One thing that has been bothering me lately is this resurgence of the exact match domain topic for local search. Seriously, you usually don’t see a topic like this pop up so many times in 1 month.
I didn’t want to write this post, I’ve been working on a few big posts but felt the need to address this…especially since..
You have Rand Fishkin talking about how EMD’s don’t work.
You have another blog post on Moz about EMD’s not working.
Bright Local wrote a post on EMD’s not working.
Honestly, I find it to be quite shocking.
What made them think NOW is a good time to talk about this? EMD’s are in fact, ranking as good as they were 2 or 3, or 4 years ago. Guys… Just because Matt Cutts in 2012 said that Google prefers you to have a branded domain, doesn’t mean that exact match domains aren’t working well for SEO and particularly, local SEO.
I’m sitting here, trying to figure out the angle.
What is it?
Is it because Rand Fishkin said it, so now everybody else needs to repeat it and shout it from the mountaintops? Is it because they can’t muster up any sort of creativity to write meaningful content on their own? Are these people just stupid? Maybe they’re just lazy and don’t understand or maybe they don’t want to test their own theories.
Here’s the comment I left on the Bright Local Blog… first comment, but it might not be approved.
I’m sure they don’t want their first comment being one about why they’re wrong. I tried to be as respectful as possible, since it is their house, not mine.
So here’s the deal guys and gals. I’ve been in the St. Louis area for a long time. It’s in the show me state (missouri). I don’t know why that’s the state motto, maybe it’s because people here are hard to be bullshitted. If someone makes a claim, your typical response is “yeah? You have proof?” or “Cool, show me then”.
Unsubstantiated claims don’t fly here… at least with me and most people I know.
So I’m not going to bash these people getting it wrong on exact match domains, without showing you proof, and verifiable information you can google for yourself. Fair enough?
Proof Exact Match Domains Still Work
Before I get into the screen shots, I want to share a little theory with you. Yes, it is a theory, but my theories are usually right, or at least pretty close.
If a theory is wrong, I’ll have no problem admitting it.
The theory is that exact match domains have to ALWAYS play a role in the search results. No matter what Google does, it will be a ranking factor, UNLESS Google completely discounts the URL as a relevance signal, along with the domain name. Then imagine what it would have to do, when someone links to a specific URL in context and Google would have to discount that as well. This will never happen. It can’t happen.
What would take its’ place? If something decreases in weight, something else increases. What would it be? Heading tags? Alt tags? LOL.
Okay, enough theory… let’s show some results.
Carpet Cleaning Houston TX:
Results? #1 organic, #2 in local. The limited amount of reviews really prevents them from being #1 in local, as I mentioned before, many times reviews can carry a lot of weight in local search.
By the way, #3 organic is carpetcleaninghoustontx.net….but EMD’s don’t work anymore, right?
Plumber Dallas TX:
Dallasplumbing.com is ranking #1 in local, despite 0 reviews, and #2 in organic. It couldn’t be because Exact Match Domains work, right? Maybe plumbers are just a weak niche, weak competition, and NEVER have SEOs working on their stuff, right?
Yeah… can’t be the EMD.
Tow Truck Chicago IL
Certainly this search should give us some quality results, right? You’re in Chicago, car breaks down, you need a tow truck. These are going to be the best of the best, because Google really wants the highest quality results. Surely, a keyword domain can’t appear here, right?
For those going to those sites, my apologies on the first one. I put darkangeltowingchicago.co but it is in fact .com
Keyword domains dominating the search here in local… I guess Dark Angel is the only one that tried to brand their domain names. Maybe it’s just a weak niche.
Since we wrecked our car, or something happened to it, a shady lawyer tells us to go to a chiropractor. So while we’re stuck in Chicago, we search for:
Chiropractor Chicago IL
These outstanding professionals surely wouldn’t stoop to something so low as an exact match domain or keyword domain, right? They must have the high quality SEOs handling their stuff that know keyword domains are so outdated and no longer work. Their SEOs stay on top of EVERYTHING that Bright Local, Moz, and others write about.
Hmmm… Turns out the outstanding SEO’s were ranking on page 2 and 3. The noobs must have taken over page 1, using such an outdated tactic.
