Exact match domains DOMINTATING the serps
-
For longer tail keywords with typical local monthly search volume of 50 or so, there are exact match domains that are just killing it. Take for instance "alabama registered agent", I'm showing www.alabamaregisteredagent.com in the first spot ahead of the state department, etc. This site has zero links in OSE (DA and PA 1) and is a very small site in general. Can anyone explain why this domain is doing so well?
-
Hi Mike,
If the businesses you're searching for are local in nature, then EMD one-boxes are a known, documented phenomenon currently troubling the SERPs. This is fallout from the Hummingbird update. Read more about this here:
http://blumenthals.com/blog/2014/01/08/mining-for-google-hummingbird-guano-in-so-cal/
I'm positive that Google is aware of this unintended outcome of the update in which weak, spammy or even closed businesses are ranking in one-box fashion, but as to when Google will tweak the dial to fix this, we just don't know. Hang in there. Lots of people are writing about this, because it is creating such a blatantly poor user experience.
-
Anyone who is concerned about this should spend the money required to purchase an EMD. If you think that the EMD makes a difference in the SERPs this will be the easiest and fastest SEO that you will ever do. Just find the guy who owns it, pay him his price and write a decent page of content. DONE!
All of my websites are EMDs. They do have a tiny advantage in the SERPs if you publish decent content on them. I am willing to pay good money for an EMD when I decide to build a new site (which isn't very often because the cost of a good domain and the content for a good site is quite high).
Up until a couple years ago an EMD was a huge advantage in the SERPs. Then Google cranked back their impact upon SERPs. Today in light competition an EMD can rank you above thin competition with the effort of writing decent content for the topic - but at the same time they can be easily defeated by a person who is willing to work. In heavy competition the EMD is a very small advantage compared to the other work that must be done to win those SERPs.
In my opinion, the conversion rate on an EMD can be higher than on other sites. That is worth the price in my opinion. Also, owning the EMD gives me mental energy to work on the site. That makes all of the difference in competion. They guy with mental energy beats everyone who is slacking.
-
EMD is not by itself enough to cause Google to take action. The key is the quality of the content and value to the visitor. Typically Google is after EMD sites with thin or poor content, affiliate smothered etc.
-
Hi Mike,
I Agree with you. I am also seeing the same thing but don't know how long it will stay as it is.
In Past, Google killed the Exact match domains and now again favoring it.
Thanks
-
Hi Mike
I think this is unlikely just because they have an exact match domain.
The domain you have given as an example is nearly 5 years old so it is likely they have had their site working for them for some time. There are a decent number of pages on the site with information all based around the same subject and they have a registered address in Birmingham AL.
There's likely to be other factors at work too, but as I said, having an EMD won't be the main factor.
I hope that helps,
Peter
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Hello, our domain authority dropped significantly overnight from 37 to 29\. We have been building good links from high DA pages and producing quality, regular content.
Hello, our domain authority dropped significantly overnight from 37 to 29. We have been building good links from high DA sites and producing regular, good quality content. Anyone able to offer any ideas why? Thanks
Reporting & Analytics | | ProMOZ1231 -
What determines the page order of site:domain?
Whenever I use site:domain.com to check what's index, it's pretty much always in the same order. I gather from this, the order is not random. I'm also reasonably certainly it isn't related to any page strength signals or ranking results. So, does anyone know why the pages are displayed in the order they are? What information does the order of the pages tell me? Thanks, Ruben
Reporting & Analytics | | KempRugeLawGroup1 -
Google Analytics Content Experiments - Experiment Conversions and Goal Figures Don't Match
Hi, I set up a new content experiment 6 days ago, the experiment says there have been 2 conversions but the goal associated with it says 5. The experiment is set to target 100% of traffic, distributed evenly among the variations, the goal is a destination URL goal. I've doubled checked the goal set up and everything seems fine. How can the content experiment report a different figure to the goal associated with it? Has anyone else noticed the same problem? Is this a bug? Is there a workaround available? Or is there a setting I need to be aware of when creating content experiments to prevent this from happening? I need to know I can trust the results the content experiments provide.
Reporting & Analytics | | UNIT40 -
Google Search Bar Vs Address Bar To Determine Number Of Times the Domain Name Is Typed In..
Hello, I'm trying to get a rough estimate of how many times a domain name that we're interested in acquiring is typed in to the address bar. If the google keyword tool says for instance, that the exact match domain name is typed in 720 times, how many times it typed in to the address bar? example.com - 720 global searches Thanks!
Reporting & Analytics | | Optimize0 -
Google Analytics - Cross Domain Tracking Goals
Hi guys, looking at the best way to organize this - Site 1 - Shoe Store - (Old site with analytic history - UA-12345-1) Site 2 - Clothing Store - (Brand New UA-54321-1) Right now i have 2 separate GA Accounts for the sites. But i would like to track goals from Site 2 to Site 1. For that i need to set up cross domain tracking. So i take it i would need to create another account under Site 1 - (UA-12345-2) and put that new code on Site 2? Or do the UA numbers have to be exact? example both 12345-1? In which case, i would need to set up 2 different profiles with filtering? Main concern is i want to keep separate data for both sites, espically if UA's will be the same. Trying to visualize - UA-12345-1 Profile 1Shoes/Master Profile 2 Shoes Profile 3 Clothes Or UA-12345-1 Shoes UA-12345-2 Clothes Thanks, Mike
Reporting & Analytics | | IsHot0 -
Google Analytics - Tracking a Goal from 1 Domain to Another
Hi there, been combing this page for some answers - https://developers.google.com/analytics/devguides/collection/gajs/gaTrackingSite but can't seem to figure it out. Scenario - Site A Site B Currently have 2 different GA accounts set up on each. Is it possible to Track a Goal that happens on Site B, that comes from Site A - In Site A Reports? So say, Site A has a Newsletter, directing them to Site A but promoting Site B - i'd like to track the effectiveness of the newsletter. Site A is running a white label of Site B service. Thoughts? Cheers
Reporting & Analytics | | IsHot0 -
Google Analytics for multiple languages on multiple domains
Hi folks A quick question in regards to setting up Google Analytics for a website with multiple languages on multiple domains. The domains that needs to be tracked are: www.example.com -> English www.example.se -> Swedish www.example.dk -> Danish To my best knowledge this can be acheived in Google Analytids using 3 different setups: Different accounts Different properties Profiles What would you guys consider the best approach?
Reporting & Analytics | | Resultify
Pros and cons? Have a great day Fredrik0 -
Tracking analytics on several domains
Hello, I am looking for some advice. I am working with a real estate client. They have a main website, and then several separate agent websites. The agent sites share some content with the main site, as well as having some unique content. My question is what is the best way to track visitors? Should I have separate Google Analytics accounts for each site, or should I use one account and separate profiles?
Reporting & Analytics | | ukao0