update than just EMD.

We've seen a handful of anomalies as well, though you figure that there will be blog posts roll off the homepage, sites down the line (tier 2/tier 3) which had algo impacts and therefore rippled.

However, you could be entirely right about that mysterious "other" in the update. Coulda been the September 100 or whatever it's called this month, with tons of tidbits strewn together, and just not officially reported.

 

[Faevilangel]

My blog is oldwelshguy.co.uk I have been #1 for google expert for years, this weekend I dropped to #3 and a site now at #1 came from nowhere. oldwelshguy is a brand, it is not an EMD. This update was more than what they are letting on. Don't have time to dig at the moment, and it is too early, but there is more to this update than just EMD.

and been jumped to #2 by an EMD

 

[OldWelshGuy]

and been jumped to #2 by an EMD

yep, exactly, which is why I say that what we are seeing isn't 100% transparent

It doesn't worry me at all, but I am curious as quite a few people have reported sites coming in from nowhere.

 

[Faevilangel]

This might have something to do with this, but I used to be page 1 for my local keywords but now sit on page 3, most of page 1 is full of emd's and kid's.

They don't seem to have been affected yet but I am going to get an SEO to get my spot back

Is it still worth buying emd's (I have been offered one for a local town) or shall I just keep with my optimised page for that town?

 

[OldWelshGuy]

Ah now here is the thing, The algorithm has always looked at exact match urls, so having 'the-best-servicetype-in-mytown.html is an EMD and is likely to fall foul IMO.

 

[Faevilangel]

Ah good, cos the owner wanted £200 for the keyword

It's not something I have ever wanted to do (emd's) but everyone else is getting good results so it's crossed my mind to change my site to an emd.

I have sent you an email about something as well James

 

[funkykitsch]

site marketing
seo glasgow
reputation management services

seo glasgow - but that where you are based so understandable really with that - the other two one i couldn't find and the other your on page 2 so your nowhere effectively apart from SEO glasgow which IS a good term to be near top form...and i agree with you that your business is about word of mouth referral - no right minded person is going to order from a spammer..but they would order from someone who is top of the search engines for "search engine marketing", "seo" etc. which i doubt you will be...but hey if your making money - then hats off to you...nobody is going to argue with companuies making money.

 

[webgeek]

seo glasgow - but that where you are based so understandable really with that - the other two one i couldn't find and the other your on page 2 so your nowhere effectively apart from SEO glasgow which IS a good term to be near top form...and i agree with you that your business is about word of mouth referral - no right minded person is going to order from a spammer..but they would order from someone who is top of the search engines for "search engine marketing", "seo" etc. which i doubt you will be...but hey if your making money - then hats off to you...nobody is going to argue with companuies making money.

Funny, in my browser and rank checkers we're:
site marketing - #2
reputation management services - #3

Yes, I could invest my time in building links to rank for terms where few people will buy, or building results and relationships where success = referrals = growth.

No idea why you're lashing out at me for starting this thread, but perhaps that sock could be put to better use...

Despite it's limitation, the ignore feature does get used from time to time

 

[funkykitsch]

Funny, in my browser and rank checkers we're:
site marketing - #2
reputation management services - #3

Yes, I could invest my time in building links to rank for terms where few people will buy, or building results and relationships where success = referrals = growth.

No idea why you're lashing out at me for starting this thread, but perhaps that sock could be put to better use...

Despite it's limitation, the ignore feature does get used from time to time

i'm not lashing out at you!
i was looking at google.com rather than google.co.uk - hence the difference but you are 2/3 as you say...listen i agree with you - well done - hats off to you for making a go of it! if you're making money then bully for you...we're glad someone is.

 

[Ali-v-8]

I spent some time looking at changes in PPI listings, Payday loans, compensation .... etc. I am inclined to agree with this.

i guess its a way to get rid of micro sites linking together using EDMs?
IMO this has been one of the biggest spam techniques in SEO...

Google is getting rid of EDM's that are being used to rank other websites, IMO if its your website and you are not using it to munipulate a branded website then your safe.

