Google Rolls out Algo change to target Exact Match domains.

[James]

Google has rolled out an algo change that affects exact match domains:

More information here:

http://www.webpronews.com/matt-cutts-just-announced-a-google-algorithm-change-2012-09

 

[snoopy]

Interesting one, I would say a wise to move to specifically target exact match domains where the site quality is low rather than an across the board dilution. I guess we'll soon know how effective this has been from the number of complaint threads about MFA sites dropping in ranking.

 

[Lorenzo]

damn it!

 

[Chris.C]

Indeed should be interesting.

 

[payattention]

I have some EMD's with duplicate content (content I write myself but then duplicate across multiple sites) that I use as satellite sites (no ads) but they're still holding their top rankings. Either the update has not finished rolling out or it only impacts the real bottom of the barrel type stuff.

 

[James]

I have some EMD's with duplicate content (content I write myself but then duplicate across multiple sites) that I use as satellite sites (no ads) but they're still holding their top rankings. Either the update has not finished rolling out or it only impacts the real bottom of the barrel type stuff.

I guess only time will tell, I have a few EDM's doing ok too, but lets just wait and see.

 

[findtim]

so whats the difference between a EMD and a low quality EMD?

are we talking longtail?

tim

 

[James]

so whats the difference between a EMD and a low quality EMD?

are we talking longtail?

tim

EMD - Carsales.com.au as example, huge site, higher quality, brand heavy and high number of links.

Low Quality EMD - 5 page website with low number of links and low quality content.

 

[findtim]

EMD - Carsales.com.au as example, huge site, higher quality, brand heavy and high number of links.

Low Quality EMD - 5 page website with low number of links and low quality content.

bugger, but i haven't noticed any changes across @ 60 sites so far but now will take steps to hopefully prevent penalties.

tim

 

[payattention]

so whats the difference between a EMD and a low quality EMD?

are we talking longtail?

tim

I don't think it matters how many keywords are in the EMD, just the quality of the site itself. Some of my satellites are total crap but they don't have spun and/or scraped content, it's just my own articles created for the sole purpose of duplication across a few sites. No ads either and if you toss in top heavy ads with spun/scraped content on an EMD, this is probably what they've targeted. I don't think it's any cause for concern as they're not targeting EMD on it's own, just poor quality sites on them.

 

[Lorenzo]

I don't think it's any cause for concern as they're not targeting EMD on it's own, just poor quality sites on them.

everybody has a different opinion about what "poor quality" is.

 

[payattention]

everybody has a different opinion about what "poor quality" is.

That's true but we only need to work out what Google considers poor quality, not everyone's opinion.

 

[James]

Best review have seen on this topic here -

http://www.seounique.com/blog/google-exact-match-domain-emd-penalty-first-look/

 

[acheeva]

Thanks James. Good reading

 

[Chris.C]

A few of my low quality EMD minisites got hit hard in this update as well.



Lucky the quality sites (which are the real bread winners) don't seem to have been affected.

This makes for an interesting update, my take on it is that this makes pure "domaining" that little bit more difficult in that you can't just throw up a cheap minisite site to increase the yield of the domain whilst waiting for the right buyer to come along, which will mean higher holding costs/risks. Yet at the same time it seems like domains are still quite valuable for those that intend to build out the domains into a proper online business asset...

I wonder if this will influence bidding on platforms like Snapper and Drop where I imagine a large number of bidders are domainers, rather than those end users who do plan to build out the domains.

 

[DavidL]

Yeah this isn't good news for domain valuations. To be honest I thought this update was already rolled out some weeks/months back. Certainly some of my sites suffered back then.

Haven't actually seen any ranking drops today with my EMDs so far although overall adsense views do seem to be down over the weekend. However it was a public holiday in NSW at least which generally hurts traffic.

This makes for an interesting update, my take on it is that this makes pure "domaining" that little bit more difficult in that you can't just throw up a cheap minisite site to increase the yield of the domain whilst waiting for the right buyer to come along, which will mean higher holding costs/risks...

Throwing up a cheap minisite isn't pure domaining though - that's an extention of domining merging into developing.

Pure domainers (like snoopy) just acquire, park and sell.

 

[Chris.C]

Yeah this isn't good news for domain valuations. To be honest I thought this update was already rolled out some weeks/months back. Certainly some of my sites suffered back then.

I definitely noticed the change on Saturday/Sunday...

That said the "trend" for low value sites has been in a downward direction for the last 10 years... ie since Google came on the scene.



So it was far from surprising.

Throwing up a cheap minisite isn't pure domaining though - that's an extention of domining merging into developing.

Sorry I should have extended my thoughts...

I meant now pure domainers will also find it a bit tougher because they can't sell domains to low quality developers, and low quality developers of EMD domains will be forced to either move into higher quality development or revert back to being pure domainers rather than invest in development which doesn't yield a ROI.

So it's not the end of the world, but low quality developers and domainers might have to pivot their business strategies a bit.

 

[sydneyduo]

Thanks James,

Always good to have test sites vs theories alone.

Will look to share too if I find any other tests being done on the effect of EMD's.

Looking at my own EMD sites, a few with thinner content seems to have been hit (though not sure if the long weekend had an impact)...

But those which are built out with pages and lots of content have been holding strong... therefore will be interesting to monitor over the coming weeks

Best review have seen on this topic here -

http://www.seounique.com/blog/google-exact-match-domain-emd-penalty-first-look/

 

[snoopy]

A few of my low quality EMD minisites got hit hard in this update as well.



Lucky the quality sites (which are the real bread winners) don't seem to have been affected.

This makes for an interesting update, my take on it is that this makes pure "domaining" that little bit more difficult in that you can't just throw up a cheap minisite site to increase the yield of the domain whilst waiting for the right buyer to come along, which will mean higher holding costs/risks. Yet at the same time it seems like domains are still quite valuable for those that intend to build out the domains into a proper online business asset...

I wonder if this will influence bidding on platforms like Snapper and Drop where I imagine a large number of bidders are domainers, rather than those end users who do plan to build out the domains.

Running MFA sites etc, this isn't really domaining, it is just trying to take advantage of loopholes in google. There is no future in any of this stuff & never was any future. It is a short term way of making money, and one that Google is constantly trying to close. It is one big circle where Google foolishly buys back it own traffic.

In my view people need to seriously think about running sites with genuine business models.

I'm not sure what the effect will be on domain prices, guy feeling is not much of an effect. I suspect any effect would be skewed towards popular keyword domains without clear business models.

 

[Chris.C]

Running MFA sites etc, this isn't really domaining, it is just trying to take advantage of loopholes in google. There is no future in any of this stuff & never was any future.

I 100% agree there is no future.

That said, I think running MFA sites on decent domains is still a style of domaining, if the premise is still to sell the domain for more than you bought it for.

Developing a MFA site is just another way of "parking" the domain.