But who cares about Chicago? A small midwestern city, that isn’t competitive anyway, there’s probably only 3 chiropractors in the entire city. Crazy midwesterners and their stupid keyword domains, right?
/Sarcasm
You can search flooring Pittsburgh PA and see pittsburgh-flooring.com ranking top 3 GMB. You can search Pest Control Miami FL and see pestcontrol-miami.net ranking #1. Or Dentist Boston MA and see Citidentalboston.com and bostondental.com ranking.
The searches are endless.
Let’s Cut The Crap
These are just a few examples.
It didn’t take long to find them, in fact, I had over 50 examples within 30 minutes of light research. Hell, I even have an exact match domain in the legal niche in a populated city… and the site has 0 content. It’s a blank page ranking #1 organically.
How difficult is it to find these? It’s not hard, you probably have some keyword domains in your local areas. They aren’t rare… it’s not rare to find them. Yet, these people continue to say they don’t work.
This nonsense needs to stop.
I know I’ve been a bit hard on the guru bullshit lately, but it’s sickening. People with high authority outlets, are spewing this stupid, idiotic, BS without spending 30 minutes to verify what they’re saying.
I really don’t know why they keep doing this. To be fair, I think the Bright Local post was just a guest post or something. Hopefully the company itself, doesn’t agree with it. Even if they do, I guess it doesn’t matter, they have nice tools to use but that’s why they exist, they don’t exist to handle SEO for clients.
The whole keyword domain thing… that’s the biggest lie I’ve heard in a while.
The article that triggered this post, also had some other claims I believe to be highly inaccurate, but I can deal with people having their opinions and being wrong on certain things… when it comes to something as BIG as this, I can’t let it slide, and neither should you.
Final Thoughts
It’s tough being in this industry. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I really feel for you guys that are hustling, trying to learn everything you can but not knowing what information you can trust.
The misinformation in this field, is unreal. Never before has it been so awful with conflicting sources.
Do your part to help… call people out, question what they say.
One of the first clients I had we used almost an exact match domain. This was 2 years ago and they’re still ranking today.
I saw a couple articles about them not working but it’s still working for me.
I think branded domains have their place but for a new site or new business it’s hard to beat a keyword loaded domain in local.
Yeah, there’s no doubt they still work. Of course you should want to have a branded domain, but when it comes to a local service business, trying to get out there, it’s hard to deny the power of a good keyword domain. I think there’s a good argument for branded domains over keyword domains, the problem is people don’t make that argument, they just say that EMDs aren’t working because Matt Cutts said they prefer branded domains lol.
For long term I try to use branded but 100% on local I use EMDs and they work a dream. Each niche we build we do 3 sites (I) branded (ii) EMD (iii) PMD and play with this sape with black hat and all three sites work. Too many scaremongers out there and not enough people actually doing the graft / hustle
Interesting James… is this for affiliate and niche sites? I guess I can see that being a good strategy as long as you know the niche is profitable. Which one do you see the best results with?
Oh also what are your thoughts on amp? I’m not sure if you’ve talked about it yet
I think there’s a lot of hype around it, don’t buy into the plugins or info products yet. I think it’s a wait and see type thing.
I too am waiting to see what happens with Amp. My thoughts are it will probably become a factor of some sort, probably not as much as a responsive/mobile-friendly site is but I bet it will have a certain amount of effect. But in the meantime I’m not jumping on that bandwagon until someone actually shows me it has an effect.
Smart, no sense in spending much time on it until we know it’s truly going to make an impact.
As soon as I read that Bright Local post this morning and saw the part about localized doorway pages no working anymore, I had a feeling you would make a response to it haha. I was actually going to send you the link.
I think the biggest problem is when people state “SEO Tips” as facts, instead of sayings it’s their opinion or things they’ve heard from other people. Because like you said, as soon as someone respected in the SEO industry says something, people blindly follow and accept it as fact.
The reality is there are no hardened “rules” as to what works and what doesn’t. If there were, I know of A LOT of companies that wouldn’t be ranking on the first page of Google right now with their PBN links.
I’m really curious to see whether or not BL will actually publish your comment though.