 

[Brochan]

Your logic is completely flawed. It's not even comparable to a company called 'Coventry Plumber'

I would have no problems at all with doing bsuness with a coventryplumber website. That's the way the net has developed and people know this.

Actually to me as an outsider clubnetsearchmarketing sounds much more spammy so there you go!

 

[paretowasright]

I have just had my weekly market samurai rank tracker update through and there is some quite wild fluctuations in the rankings this week which must be related to the algo updates. There is only one domain with exact match which has only moved down 1 place BUT some othjer well established sites with quality back links have suffered a lot more. I can see some logic to the ranking changes based around the big boys going up the rankings (this example is ecommerce where we were out ranking amazon and some other high st names). It will be interesting to see what happens when the dust settles but will be interested to hear of other site owners experiences.

 

[JEREMY HAWKE]

I have just noticed that some of our competitors with exact domain matches have gone from topish to bottom of page 1 in the organic rankings

The best thing since sliced bread with grilled mushrooms !!!!!!!

Ha ha

I might treat myself to a frothy coffee later ha ha

Happy days

 

[RadiusBPO]

I guess Acorn Domains is going to see a big hit. Surely a decent premium domain will now have its price slashed?

I hope so. They are still golden IMO

 

[max99]

I guess Acorn Domains is going to see a big hit. Surely a decent premium domain will now have its price slashed?

I'm sure they'll take a slight hit but to be honest a decent premium domain name still is an incredible asset to have.

It instantly gives users a feeling of trust and authority of the site, one that does what it says on the tin. CTR on EMD/Premium domains still is higher and they are more memorable.

 

[zigojacko]

I guess Acorn Domains is going to see a big hit. Surely a decent premium domain will now have its price slashed?

I doubt it because idiots will still buy them for £hundreds - just like idiots are still buying article spinning, directory submissions, social bookmarking packages, search engine submissions and "high PR backlinks" 5-10 years after they became useless.

probably because the design is old hat now..but if you read the content - it actually describes what you get etc.. etc..it isn't a scraped site. The content is what people would want if they wanted a pig farming business plan - a scraped site isn't...of course you could take it further and give your product away!

It's not just about the content though. Weighted with the other 100+ other factors and it's overall relevancy/usefulness score will be lesser due to other elements letting it down.

yep, exactly, which is why I say that what we are seeing isn't 100% transparent

It doesn't worry me at all, but I am curious as quite a few people have reported sites coming in from nowhere.

It's also worth noting that it is now expected and reported for search result listings to jiggle about all over the place before settling to throw people off on purpose. Give it a few weeks, and they may settle back into place with any low quality EMD's nowhere to be seen again. We'll see

It's not something I have ever wanted to do (emd's) but everyone else is getting good results so it's crossed my mind to change my site to an emd.

I wouldn't take the risk personally, I don't expect it is too long at all for none of them (such as James' example) to be particularly effective at all. IMO

I spent some time looking at changes in PPI listings, Payday loans, compensation .... etc. I am inclined to agree with this.



Google is getting rid of EDM's that are being used to rank other websites, IMO if its your website and you are not using it to munipulate a branded website then your safe.

Makes sense to me and is what should be done, again IMO

 

[webgeek]

I doubt it because idiots will still buy them for £hundreds - just like idiots are still buying article spinning, directory submissions, social bookmarking packages, search engine submissions and "high PR backlinks" 5-10 years after they became useless.

And I was so hoping to agree with you, nodding all the way until you over-stepped with the bit about high PR backlinks.

Sorry, but authority (whether it's Domain Authority, Page Authority, Page Rank, etc) is what separates the low value links and properties from those with merit.

I'll take niche relevant, high PR backlinks as a fast ticket to the top of the SERP's, over any other type of link, all day long.

 

[zigojacko]

And I was so hoping to agree with you, nodding all the way until you over-stepped with the bit about high PR backlinks.

Sorry, but authority (whether it's Domain Authority, Page Authority, Page Rank, etc) is what separates the low value links and properties from those with merit.

I'll take niche relevant, high PR backlinks as a fast ticket to the top of the SERP's, over any other type of link, all day long.

