Oh dear, Google recently decided to target exact match domains, as these are deemed to be low quality (which a lot are).
Unfortunately it looks like there has been a fair bit of collateral damage again, looking at some of the feedback on Search Engine Land.
If you don't know, an exact match domain is simply a domain name that exactly relates to the product or service you sell. eg pens.com
Traditionally it has been quite an easy way to rank high in Google for a keyword if you have it in your URL. This has led to lots of throw away adsense sites just cashing in on some easy traffic, and Googles attempting to remove these from it's index.
But it looks like it's implementation has been a bit heavy handed... again..
You can see more on the story at Search Engine Land.
So has anybody been affected yet by this?
I always knew these domains wouldn't last long. They're almost saturated anyway and now Google has made a mint from unsuspecting people who thought buying an EMD and wasting a few more quid on Google ads, they want rid of the spammy domains hosting the mostly spammy content.  indizine indizine
Finally I think I may have got to the bottom of what may have happened to one of my sites. From what was good positioning for different terms it has been hammered. To say I'm annoyed would be an understatement, having over the last couple of years of spending thousands of pounds having the site optomised for different services / areas of London i.e. boroughs & towns avoided duplicate content so every single page was individual, no spammy links the site is now virtually impossible to find. But if you are looking for a electric heating installer in Blackfriars, instead of finding the search term you will now find flats to rent via Zoopla. The other point I'd make is, is that it is hardly going to be user friendly if when people type in a search term and they then end up with results that are nothing to do with what they are looking for. My other site which has 1000s of spammy links pointing towards it, has god knows how much duplicate content on it, has had no money invested in it for the last 3 or 4 years and looks like a pile of horse manure, still does remarkably well and I've considered pulling the plug on it, but Google seems to like it and I have no idea why..... Thanks, Barney
I have one exact match domain that is low quality adsense revenue collector (although it only earns about AlanF
“To say I'm annoyed would be an understatement, having over the last couple of years of spending thousands of pounds having the site optomised for different services / areas of London i.e. boroughs & towns avoided duplicate content so every single page was individual, no spammy links the site is now virtually impossible to find..” Just think how annoyed Google were that you spent thousands of pounds with organasition that have nothing to do with Google, when you should have been spending thousands advertising with Google. They missed out on lots of your money, and now they want it! Free AdWords voucher anyone? AlanF
They may well want it, but they certainly won't be getting it. The ironic thing is though, I was considering giving it another go with Google ads on a one months trial either next month or in December. But considering the cost implications in my particular market and area which is a very highly competitive market. Realistically I could be doing a budget of Thanks, Barney
“Anyway having discussed the situation this morning with the people running the site we have decided to leave it a week or two to see whether Google alters anything at the end of the day this will effect major companies just as much as it has smaller businesses....” Good plan, see what happens with the big boys. I notice hotels.com still has position 1 and 2 for the search term hotels You could argue that's hardly a decent return of search results, with 1 and 2 being the same website thumbsdown motors.co.uk is still number 1 for motors. mylocalforums still number 1 for mylocalforums Be interesting to see what happens over the next few weeks. Anyone else seen any exact match domains disappear from Page 1?
I had a member on my other forum complain that he had lost all his EMD's. Every single one of the couldn't be found within a search beyond 100. There are a few other very upset webmasters out there. Its good that Google is trying to wipe out spam, but this is a bit drastic. Thanks, Dreamraven
I've just be sent a link from the girl who does all my blog writing, apparently it has effected even non EMD's. It would seem that Google has a problem in determining what is low quality and spam, to a carefully written optomised site. It just goes to show how at a flick of a switch one company can cause so much damage to so many other businesses and not be held accountable for their actions...Algo Change Targets Low Quality Exact Match Domains 9-28-2012 Google SEO News and Discussion forum at WebmasterWorld Thanks, Barney
“It just goes to show how at a flick of a switch one company can cause so much damage to so many other businesses and not be held accountable for their actions..” There's the school of thought that says Google is a private company, and lists your business free of charge, and so can pretty much do what it likes. The counter to that is there is no competition! Where are Bing, Yahoo, anyone else? A wise business person once told me never to build your business on the back of another, ie that one contract keeps you afloat etc. But in the online world, it's looking increasingly worrying how you can not become Google dependant. I've decided recently to start a new biz, and build it from the ground up as a completely non Google dependant. Launch is expected for mid next year, but if it works, I shall tell all. If it fails, I'll be living under a railway bridge stealing your cat food |
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