I thought the same thing when I read the Bright Local blog. I immediately came here to see if there was a response, and nothing at the time. Just checked email and Voila!
Nathan, instead of being the ‘experts’ being offended by your responses to their posts, maybe the should stop being lazy, and perhaps, a little to full of themselves, and test their theories(not facts, but theories).
I really respect the fact that you research and test test test!
Hey Aunt D. LOL, that’s funny. I almost didn’t open their email today, and then when I did, I almost didn’t click… but I did haha. I thought about ignoring it for a bit but decided I might as well get it off my chest. Nothing against BL, they’re just another source piling on the EMD bashing. I thought this topic was old news, but apparently not.
Very good input Dominique.. You’re right about that being one of the problems. A tip, isn’t a fact all the time. A lot of people do blindly follow, I guess it’s easier than trying everything out for themselves. Then when they wonder why they aren’t ranking, ask the same people for input and repeat the process lol.
They probably won’t publish, but oh well, that’s okay with me.
Got the same email. As soon as I saw it I thought “I’ll get a email from the income bully guy about this.”
I know that emd’s have always worked in the life insurance niche. You can’t even buy one. Still, I was surprised by how well they worked by this post.
Yeah, EMDs, even partials are very hard to find in some niches. Impossible to find in many!
Hey, thanks for the post, but I think you’re being a little harsh on the article you reference, if not mis-representing what he says. He does NOT say emd’s don’t work. In fact, he says that they do have some impact. However, he simply makes the case that they are unnecessary and there are better approaches. You may disagree with that opinion, but I think your comments are exaggerated and not quite fair.
I agree with some of his reasons, but there may also be times when an emd will be the best approach. Certainly if you can combine a kw with business name, as you said that would be awesome and I think most folks would do that.
Anyway, I have no stake in BrightLocal, just looking for the best info I can find. Some of it is here, some of it is there, and other places you don’t like 🙂
Hey Tony. I don’t think I’m misrepresenting what he is saying, it isn’t just about Bright Local, it is about all the other sources that have piled onto this EMD bashing event.
Lets be fair here, the title is 5 Local SEO Tactics You Need to Stop Doing TODAY… He says it’s an outdated tactic, uses a Rand Fishkin video to prove his point, no data given… said its pre-pigeon pre-panda era when neither of those algorithm changes have anything to do with domains. I don’t think I’m being unfair, and it isn’t just directed at the author or Bright Local, but the SEO community as a whole, at least the ones that continue preaching the nonsense.
When a business owner hires you to bring in revenue… your job isn’t to think about what is old, what is new, your job is to bring in the results.
Right now, these same people talk bad about businesses using the biz name for optimization purposes…yes it’s spammy… yes, it sure does work too!
I think the problem with these people is they are trying to create a Utopian community for SEO, creating content that discusses where they want SEO to go instead of where it actually is today. That’s where the disconnect is in my opinion.
Anyway Tony, I appreciate the comment and your input. Always great to have a healthy discussion 🙂
Oh and Tony, I forgot to mention this part:
“It’s better to target location-based keywords throughout your website, but not in your website URL.”
I believe a lot of the readers here hope their competition takes that advice. LOL.
Funny how your comment is still not appearing on the bright local site???? 🙂
Yeah, they’ve finally approved comments, but didn’t approve mine. I have a feeling it will go into perpetual moderation lol. Kind of sad… I always approve comments that are critical, but I guess they’re just another source that likes to control the narrative without allowing things to be challenged.
Love the balls you have to put this stuff out there – it’s fantastic! I saw that Brightlocal article yesterday and that’s the first thing I was thinking as well – great another rinse and recycle local seo article putting out the same false info as always. It’s almost as if Google is writing these themselves.
I laugh at myself however because I shouldn’t be talking since I was the one that wrote the giant Local SEO guide that sits on top of Google for everything Local SEO related and it’s all completely white hat, generic, by the book, stuff in it. Sure the majority of those steps will help your local seo a bit but obviously everything the local seo gurus say to do is just the tip of the iceberg. Mainly because EVERYONE does it.
