EXACT MATCH DOMAIN – 1 BIG GOOGLE RANKING FACTOR?

EMDs aren’t bad for SEO. However, in the past, site builders took advantage of EMDs to rank high with Google without putting forth any effort into content production or site creation.

Then the Exact Match Domain update rolled out and held all sites accountable for what they were producing, including those with an EMD.

While EMDs were once the leaders of the SERPs, the EMD update down-ranked out those sites Google deemed low quality. I still look for a strong EMD when helping a client choose a domain name because I know from a psychological view point, a domain name with the keyword search term that a person used in a google search is likely going to be a deciding factor in which result to click on.

So use and EMD if you can, but be sure you have:

• Good Page and Site SEO
• Good Content
• Don’t Use Keyword Stuffing

Google doesn’t give you a to-do list explaining step-by-step how to improve your SERP ranking. But, they do have an extensive list of guidelines that detail the items you need to include (or not) on your site in order to appeal to their crawlers.

If you’re lucky enough to have an EMD, there’s no need for you to go through the hassle of rebranding or changing your domain name. Remember, it’s not the EMD itself that can cause lower rankings. Google wants to see valuable usefulness to searchers from all of the sites they index. The ones that are the best rank high, and those that don’t, don’t. Always practice great SEO—or hire the pros to do it for you—and you’ll see great rankings on SERP regardless of whether or not you’ve got an Exact Match Domain.

If you need help with your enterprise SEO or local SEO please contact IdeaToGrowth.com.