An exact match domain name is a web address with the same EXACT words in it that make up a popular search – like “bingo.com” or “bingo.co.uk”.
OK – you can forgive search engines for thinking a 100% relevant web address might be indication of a site’s relevance to the term – or well I did in 2005. I honestly thought the top search engines would have got smarter when it came to exact match domains.
I’m looking at some results in Google, Yahoo and Bing that are frankly shocking – a bit of an embarassment to the search engines. Exact match domains with no authority ranking above much better sites. Even spammy sites ranking with exact match domains, and it got WORSE with the recent Google UK SERP update a lot of people where complaining about.
If you are lucky enough to have an exact match domain for your website, well done. All you seem to need is a lot of crap links (linkbuilding to an exact match domain is so easy), some relevant copy, and you’ll get into the top ten in every major search engine within a year. (And from what I see in some places, that’s some seo companies entire ranking strategy just unveiled, and for clients too! :p )
I can’t believe I am writing that in 2009.
An exact match domain name with low quality spammy links and keyword stuffed text will outrank a real site with thousands of natural links for that term. That is a fact.
OK – so what if you are a normal company with an actual brand that’s not a desired keyword or phrase? Well, that’s us too actually. I have no intention changing my domain name.
Having an exact match domain is no substitute for having a brand in my opinion, and while an exact match domain might help you rank for that term, if you want thousands of visitors a day, you need a breadth of keywords to keep a business running, not just one keyphrase and a few variants – in the end, it still comes down to content, and the quality of it, how much traffic you get these days.
Just get used to seeing exact match domains in every sector – no search engine seems to be able to deal with them appropriately enough.
What do you think? Exact match keyword urls work as they should or do the search engines love them too much?
(Aaron Wall does a good job explaining exact match domains and their value to Google and searchers).
Exact match domains are excellent and long may they stay in favour. The thing is many people are still blissfully unaware of how powerful they are especially for local searches. Many businesses could do with investing in the odd one or two to boost local capture as this works very well especially if the content is well optimized too. You do need to be careful if the domain name is also a registered trade mark but if not and generic then there should be no problem. For more competitive terms exact match domains from my testing will not guarantee a page one ranking so you will still have work to do.
Howdy Dave I’ve always known this but year on year I’ve thought the search engines would reduce their value… every year. :) Maybe next year eh? lol
Hi Shaun, Can’t see it personally but never say never. As long as the SE’s use the URL (domain or page) it will affect something. Totally agree though that it is very annoying when spammy sites get the best position but hopefully google will place even more emphasis on quality content in the future so the cream will still rise :-)
Of course exact match domains should (and do) rank well. Over time, they’re probably going to rank even better. Why? Simple: they’re literally the only marketing move that can’t be cloned by a spammer or by a competitor. Over time, more and more companies that are serious about their web presence are acquiring exact match, generic domain names and moving their websites over to them, or establishing a parallel marketing presence on the new domain. They are doing so by purchasing the domains on the secondary domain market, from domain investors and other original owners who had the foresight to get in early (like current property buyers are buying very valuable property that – once upon a time – was bought for a song by the first landowners). Think about it: any other aspect of your business presence, online at least, can be cloned by a competitor: - You write 10 pages of content. They write 10 pages. - You get 10 backlinks. They get 10 backlinks. - You blog. They blog. - You tweet. They tweet - and so on, and so on, seemingly forever But what’s the one thing that only one company can do? Own a given domain name! After all, each domain name is unique. As more and more companies get clued in about the unique marketing value of an exact match generic, the search engines are going to see a stronger and stronger mix of sites hosted on exact match domains, and that’s going to become an ever-clearer “signal of quality”, an indication that (all other things being equal, or thereabouts) it’s algorithmically worth taking that particular website more seriously than other similar sites that are on random, brandable domains. Exact match domains will take their place on the shelf next to other “quality signals” such as incoming links from trusted/authority sites, citations, site age, etc. in the universe of factors that the search engines use to rank sites in their results.
Thanks for your contribution Edwin – great comment! I do agree an exact match domain is a good quality signal, but that quality signal should not outweigh other signals in my opinion. i see some exact match domains rank above much superior sites just because of the domain (and some crap links). I have often and long thought Google should have some measures in place to combat this.