Until Google really gets spamming and all of the other tactics that keep the best businesses out of the map packs right in their algorithm, you have to overstep the boundaries of white hat and go a little grey or even black to get where most people really want to be in the SERPs.
Keep em comin, love the blog!
Hey thanks for the comment Brian! I agree with your observation, it DOES seem Google is writing it lol. It’s almost as if a lot of this content is put out by paid surrogates of Google. Of course, some are “top contributors” and enjoy their pedestal at well known blogs, but they’re playing it safe. Seems like they won’t touch a topic that Google wouldn’t approve of. I honestly don’t know if they really believe the content they put out there.
Google will never get spamming eliminated. When one hole closes another opens. Even with machine learning, there’s ways to manipulate machines, algorithms, humans, etc. It will always be a fight for them, and for us. I don’t necessarily view SEO in the the color of hats, black, gray, white, it’s all the same to me. Every single tactic used can eventually be a spam signal, nobody is ever safe. So with that line of thinking, as long as it’s legal and not too crazy black hat, I’m usually okay with it. Just have to analyze the risk associated.
Thanks again Brian!
I can echo your sentiments about the gurus. I took a shot at Tom Soulo for his last year’s article 90 SEO Experts Talk, http://www.localsearchforum.com/organic-seo/42364-tim-soulo-only-knows-dudes.html#post82146
Thanks for stopping by Justin, you were right in your post, sometimes it does take a new guy to come along and shake things up. It’s not just that round up though, there’s hundreds of others and most don’t even include any women in there. 0% is the norm, 2% I guess is progress haha.
im glad i read this article as about 5 weeks ago i just bought 50 EMD domains. As im fairly new to all this SEO, its really down to everyone to test themselves. Reality is people and it does include myself want spoon fed the info. I just finalized my Google my business tonight with one of my sites and its in position 4 all ready. Nothing has been done , no citations, no geo tagging. So EMD must help somewhere. You can always build 3 sites along each other EMD;PMD and branded and see which ones rank on a consistent basis .
Anyway im off to bed lady’s to dream about ranking on Goolge. How my dreams have.
Thanks Income bully
Congrats David… My rule is, go ahead and trust people, but test it and see if they’re right. Trust but verify I guess.
Emd does work. Forget what others says.
Type ‘bank holidays 2016’ (UK Google) and see what emd is ranking for. By the way that keyword search volume is 600k. I better grab some of that emds. Nice article @income bully
Yep… EMD is as strong as ever it seems. There’s so many examples of it working, it’s hard to imagine that people can seriously think that it is outdated.
I would take this a step further – its NOT EMD that is working its simply the URL. Look at your Dallas Plumbing example, #1 organic is “/plumbing”. Set structure right to /dallas/plumbing and your local listing might get in there. ( with this example there is some identity issues with their local listing and #1 local just aint going to happen ) To be honest I am very anti EMD – not because it doesn’t work… im old school and work more with structure. Its simply easier to set a structure based URL ( dallas/plumbing ) to hit many geographical regions than it is for an EMD. I can see what all these anti EMD posts are saying – but they are not taking it a step further. There is no way in gosh in a hand basket that brand.com is going to rank for squat locally. brand.com/city/profession and then you have something… but you never read that now do you? – oh but wait… specific lander pages are a no no – those don’t work either I keep forgetting that.. my entire career was started with and continues to be targetted landing page ( IE island pages ) Ill share a tidbit here… in SEO there are 3 types of pages you should be developing #1 intent based content ( look up “pregnancy” and the first few listings.. GREAT examples of intent based pages the content is focused on a searchers intent… what are they really looking for ) #2 Latent based or broad based content how many ways can you flop a term? lol #3 is exact match. You want to draw plumbing customers in Plano TX.. you had better have a Plano page. you want to draw Dallas customers? you had better have a Dallas page.
Misinformation has always been an issue. Exact match domains are weighted differently than before as they should. I think it was back around in 2012 when Google changed the algo to address quality.
I’ve seen exact match domains with decent content. They rank fine and deserve to. To say it’s manipulative is laughable. I wonder if that writer is of the same group who say domain age no longer matters. If you’re going to have someone guest write, at least vet their credibility. I noticed how there is no information on that BrightLocal writer.
