Google update... going after EMD's

[Jamie101]

I would say just the bonus removed as some I have seen have just dropped down a page.

I'd agree.

However, a site that I developed around a month ago (which is an EMD) jumped up around 4 positions. It was ranked 8th and is now 4th. Doesn't really make sense to be honest.

 

[murph]

One things for sure. Value of EMDs that aren't really brandable will take a massive hit

 

[martin-s]

Long ones will. There's the potential for short ones to increase in value depending on how this plays out.

 

[murph]

Long ones will. There's the potential for short ones to increase in value depending on how this plays out.

Yep, short ones are definitely brand able.
You know, the more I look through the results, I'm seeing sites I keep tabs on losing long standing rankings for non-EMD terms. When cutts said it was targeting exact match, did he really mean non-brands???

 

[boxfish]

Long ones will. There's the potential for short ones to increase in value depending on how this plays out.

I must say I mainly expected it to target long domains like extendablediningtablewith6chairs.org.uk but a member on here owns a well-developed premium, one-word, 9 letter undergarment .co.uk. The site has ranked #2 since I joined this forum, today it ranks halfway down page 6, so it seems it targeting all of them.

 

[martin-s]

Yes, but that site has no content, so it probably deserves to drop.

An EMD with the correct suffix and good content should be a positive quality indicator though.

 

[boxfish]

Yes, but that site has no content, so it probably deserves to drop.

Yes, all domains that benefit from exact match deserve to drop if they are not the best resource for the visitor, the point I was trying to make is that 'news' around the update has said it is targeting low quality EMDs, not low quality sites.

 

[AndyMarsden]

on of my EMDs (.co.uk)has been top of google for 2 months, good quality content has just dropped to 10th.

I also own the .org.uk as a bit of a testing site which has been previously unranked and IS low quality now appears 5th!

 

[retired_member36]

How will this effect the large domain portfolio holders pitching the importance of the EMD as a selling point.

I'm soooo glad ive got very few domains left, and those i do are actually something im really interested in.

 

[JMOT]

How will this effect the large domain portfolio holders pitching the importance of the EMD as a selling point.

high quality EMD will still be wonderful for PPC.

But I'd say anyone who's model is selling domains is going to struggle. There are of course exceptions... people peddling kickass domains like cheapcruises.... they will be okay. Anyone selling low value [productname] domains is a bit buggered as they cant even develop them now without making real effort and expense.

The magic carpet just got burnt.

 

[martin-s]

Take one of my domains, CoachHolidaysToScotland.co.uk. The perfect candidate for Google to hit hard I suspect..

But if I wanted to start a real company offering coach holidays to Scotland, it kind of makes sense to call my company "Coach Holidays to Scotland Limited" and have my website on www.CoachHolidaysToScotland.co.uk.

After all, marketing is all about telling people what you do. There's nothing uniquely 'SEO' driven about taking this path.

So one hopes that there really is something intelligent going on in the background to determine 'quality'!

 

[murph]

Take one of my domains, CoachHolidaysToScotland.co.uk. The perfect candidate for Google to hit hard I suspect..

But if I wanted to start a real company offering coach holidays to Scotland, it kind of makes sense to call my company "Coach Holidays to Scotland Limited" and have my website on www.CoachHolidaysToScotland.co.uk.

After all, marketing is all about telling people what you do. There's nothing uniquely 'SEO' driven about taking this path.

So one hopes that there really is something intelligent going on in the background to determine 'quality'!

I honestly don't see how they've decided criteria here. I'd say backlink profile again rather than quality of content.

 

[cc976a]

I honestly don't see how they've decided criteria here. I'd say backlink profile again rather than quality of content.

+1

Exactly what Panda and Penguin should have prevented

The sites staying high in the SERPs for my term have lots of backlinks, but crappy directories and Viagra sites - seriously not even one I'd say has any authority

I will get mine back up there again, but Cutts has done his usual 'i'm an obsessed prat who has no other agenda apart from stopping affiliates ranking in my search engine and taking something for nothing'

Let's face it we all have, personal (not business) gripes with G, but seriously does any of us have it with EMDs not giving us the content we want - and do we have this in bulk?

No. Doing something about the same site appearing on all Top 30 spots with different pages showing the same thing - or out of date blog posts / articles that have long passed their expiry date and no longer relevant (I'm going Advanced much more now just to show sites updated in past 12 months / 1 month / 1 week etc....it's not always about age and how many G circle links you have Cutts

 

[Aiden Roberts]

I honestly don't see how they've decided criteria here. I'd say backlink profile again rather than quality of content.

Agreed good content sites with few backlinks hit, new sites will struggle to get traction until they have many links built. I don't think we have seen the whole story yet as when the big profile sites get hit tweaks normally follow.

 

[JMOT]

I honestly don't see how they've decided criteria here. I'd say backlink profile again rather than quality of content.

Agreed. One of my EMD's that didnt get penguined (not sure how lol) was 4th now 20th. It had thousands of £'s worth of expertly written content by ContentNow on it. Genuinely useful and informative as the longtail traffic I got from people researching was huge.

The links were shit.

 

[JMOT]

Just think how much easier spamming err I mean SEO will be without EMD's in the way :twisted::twisted:

 

[PoshTiger]

Gutted...

Just checked my 5 sites - they've all disappeared...

Most were on page one - some top 3, All were EMD.

 

[xstu74]

All my EMD sites have performed well through the lastest updates... TODAY 50% of EMD sites off the radar, Thank god this is more a hobby for me now a days rather then an income!

 

[PoshTiger]

Mine were for very low competition keywords and they've totally gone which makes me think they might be being re-evaluated.

If they keep their current position then you actually get penalised for having an EMD.

 

[cc976a]

Actually my EMD stayed were it was on page 1 for a keyword with mid x,xxx exacts - it's an aged domain, but new site with little content

My main site wasn't an EMD but was ranking high for the main keyword in this industry - and keyword was in URL........anyone else suffered this? It now doesn't appear in first 10 pages - although still shows top spot if you type in it's EM keyword - with low xxx exacts