We (Jarrett & Lam Consulting) are planning to have a bit of a re brand at somepoint soon so the domain will be a big consideration. Were not changing names just because of the SEO implications (spelling the damn url to people on the phone is enough to drive you mad) but also the lam is no longer with the jarrett. Were thinking “low cost professional web design UK limited” would be a great company name, anyone know if the .com is free?
Ah, but it’s a very STRONG signal, especially for a competitive, high value, high traffic, commercial keyphrase. You can have the worst site in the world, but if you put it on “mortgage.co.uk” you deserve to get a pretty strong boost for “mortgage” given the inherent value – and implicitly the inherent difficulty – of obtaining the domain name in the first place! (example domain, not one of mine) It’s the equivalent of opening a shop on the corner of very two busy streets in the best part of town – you can have a pretty lousy shop and still expect a lot of attention from passing foot traffic, because of the LOCATION. Open a much better shop in a quiet side street where the rents are 1/100th of the prime location and nobody’s going to give you a second glance. You’re going to have to start pumping money into marketing/advertising just to drum up some custom. Of course, combine a great site with a great domain name, and 1+1 is going to equal a LOT more than 2!
Edwin – again good points. :) However, I should have been clearer… I’m not talking about Mortgage.com (and I repeat – you’ve made a great case for even owning such a domain)… I’m talking about cheapermortgageingreaterlondon.com ranking above a site with good content about a cheaper mortgage in greater london, if you get my drift.
One more thought, if I may… Compared to many other expenses, acquiring a really strong domain name can actually work out pretty cheap. Unlike SEO consulting for example, which is generally billed on an ongoing basis for months or years, or PPC advertising which of course has to be ongoing (as the traffic disappears the second you stop paying for clicks) you only have to pay ONCE for a premium domain name – the renewal fee for a domain that cost a thousand pounds (or a hundred thousand) is still just the same few pounds a year that any other domain name would cost. So for a one-time capital expense you’re purchasing an asset that can help in your marketing and advertising efforts forever, as well as boosting your business’s perceived credibility (imagine being the only business in a field of 200 companies all selling XYZ.co.uk to actually own XYZ.co.uk – how much does that boost your likelihood of closing a sale with customers who’ve never heard of you – or your competitors – before?) And coming back to the 1+1 equals more than 2 side of things, you’re actually building an asset that can increase the overall value of your business a lot more than it just cost you to acquire the domain name, depending on how central your web presence is to your overall business strategy.
Edwin – Maybe you could do a guest post for me on the value of aquiring a strong domain name – you make a great case for your company (http://memorabledomains.co.uk/ ) and service :)
Edwin, in fact you just take what you’ve got here and repost if you’ll let me lol
I don’t think there is any real relevance in an exact match term as long as cheapermortgageingreaterlondon.com – anyone at all could rank any site for “cheaper mortgage in greater london”, exact match or not. I love exact match domains – almost all of my earnings are coming from sites built on 2 word exact match domains, and a high percentage of those are .org and .net, purely because they are cheaper than the .com’s and are given the same bonus. Most of my exact match domains are allowing me to compete in fields I would not be able to otherwise. Also one point worth noting – even although .eu, .biz, .info etc do not get an exact match bonus, they still get one indirectly as they influence the anchor texts when people link to you. I’ve tested exact match domains extensively, I don’t think your test with searchengineoptimisation.eu is a good one because there is no bonus for .eu, imo. Domain extensions that get the bonus: .com .net .org .co.uk .org.uk .ltd.uk (I think, I have not fully tested this one) And of course any other country level domain, in that countries Google.
hi Phil yup that’s exactly the sort of thing I was testing with those domains… Thanks for the comment :)
Shaun, please email me about the guest post. I can use my posts above as the starting point but tidy it up a bit.
Does anyone have any feedback on .ltd.uk and exact match bonus? I made a blog post about how to get exact match domains cheaply this way, but I have not fully tested the benefit they pass. Any thoughts?
I’m not familiar with a site on those types of Domain I’m afraid…
I have a feeling SEDO will try and place an embargo on these proposed changes :P As far as I can tell there doesn’t seem to be any difference between any of the .uk second level domains. Not sure if I misunderstood the questions, but there isn’t much value to double match domains, e.g. skiphireskiphire.co.uk. My question would be, if Google et. al. kick exact match domains into touch, what will people do instead? Probably more paid links.