Good post backed up with solid examples.
Interesting, so exact match can spawn more specific exact matches
Hi Nathan,
Thank you for another great article! I am putting into practice your advice about on page seo for local seo and the snack pack.
I think Paul Savidge make a very valid point about the URL.
I have done very limited research and found that if the city name is in the domain name or in the url then it tends to do well in the local snack packs – even saw a facebook url where this was the case!
I am about to set up a GMB page now do I just stick with (a) the main domain name which isn’t a EMD (b) a URL that has the city name in it e.g. bobsmith.com/texas/ (c) one that has the cityname and keyword e.g. bobsmith.com/texas/roofers or (d) just the main keyworde.g. bobsmith.com/roofing
As the competition is not very high I am targetting a handful of small towns based in the UK and expect to hopefully be in more than one town for the snack pack.
Yeah, well the domain name is always part of a URL and URL optimization is pretty important. For GMB purposes though, they seem to place extra value on keyword domains. For your GMB page if it isn’t an EMD you certainly could optimize it better by including /keyword-cityname-stateabbreviation(if in the US)
If the competition isn’t very thick, then you don’t really need to worry about all that, especially in local!
Cool thanks Nathan:)
Great post Nathan. Completely agree with your points, the resurgence of this topic is purely the Google propaganda machine, discount/discredit as many techniques, people, services and strategies rather than actually working on making them obsolete, because the latter (for Google) is a lot harder to do than good propaganda. Especially if you have an industry full of people that want to be ethical in an unethical world anyway.. Even though “ethical” could be defined as complete bullsh*t because who made Google the internet good guy in the first place?
You’re 100% right in the fact that EMDs do still work.. BUT, they work for people who do good strategies. If you’re hitting your EMD with 100 Web 2.0s you bought off Fiverr, the likely hood is that G isn’t going to push the needle because you’re using spammy links in a spammy way, that being exact match – Rather than a branded domain having a more diverse anchor profile.
Likewise, EMDs aren’t always the best bet when it comes to things like Affiliate because when you come to sell that site (as most affiliate SEOs do) the site is devalued as it’s an EMD and cannot be expanded upon (normally), whereas a branded domain can be – Making a branded domain more valueable than an EMD.
Agree with your post though, been following you for several months now, shoutout to a member of BHC I forgot who linked me your blog in the Skype group.
Hey Charles, thanks so much for the comment! I’ve also been following some of your posts as well!
You’re absolutely right about the web 2.0 and EMD’s, and other methods for that matter, but I guess that’s the same with everything. Good point about flipping affiliate sites, that’s something I haven’t really considered since I have very little experience in affiliate marketing but it makes sense.
I prefer branded domains overall actually, but I also know the power they have, especially in local search. Crazy seeing the propaganda at work and the mind numbing regurgitation lol.
I have noticed that EMD’s still work amazing but the one downside is they are more vulnerable to negative seo. A few link blasts with the same keyword as your domain can really hurt a site if your comp fights dirty.
I haven’t noticed negative SEO being effective for local SEO except when dilluting NAP by blasting fake citations all over the place. Good point though, guess you need the disavow tool ready to be loaded.
Ya, I have also tried with emd, it still works.
Thanks for writing this. About 95% of local serps have tons of exact match domains. It’s crazy how many gurus listen to Google and blindly forgo actual research and testing.
It’s amazing isn’t it? I see keyword domains all over the place in local. Same with adding keywords to your business name. Until Google does something to hit those, it’s never going to stop working.
I have an exact match domain webdesignbrisbane.net – at the moment, it doesn’t rank for “web design brisbane” on google.com.au – where the target market is. I’ve done no link building at all on the site, so it will be interesting to see how it ranks over time.
Yeah probably only a matter of time, assuming you have strong on page optimization. How new is the domain? If the 3 pack shows up for that search term, that domain should definitely help.
Domain is a couple of months old and yes the 3 pack shows up for the term.
Still a new domain so I wouldn’t worry too much. You’re using a Brisbane address, correct? Put the address in the site footer, and also change the address on your contact page to reflect the Brisbane address, assuming you have one.
