Google May Lower Rankings of Keyword Domains

[DotNetWebs]

Could be interesting:

http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/110316-150000

Regards

Dotty

 

[MASSEY]

I wonder whether it will affect words relating to searches in the url as well.

I will be glad if they do devalue them. But the issue in my opinion is, when you search for a business by their name in google you expect their domain to be at the top of the pile. If they devalue the exact match competitors could be outranking rivals a lot easier.

 

[An Oasis]

Can't weight (get it?), far too much emphasis on keyword domains.

 

[coffeekicks]

Interesting post.
I think a move to devalue exact match domains may have already started. Certainly, I have found hyphenated domains harder to push for ranking in the last year than they were previously.

 

[fisicx]

When people discovered that exact match domain names could boost ranking there was this lemming like rush to buy said domains. Google no doubt keep a watchfull eye on things and unsurprisingly have tweaked the algo to reduce the importance of this particular element.

Why is anyone surprised?

 

[stone21]

it sounds good

 

[Spock]

It's about time this happened. However, it will still help as your keyword will be in the anchor text of a link more often than a brand domain.

 

[newsvend]

It's about time this happened. However, it will still help as your keyword will be in the anchor text of a link more often than a brand domain.

That is a very key point that will ensure the popularity of keyword domains for a long time.

 

[awebapart.com]

I like the way Matt Cutts describes it as turning the knob down, if it was a volume knob it is currently set too high at volume 11.

The article is incorrect in assuming that multiple keyword domains have inbound anchor text link strength when urls are used as links. I have conducted SEO experiments (to dispell that SEO myth) which prove that this is only the case for hyphenated domains and one word domains, which means that in most cases the current value of the mainly non-hyphenated multiple keyword domains is an onsite weighting factor rather than an offsite one. A weighting factor which they should easily be able to turn the dial down for in order to have a major affect.

 

Sounds great to me,been a bit fed up for a while seeing great sites beaten by keyword rich domains with very little content or quality.

Earl

 

[thetime22]

He talked about this weeks ago on his blog. You can never turn it down!

Example say you had plumberlondon.com anytime someone backlinks to it the anchortext will be "plumber london", albeit it's the name of the website BUT it's also the name of the keyword they are going after.

Now if your London plumbing business is named pipemania.com then the backlinks it's naturally going to acquire will be "pipe mania"... So unless Google turns down the volume of anchor text I don't see it changing anytime soon.

 

[DotNetWebs]

... So unless Google turns down the volume of anchor text I don't see it changing anytime soon.

I here what you are saying but it would very simple to solve algorithmically.

e.g

If the anchor text matches the domain name then discount or devalue the value of the anchor text.

so <a href='plumberlondon.com'>plumber london</a> would have the same value as <a href='pipemania.com'>pipe mania</a>

And they both would have less value than:

so if <a href='pipemania.com'>plumber london</a>

In other words - only 'turn down the volume' of the anchor text if it matches the domain name.

Regards

Dotty

 

[thetime22]

Here is where Google seems to get confused. How do they differentiate the user searching for the keyword and not the name of the company... Eg if I Google "uk business forums" does Google think i'm looking for this specific forum OR just general business forums in general?

 

[thetime22]

Prime example is if I google "seo london".. the number 1 result is seo-london.com and Google is showing site links for it, which indicates to me that Google thinks i'm searching for that exact company...

 

[Spock]

Also it's a bit of a kick in the teeth if, for example, you have a company started way before the web was even spun, and it was called 'Motorcycle Mania' selling bikes and accessories. Your website is therefore called motorcycle-mania dot com. Now you get a slight penalty when people search for motorcycle?

 

[DotNetWebs]

Also it's a bit of a kick in the teeth if, for example, you have a company started way before the web was even spun, and it was called 'Motorcycle Mania' selling bikes and accessories. Your website is therefore called motorcycle-mania dot com. Now you get a slight penalty when people search for motorcycle?

Obviously I have know idea how Google thinks but if it was my algo I wouldn't devalue that example where only 50% of the domain is a valued keyword.

...but motorcycle-dealer-london would be a different story.

Regards

Dotty

 

[fisicx]

Prime example is if I google "seo london".. the number 1 result is seo-london.com and Google is showing site links for it, which indicates to me that Google thinks i'm searching for that exact company...

If this is case why does elephant.co.uk do better than car-insurance.co.uk?

Incidentally the site in your example is 'Sponsors for Educational Opportunity (SEO) London' which wouldn't be much use to me if I wanted SEO services. The top SEO listing I get is breezemedia - not one matching keyword in that domain name .

As suggested tweaking the algo is simple thing. All they need to do is go to the dial marked 'domain name' and wind it down a bit so that is has less weight than the other 200+ ranking signals.

 

[Spock]

fancy rabbits? :|

 

[thetime22]

If this is case why does elephant.co.uk do better than car-insurance.co.uk?

Incidentally the site in your example is 'Sponsors for Educational Opportunity (SEO) London' which wouldn't be much use to me if I wanted SEO services. The top SEO listing I get is breezemedia - not one matching keyword in that domain name .

As suggested tweaking the algo is simple thing. All they need to do is go to the dial marked 'domain name' and wind it down a bit so that is has less weight than the other 200+ ranking signals.