I meant those high PR packages that are sold with the same 3000 directory submissions, 500 bookmarks and 2000 blog comment type packages. These are typically hijacked high PR pages or artificially created PR purely for selling spammy links on. I was stereotyping it all just to try and get the point across.

I agree that a high PR link on an authoritative and relevant domain would be worth its weight in gold.

 

[traveler29]

had an emd of mine slapped.

went from being #12 for a nice finance keyword to out of top 100.

site was 100% unique w 100+ pages of content.

 

[RadiusBPO]

What is that smell?? Can anyone else smell it???

What exactly do you sell Ziga because from what I've seen it's all stinky

 

[Brochan]

This story has a bit to go yet.

 

[webgeek]

Yeah, that stereotyping will get ya in trouble every time

I'll take a raincheck on those 50,000 directory submits, 100,000 blog comments, and 1,000,000 forum profiles...

Just give me the high pr blog guest posts and a hazelnut latte please!

 

[OldWelshGuy]

Yeah, that stereotyping will get ya in trouble every time

I'll take a raincheck on those 50,000 directory submits, 100,000 blog comments, and 1,000,000 forum profiles...

Just give me the high pr blog guest posts and a hazelnut latte please!

Ewe! don't you mean a double vanilla white mocha

 

[max99]

I doubt it because idiots will still buy them for £hundreds -

I must be one of those idiots then.... I recently bought SpaWeekends.co.uk (and the singular to protect brand) , its an EMD but not only is it that it's incredibly brandable.

My plans are to build a site dedicated to weekend spa packages, now I could have bought a free to reg name such as weekendspacompany, but then i'd have spend quite lot branding it, making it memorable etc. The domain I own says exactly what it does.

Google taking weight from it doesn't mean its worthless, in fact I see it as not changing in value at all really, as I would never chuck up a few thin pages on it in first place as it deserves a real site that will give users what they want and return/share the site!

 

[Brochan]

The domain I own says exactly what it does.

You are of course correct and this is true of many domains. Some of these have survived the cut others have been decimated. Some EMDs that should still be ranking have gone and other worthless sites are still up there. That's the way of Google. Collateral damage is no concern to them.

 

[funkykitsch]

What is that smell?? Can anyone else smell it???

What exactly do you sell Ziga because from what I've seen it's all stinky

not sure what he sells but the women like him! check out the likes on his home page

 

[SillyJokes]

Getting a bit fed up of being told Google is free and you shouldn't expect to get something as valuable as that for nothing.

There would be no Google if all us little indy sites hadn't spent uncountable hours producing the content they have been serving up to their customers all this time, and since before they even existed. They didn't pay us for this quality content.

I've been selling online since 1999. My site has continued to provide a top quality service which our hundreds of thousands of customers have been happy with. It pains me to see sites ranking above mine which do not service the customer to the same standards. Yes, Argos, I'm talking about you with your dismal range and extortionate prices.

In fact customers will begin to loose out, they already are. And all the time they think Google is great because they can't see what they are missing.

 

[dmck252]

Hello, Our 7 year old site that has been in the top 3 of google for all our search terms for many years and has been hit. I am looking for some advice on what problems our site has and the best way of taking things forward. I don't post on here often so don't really want to start a thread about it but would appreciate advice. Am I able to post a link to the site?

Would be grateful of any help?

Thanks
David

 

[Faevilangel]

You can put your website in your "homepage" box, in your profile editor (here)

 

[dmck252]

Thank you. I have now added the site URL to my profile. If anyone has time to take a quick look at the site it would be really appreciated.


Thankyou.

 

[fisicx]

Getting a bit fed up of being told Google is free and you shouldn't expect to get something as valuable as that for nothing.

But things change. It has never cared about your business, it has only cared about providing the results that people want. If google ignored mamon it would lose market share. So it sticks with the big brands because that's what it's users want. In exactly the say way they go to Tesco for their meat rather than the local butcher.

I don't like it either but that's the commercial reality.

 

[funkykitsch]

I doubt it because idiots will still buy them for £hundreds - just like idiots are still buying article spinning,

And I was so hoping to agree with you, nodding all the way until you over-stepped with the bit about high PR backlinks.

