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GreyWing
28-09-12, 11:33 PM
http://searchengineland.com/low-quality-exact-match-domains-are-googles-next-target-134889

I see doom sayers on acorn think it is a bad thing for exact match domains?

The princple still remains no matter how much people want to believe it, Google can not get rid of exact match domains without losing their own customers. If they could, don't these people think that Google would have been charging for it already?

I personally think this article relates to things like people sticking words on the end of EMD, such as Greywingdomains.co.uk and trying to rank for "Greywing", not Exact match domains with the emphasis being on the "Exact" part.

atlas
29-09-12, 01:55 AM
Edit: I hadn't seen your post when I made this Graeme and I've merged the two threads.

I think that the "EMD bonus" in the SERPs has been declining for a while, but looks like Google is attacking them head first now. From Search Engine Land this just came out:

http://searchengineland.com/low-quality-exact-match-domains-are-googles-next-target-134889


The head of Google web spam fighting team Matt Cutts announced on Twitter that Google will be rolling out a “small” algorithm change that will “reduce low-quality ‘exact-match’ domains” from showing up so highly in the search results.

It's not really clear to me what Matt Cutts means by "low quality." From this:

http://twitter.com/mattcutts/status/251813377175875584


domain names hoping to game rankings, e.g. buycheapviagraonline.info. That's less likely to rank highly for [buy cheap viagra online]

Perhaps it is .info and the lower quality extensions that will be hit? Or perhaps it is long EMDs? The example is 4 words long.

GreyWing
29-09-12, 02:25 AM
Matt Cutts the guy that rolls out in public and rolls back in private, penguine got rolled back on the quiet. But again and I refer to this in a previous blog posting that (http://www.that.co.uk/that-blog/matt-cutts-back-again.html) Why is he telling people how to bypass the changes he has just made?

If he wants natural SEO, then why is he telling people about the changes he is making? Does he think that the average business owner is going to change the url over this? Nope of course not, the only people that are going to change their strategies are the exact people he is trying to stop. It is almost as if you couldn't make it up with this guy.

He is more interested in his own importance then sorting out issues like the "Payday Loan" chaos that has been going on for the last 5 months.

---

With regards the exact match the opinion on what people think can rank with exact match varies quite a bit. Some people think that a one page site on something like "PaydayLoans.co.uk" will rank for for "payday loans". It won't and never would have, but some people see it as a sign that EMD is dead.

It is still the same, good content plus EMD equals ranking. Those going round now saying EMD is dead because their one page minisite using EMD and copied content has disappeared need to look again at their business model.

GreyWing
29-09-12, 02:44 AM
I was trying to find it and knew I'd mentioned it before, just found it. This is what I wrote back in June, http://www.that.co.uk/that-blog/exact-match-prices-in-the-gutter-really.html

But specifically this bit.....

Some people will say that they can, well I beg to differ. In my opinion they can't take that risk. If a person searches for a term and the exact match domain appears in the search results, no harm done and the person selects a site they like the look of.

However if a person knows which site they want to find and Google doesn't produce it in its search results, that user now starts to think that Google isn't doing its job. The thought that Google isn't doing its job is the beginning of users questioning the accuracy of Google and trying other search engines.

So does Google take the chance or does it just include the EMD?

atlas
30-09-12, 02:07 AM
Well, my websites definitely got hit. I wouldn't consider them "low quality." Rankings seem to have dropped 2 or 3 places, so not a bloodbath, but still very frustrating.

GreyWing
30-09-12, 03:19 AM
Best advice I can give anyone mate is to just ignore Google completely, build your sites like they do not exist. Never ever develop a business plan that relies on Google's traffic in future. That includes buying domain names that you think would rank in Google, at least at the prices you would pay thinking they will rank.

Certainly don't change any of your sites that have taken a hit, leave them a month and wait for the roll back from Google. Google are currently doing what Coke did in the 80's, it is them that is panicking.

rob
30-09-12, 06:48 PM
Just checked a handful of EMDs I have adsense + content on, with sod all links or the like - quite spammy really - and no change.

Adsense rev seems like its normal as well.

Brassneck
30-09-12, 08:13 PM
Just checked a handful of EMDs I have adsense + content on, with sod all links or the like - quite spammy really - and no change.