You guys are too young to remember the Yellow Pages. It was like Google in a book. Back then the way to get in the #1 position was to name your business with the letter “A”. Some business owners went as far as “AAAAAAA LOCK AND KEY” It was bullshit but it got the first in the YellowPage Listing for the Lock and Key heading.
Today it’s “exact match keyword” domains and POI’s. A “Your City” Lock and Key POI with a half decent original content WordPress website with exact match domain .biz, .net, .anyting and you’re golden. Google needs to fix this. It’s a huge gaping loophole, but many are laughing all the way to the bank.
Thanks for the comment Clifford. Yeah, there were also local directories that listed businesses alphabetically. Some still do that and can bring a little bit of extra traffic as well. You still see a lot of the AA Roofing/lock smith/towing/etc. companies out there today.
Will it trigger over optimization if I use EMD and use targeted keywords into title and meta description?
It shouldn’t. If you’re using an EMD, you would want to be careful about overdoing it with URLs though.
Hi, Question on EMD in a BPNs. I freshly registered exact-match-domains for high volume, relevant keywords. Whats the best way to exploit this now?
– setup a redirect to money site?
– build a couple of standard pages and send 1 text link (SEO only)?
– rather drive traffic to money site with CTAs etc?
– brand it as a partnersite ?
– generate leads (like on the moneypage) right away from the BPN sites ?
Well, I guess it depends on what exactly you’re wanting to accomplish. Personally, I really like the approach of branding it as a partner site. You can do that, and also link to your money site in some of the internal pages. That’s the approach that probably has the most flexibility and potential in my opinion.
Nathan,
I was just perusing this article again, this long after it was initially created, coming back to the emd idea. I read Neil Patel’s blog where he talks about this exact topic, and one of his readers in the comments section deftly pointed out that it is only EMD with “low quality content” which is affected by EMD penalty. This has nothing to do with quality content for a company’s site that has an emd domain.
On the flip side I just wanted to let you know I recently wrote a book for the financial niche that comes out next week (the Kindle version was released a couple of months ago). I just found too many great pieces of advice on your blog that I had to share it with my readers. Again keep up the great blog posts!
Hey Justin, what’s the name of your book? I’ll check it out!
Whew! Sorry it took me so long to get back to you, vacation ended for me. Here’s the amazon page, https://www.amazon.com/Qualify-Present-Expense-Medicare-Supplements-ebook/dp/B01LW4B5BW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1473712699&sr=8-1&keywords=how+to+sell+final+expense#nav-subnav
I know it’s niche, but it speaks to problems with generational enormity, we were just glad to have some solid advice for these financial professionals (thanks to experts like you). Below is a book-trailer video we made for it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=fp_tDt-5jNk
I’d love to send you a copy, get in touch with me!
Hey Justin, cool stuff! Not exactly my cup of tea but I’m definitely interested in hearing how it ends up selling for you!
Totally understand, insurance and finance niche is not for everyone, pretty technical and boring sometimes. But at least your site is getting in front of tons of financial professionals! You never know when you might use it to get into the niche lol.
Hi Nathan,
I recently came across an example of how effective EMD’s can be. I am relatively new to the SEO world so please forgive me if this isn’t something new.
I work as a digital marketer and one of my clients targets the keyword “foundation repair eugene.” When checking his ranking one day, I came across the EMD foundationrepaireugeneDOTorg. Digging further, I found that the same company uses other geo-targeted EMD’s such as foundationrepairportlandDOTorg, oregonfoundationrepairDOTcom, etc.
On top of this, that company has a website with a domain that is just their company name (as you’d expect), so they are using their EMD’s to rank higher than they would normally and to give their company undue exposure.
I wrote up everything I found in a blog https://partneredsolutionsit.com/learn/black-hat-seo-using-exact-match-domain (Not trying to self-promote)
What are you thoughts on this type of use of EMD’s? Have you come across this sort of thing before?
Thanks ahead of time
What do you mean on the type of EMD? The keyword with location modifier? It definitely works especially in local results. It’s less effective in organic search but still gets a decent boost. With local, they seem to be a bit dated and the keywords/location being in the domain make a pretty big difference. I’ll check out your blog post! Thanks for the comment.