Sorry, but authority (whether it's Domain Authority, Page Authority, Page Rank, etc) is what separates the low value links and properties from those with merit.

I'll take niche relevant, high PR backlinks as a fast ticket to the top of the SERP's, over any other type of link, all day long.

i've noticed a lot of spun articles in the top 10 now...even some of my own that i wrote years ago and forgotten about...it's just ridiculous.

 

[SillyJokes]

But things change. It has never cared about your business, it has only cared about providing the results that people want. If google ignored mamon it would lose market share. So it sticks with the big brands because that's what it's users want. In exactly the say way they go to Tesco for their meat rather than the local butcher.

I don't like it either but that's the commercial reality.

Can't totally agree about supermarkets as Tesco uses it's physical location to draw customers away from the high street as well as it's brand and cheap prices.

On the internet you should only be a click away from your competitors.

If you want something specialist the supermarkets may try and get in on the niche but inevitably only offer a limited range of poorer quality items.

 

[funkykitsch]

But things change. It has never cared about your business, it has only cared about providing the results that people want.

i don't think google is giving good resuults - lets go back to my "pig farming business plan" analogy on google.com...i've gone through the top 10 links...

and only:
3rd - really thin content.
4th: http://www.ehow.com/how_6397912_open-pig-farming-business.html
7th: http://www.squidoo.com/pig-farming-business-plan
8th: http://www.squidoo.com/howtoraisepigs
10th: https://www.alliance-leicestercommercialbank.co.uk/bizguides/full/pig/index.asp
(that 10th one is scraping the barrel)
then compare say to bing.com

i would say position 1,3,4,5,8 (6 and 9 are affiliates),(2,7 bit thin content)

well it's pretty clear both search engines don't do particualrly well - but at least bing has 2 sites in the top 3 which are something you might be interested...where googles top spot is a joke.

 

[fisicx]

On the internet you should only be a click away from your competitors.

But you are. It's just that you have to scroll down to find the competition.

People don't. They choose the easy option and go to argos because it's a brand they trust. All Google is doing is serving up the results people want.

If they wanted niche sites or local businesses then they wouldn't be flocking to Aldi or Lidl. They would go to the cafe not Mcdonalds. They would but toys from an independent not toysRus.

I agree it's pants. But Google isn't interested. If you go down the pan it doesn't affect their share price.

As to the pig farming thing - you are no doubt aggrieved because your site has dropped of the top spot. But have you check to see where it ranks if you were searching in America (your target)? In any case that's just one search out of the millions made every day and it is a very low volume niche so google isn't going to spend a lot of computing power refining it's also for those keywords.

 

[webgeek]

Yes, Google are the Argos of information.

They take you away from your mom and pop business and pass off what they can make a profit by passing off. Everything is there, a lot of it is inferior tat, but then again a lot of it is decent stuff at cut-throat discounted pricing.

Are we better off having small towns city centre's boarded up and people streaming to the outskirts for Argos? Are we better getting whatever Google deems we should get, so long as it drives up their Adwords revenue?

There's so many similiarities, it's scary.

 

[allsquare]

So what does one do when launching a new business these days? :|

Say we are going to sell Frogspawn.

Do we call ourselves;

1) Buy Frogspawn with www.buyfrogspawn.co.uk
2) A Widget & Sons with www.buyfrogspawn.co.uk
3) A Widget & Sons with www.awidgetandsons.co.uk

 

[Jolt.co.uk]

From what I've seen on the EMDs that I have, good quality thick content is imperative.

The only EMD I've had hit was an affiliate style site... and we know what Google thinks to affiliates of late.

 

[fisicx]

So what does one do when launching a new business these days? :|

Say we are going to sell Frogspawn.

Buy the business name as your domain

That way if you decide to sell pond weed as well you don't have to faff about with a new domain/website.

Or later on when you move away from the whole frogspawn thing and start breeding frogs you can still use the same domain name.

 

[Chunkford]

As I thought the EMD algo was realised at the same time as a panda update so all the results coming in are obscured by that.

IMO there isn't much to worry about. EMD's still work as long as you have the premise that you're building a brand around it. Because at the end of the day anything can become a brand if you do it right.