Adsense rev seems like its normal as well.

Rob

I know of one of your sites that is informational and can see that it still ranks. Are any of the sites you mention product related?

Stephen.

atlas
01-10-12, 02:36 AM
Just checked a handful of EMDs I have adsense + content on, with sod all links or the like - quite spammy really - and no change.

Adsense rev seems like its normal as well.

AFAIK, the update has only rolled out in the US and not in the UK yet.

GreyWing
01-10-12, 02:40 AM
It has in the UK mate, I lost about 3-4 very poor ones all on the same day, they hadn't been updated in months if not years so no real loss. Noticed competitors in my EMD field take a hit, which is always nice.

Funny examples are starting to be reported now, Pregnancy is one. Seems to be a fully active site with normal back links etc and been smashed.

For the first time yesterday I found something easier in Bing than I did in google, I actually gave up in google and found what I needed on page one of bing. Wasn't even a EMD I was looking for.

atlas
01-10-12, 01:10 PM
It has in the UK mate, I lost about 3-4 very poor ones all on the same day, they hadn't been updated in months if not years so no real loss. Noticed competitors in my EMD field take a hit, which is always nice.

Frankly, I'm not sure any more. It is looking to me like Google may have rolled out another update at the exact same time as this one? Very difficult to figure out what is and what is not oging on.

GreyWing
02-10-12, 05:13 PM
Matt Cutts the guy that rolls out in public and rolls back in private,

Looks like they have already rolled this back, lots of sites have bounced back. I'm just glad I get this on the record before it happens lol.

Matt Cutts, out of his depth. Not saying it is not a hard job, but why have someone there that keeps making these mistakes.

atlas
02-10-12, 05:41 PM
Looks like they have already rolled this back, lots of sites have bounced back.

Where are you seeing that? If anything, my EMD sites are doing worse than when I last posted about this. That being said, I think there is more than one update going on, so who know why anything is happening :(

Brassneck
02-10-12, 05:42 PM
Looks like they have already rolled this back, lots of sites have bounced back. I'm just glad I get this on the record before it happens lol.

Matt Cutts, out of his depth. Not saying it is not a hard job, but why have someone there that keeps making these mistakes.

Graeme

Do you have any examples - not sure that is the case with some that I have been tracking.

Thanks
Stephen.

GreyWing
02-10-12, 05:53 PM
Pregnancy.co.uk is the largest largest, 2 of mine have popped back. Loans*****for****students and instant****decision****loans

atlas
03-10-12, 06:11 AM
I was correct that there is more than one update going on:
https://twitter.com/mattcutts/status/252484514486575104


I know of at least one other algo rolling out over same timeframe

Here's an interesting tweet about EMDs:
https://twitter.com/mattcutts/status/252483995013636096


keywords in domain would be going down as we turned the knob toward brandable domains

GreyWing
03-10-12, 06:34 AM
I think they are struggling mate to work out what is a brand, what is a temporary brand used by short media campaigns, what are domains just using EMD to rank but turn into a brand, what are long tail EMD exploiting EMD.

Unless they examine everyone individually I think he is going to struggle to come up with a formula to automatically assign penalties.

My view is, Good luck with that Google. ;)

aZooZa
03-10-12, 07:42 AM
What a daft statement: "...keywords in domain would be going down as we turned the knob toward brandable domains."

I think Cutts should get the cut. It just shows how facile Google are in allowing one individual to influence so many business models. Where is it written that Cutts has a mandate from Google to disseminate their policies?

maccke
03-10-12, 11:12 PM
It's pretty simple to fix if you know how to do it. This factor is highly related to some of the action they took in the latest algo updates. I made a detailed blog post about it here (http://www.seospecialist.co.uk/how-google-might-target-exact-match-domains-in-new-algo-updates/).


I think they are struggling mate to work out what is a brand, what is a temporary brand used by short media campaigns, what are domains just using EMD to rank but turn into a brand, what are long tail EMD exploiting EMD.

Unless they examine everyone individually I think he is going to struggle to come up with a formula to automatically assign penalties.