I have a local competitor operating several business out of the same address using exact match company name with exact match domains. He has few backlinks and even fewer NAP citations.
I have zapped him on Google mapmaker and reported him with the feedback links. He goes away then comes roaring right back. He doesn’t deserve the placement in Google search.
What can I do?!?
Well, are you using your Google account that is associated with your business? Chances are if someone manually reviews, and they see you’re sending feedback as a competing company, they wouldn’t care much.
Just using an exact match domain and exact match company name doesn’t mean it violated their guidelines. If they’re adding city modifiers, then you can report and correct the name which will help you a bit. Are you ranking top 3 with him? If so, then focus on reviews, and if you’re feeling a little black hatty, then work on some negative reviews on him lol.
I feel for your situation, it sounds like you’re someone that is playing by the rules that Google has always preached and you’re not being rewarded. It happens a lot. The people that rank, usually are willing to do what others don’t want to do.
I’d have to see the SERP and your site to give better advice!
Yes. I am keeping it real and following Matt Cutts suggestion as my business name and domain are brand related. I use YEXT and have carefully built my own web presence.
I went to the county seat and looked at the register of deeds and discovered his business names are not even claimed with a certificate of assumed name. My competitor seems to know just enough to be dangerous.
Are these businesses that would have to be licensed with the city or county you live in? If so, you can easily sue the competitor and likely win.
Other than that, there’s not much you’re going to be able to do. If you continue to report the listing under mapmaker, it might be enough to push them out but you have to continue doing it, forever. Google doesn’t care about removing local spam it seems.
Getting a declaratory judgement on whether a business listing is actually a business is a technique some people use… I haven’t used it myself, but apparently it gets Google to permanently remove a listing.
Awesome post. Can you refer me to a guide or case study that talks about ranking a EMD? (Only if you know of some or have one on your blog)
Thanks
Love your sarcasm lol, btw now at the end of 2017, the algorithm changed again. It’s either double up or double down for EMD/PMD, yes, it still carries some weight, but it falls under the Google microscope much quicker than the branded domain. Anyway, it ultimately depends on what content you bring up to readers, only the quality content survive, period.
Nathan,
Good to connect here with you. My website traffic is down from 30000 per month (starting from zero and made it 30K in one year) and now it’s 3500 per month.
a) I posted quality content and my articles are at least of 1500 words
b) I did internally linking in the blog posts and linked 2-3 articles as ‘Related posts’
c) This website has affiliate links, and i did ‘nofollow’ them
d) I posted 2 articles a week means 8 articles a month
e) I last quarter of 2017, i could post 1-2 articles a month
1. My domain is EMD
2. I did internal linking (might be much as it was giving benefit but I think traffic down is not due to internal linking).
3. After all obervation, i do think it’s becuase of EMD. People tried back to find my website with domain name in Google search but due to keywords rich, brands and other old domains got my traffic .
I started updating it, but it is not going up. It is going down.
P.S. I didn’t get backlinks for this heavily. Just 10-20 BLs over year. I heavily focus on quality content.
Now i am planning to resume by buying domain name with brand effect – shorter length and of one-two words.
Where did i do wrong ??
Thanks!
Mack
Mack, thanks for the comment and sorry things aren’t going very well for you right now with your site. Thanks for all the detail too, but unfortunately, it may appear that you do the right things, but without seeing everything you’ve done, and knowing what the site is, there’s not much I can do.
How many pages of content do you have? What backlinks did you have? Did you lose links? When you were internally linking, you don’t want to internally link with targeted anchors (except once in a while), you usually want to link the context around the keywords to avoid any kind of spam triggers.
For example, if I were to create a new blog post, and want to mention my most recent local SEO case study, I wouldn’t link “local seo case study”, instead I would link something that describes it.
Now, about it being an EMD. Let’s assume Google decides to lower the value of EMD’s, making the URL or domain itself, not as strong. That is simply devaluing the built in strength it has/had when you buy the domain. It doesn’t mean it is a negative factor. Either way though, EMDs are alive and well. There has to be another problem. Shoot me a link either in the comment or email me [nathan at this domain], I’m happy to take a look for you.