You thought I meant in every case a keyword rich domain will outrank everything else? I wasn't saying that, you sure as hell have to work harder not having the keywords in the domain!. Thank you for finding an example of a site ranking that doesn't have the keywords in the domain.

 

[fisicx]

you sure as hell have to work harder not having the keywords in the domain!

No you don't. Look at the top results for many competitive keywords, very few have the keywords in their domain name.

However this is a digression. You said:

He talked about this weeks ago on his blog. You can never turn it down!"... So unless Google turns down the volume of anchor text I don't see it changing anytime soon.

Google can easily change the importance of the domain name ranking element in the same way they can adjust the importance of any ranking signal. It's all explained in the original patent.

 

[newsvend]

As suggested tweaking the algo is simple thing. All they need to do is go to the dial marked 'domain name' and wind it down a bit so that is has less weight than the other 200+ ranking signals.

But as mentioned above, slightly more needs to be done. <a href='http://www.pimlico plumbers.com'>pimlico plumbers</a> ranks not only because of its domain name per se, but also because of the large number of sites that will usually link to the site using the words contained in the domain.

So for this to work, there also has to be a dampening of the value of the link juice passing from those links where the anchor text matches the domain name.

 

[thetime22]

No you don't. Look at the top results for many competitive keywords, very few have the keywords in their domain name.

However this is a digression. You said:

Google can easily change the importance of the domain name ranking element in the same way they can adjust the importance of any ranking signal. It's all explained in the original patent.

Stick to web design mate!

 

[thetime22]

No you don't. Look at the top results for many competitive keywords, very few have the keywords in their domain name.

So you just said having the keywords in the domain has no advantage?

 

[fisicx]

So you just said having the keywords in the domain has no advantage?

Of course not, I've had my own experience of an exact match domain name.

All I'm suggesting it that the importance of keywords in the domain name (as a ranking signal) has been reduced.

This is not so say that the usefulness for anchor text has been affected only the use of the domain name as a ranking signal.

 

[andygambles]

This good be a very good update. I am also a bit tired of seeing competitors register keyword domains and just slam up doorway pages back to their website.

Just as I am getting tired of seeing competitors register many twitter accounts all with the same tweets and links and hash tags.

 

[micheellereviews8]

Sounds great to me,been a bit fed up for a while seeing great sites beaten by keyword rich domains with very little content or quality.

Earl

you are right, This one is informative to read. Thanks sharing this.

 

[MASSEY]

But as mentioned above, slightly more needs to be done. <a href='http://www.pimlico plumbers.com'>pimlico plumbers</a> ranks not only because of its domain name per se, but also because of the large number of sites that will usually link to the site using the words contained in the domain.

So for this to work, there also has to be a dampening of the value of the link juice passing from those links where the anchor text matches the domain name.

Pimlico rank well because they buy backlinks - well that was it originally. But the ****** that runs the company gets a lot of press and so links come from newspaper sites and the seo pretty much does it's self now for london terms.

 

Pimlico rank well because they buy backlinks - well that was it originally. But the ****** that runs the company gets a lot of press and so links come from newspaper sites and the seo pretty much does it's self now for london terms.

I take it you mean below the google bleeding places listings.:|

Earl

 

[MASSEY]

I take it you mean below the google bleeding places listings.:|

Earl

It's merged the results now for that search. Before they used to be number one organic for a lot.

 

[garyk]

Sounds great to me,been a bit fed up for a while seeing great sites beaten by keyword rich domains with very little content or quality.

Earl

Agreed probably because every single guide out there on making money on the internet *always* preaches this as the first step, get an exact match keyword domain if available.

Gary

 

[thetime22]

I take it you mean below the google bleeding places listings.:|

Earl

Pimlico only do Adwords, I use to work there. That could of changed in the last year mind you.

 

[Alby10]

It should only effect those sites that purchase a keyword rich domain and put very little or scraped content on it. It has probably been seen as a potential marker for Google to search out crappy sites. As long as you have plenty of good quality content on your site, which relates to the keyword your looking for, then the domain element should not be affected.

 

[Mystro]

If this is case why does elephant.co.uk do better than car-insurance.co.uk?

Incidentally the site in your example is 'Sponsors for Educational Opportunity (SEO) London' which wouldn't be much use to me if I wanted SEO services. The top SEO listing I get is breezemedia - not one matching keyword in that domain name .

As suggested tweaking the algo is simple thing. All they need to do is go to the dial marked 'domain name' and wind it down a bit so that is has less weight than the other 200+ ranking signals.

The only thing i would say on this is that yes a non keyword domain ranking in a top position tends to be very SEO efficient, and if thats the case link power will out perform keyword rich domains and anything that wants to catch them up tends to have to do twice as much work.

Lets face it there are only so many variants of any keyword, and why should you be boosted because you were lucky enough to be in the front of the queue,

Imagine tesco being called the grocery store just to make it popular, not quite got the same ring to it.

rankings should be on merits and things you can control like content, usability etc

I used to work for the telecoms industry and i reserved all the useful phone numbers that become available and assigned them to friend, now you try and get a 456789 phone number, now thats what the registrars are doing and selling them at a premium.

This will stop those leeches too.

Paul