My view is, Good luck with that Google. ;)

maccke
03-10-12, 11:13 PM
What he is saying: 'build links like brands and don't try to use low quality exact match domains in an unnatural way'. If it sounds like the domain name is bought purely to 'rank well in Google', it's not going to work.. Delete all those domains with 'KeywordForXXXX', 'KeywordInXXXXX' - they are simply worthless. If you develop them heavily and build plenty of high quality links it can obviously still work.. but the lazy domainer strategy 'build a quick site on a poor EMD' is not going to work.


What a daft statement: "...keywords in domain would be going down as we turned the knob toward brandable domains."

I think Cutts should get the cut. It just shows how facile Google are in allowing one individual to influence so many business models. Where is it written that Cutts has a mandate from Google to disseminate their policies?

atlas
09-10-12, 11:51 PM
Looks like 4 updates happened all at once, which really makes sorting things out difficult. Barry has a great chart about this here:
http://www.seroundtable.com/october-2012-google-report-15808.html

maccke
10-10-12, 12:42 AM
The latest updates just follow Google's plan: Give credit to brands and penalise people trying to manipulate / gain rankings without deserving it. Buying a poor domain name (such as 3-4 word domains which use a preposition, or obvious commerical words like 'buy' or 'sell') and doing very little work (few links, poor content) is not enough and should never been. Getting automated links or 100's of low quality links is likewise usually leading to problems rather than good rankings in Google..


Looks like 4 updates happened all at once, which really makes sorting things out difficult. Barry has a great chart about this here:
http://www.seroundtable.com/october-2012-google-report-15808.html

atlas
10-10-12, 01:56 PM
The latest updates just follow Google's plan: Give credit to brands...

Your statement glosses over the difficulty of becoming a brand without having a large bankroll and a competent team of people - not resources which the average person has.


...without deserving it...

Not sure why a brand "deserves" to outrank a passionate and knowledgeable person who may have a much more informative and helpful website than something developed by corporate drones.

maccke
10-10-12, 02:18 PM
1. Your statement glosses over the difficulty of becoming a brand without having a large bankroll and a competent team of people - not resources which the average person has.

2. Not sure why a brand "deserves" to outrank a passionate and knowledgeable person who may have a much more informative and helpful website than something developed by corporate drones.

1. Agree. It's not always that easy for small businesses. But what I believe is the main reason for most websites getting penalised: They relay mostly on 'unnatural anchor text' and don't build links like brands, while often working too little with content..

2. There are many reasons why search engines would trust brands. Some include:
-If you do something really well, people will remember you/your site as a brand and search for it in search engines.
-Brand behavior can be plenty of searches for your URL (eg. examples.com) in Google. That is also a 'brand search'.
-It's natural & more genuine to link to 'brand names' or 'company names' but not very trustworthy to use anchor text such as 'buy viagra' or 'payday loans'.. that is usually a behavior of people trying to take advantage of the algorithm.

FagEnd
10-10-12, 02:58 PM
My site www.legalisecannabis.co.uk has been kicked to page 2. It has always been in the first few results for the term since forever, no content to speak of, just relying on the EMD for the high ranking results. I also added a load of Amazon aff products to it recently which may have caused the drop but I'm not sure if it is coincidence or what. I'll delete all the aff products and see if it jumps back again.

maccke
10-10-12, 04:03 PM
I believe it's simply been too long without any new decent incoming links and any new content uploaded. By fixing that you are likely to come back to the first page rather quick.


My site www.legalisecannabis.co.uk has been kicked to page 2. It has always been in the first few results for the term since forever, no content to speak of, just relying on the EMD for the high ranking results. I also added a load of Amazon aff products to it recently which may have caused the drop but I'm not sure if it is coincidence or what. I'll delete all the aff products and see if it jumps back again.

FagEnd
10-10-12, 06:20 PM
I believe it's simply been too long without any new decent incoming links and any new content uploaded. By fixing that you are likely to come back to the first page rather quick.

With all due respect, you are talking out of your arse.

lethal0r
10-10-12, 07:16 PM
I believe it's simply been too long without any new decent incoming links and any new content uploaded. By fixing that you are likely to come back to the first page rather quick.

i dont know about getting back to the first page quickly but the new content, new links point seems viable, and would largely match my own experience with the recent updates.