However, this is no longer the case. In September 2012, Google rolled out an EMD update to eliminate the Exact Match Domain advantage of getting high rankings. The EMD update affected 0.6% of English US located queries. Along with the release of Penguin 2.0 this year, Google is making a concerted effort to improve the rankings of quality sites by removing undeserving sites from higher ranking positions. However, not all EMD sites are poor quality ones and if they do things right, can still maximize their SEO benefits.
EMD and Penguin Updates
The major challenges that EMDs face to improve ranking in 2013 are related to Google’s 2012 and 2013 updates:
EMD Update – The 2012 update can filter out EMD sites with low-quality content and penalize them with low rank if they are deliberately using their domain name to increase PageRank. This update regulates the misuse of EMDs and brings in better search results. However, it has affected the rankings of EMDs and the revenues of search engine optimization service providers.
However, the EMD update allows inbound links with same link anchor text and domain name as long as the site’s content site is viable and competent. Such sites can get benefit from the keywords in both inbound links and EMD.
For instance, for a site with domain URL www.medicaltranscription.com with link anchor text ‘medical transcription’, the keyword ‘medical transcription’ appears in the domain URL and the link anchor text linking to it. As Google considers link anchor text for ranking, the site can gain rank from link anchor text and EMD - except if it has poor quality content. Nevertheless, challenges exist in boosting PageRank by using inbound links with the same link anchor text and domain name in large numbers.
Penguin Update – The update prevents passing rank from an unrelated site. Suppose the site www.medicaltranscription.com links to something in a recipe site. Penguin 2.0 targets a site with a lot of such unrelated links, in this instance, sites that have absolutely nothing to do with medical transcription. Just showing numbers in terms of inbound links will not work.
How to Overcome from EMD and Penguin Updates
Create Great Content – Make sure you have fresh, informative content. Add more than one page on the website such as generic pages including ‘About Us’, ‘Privacy Policy’, and new pages with fresh content. Write informative content relevant to the topic. Also, ensure the keyword density of overall content in the site is optimum. Avoid over optimizing content and tags with keywords as much as possible.
Avoid Link Farming and Spamming – Penguin does not allow overusing back links for boosting PageRank. So avoid link farming (group of websites linking to each one within the group) and spamming links. If your site has spam links, remove them as soon as possible. Include inbound links from high quality, relevant sites. Implement an efficient SEO link building strategy approved by Google.
Use Social Media – Create social media pages - on Facebook, Twitter and more. Social signals are important for any website, including EMDs. Sharing up-to-date content about your business in various social media channels will bring in more targeted traffic to your website.
Stick with your EMD – you could still get a lot of SEO benefits from it – provided you use the right strategies. One of the ideal options to maximize the SEO benefits of your EMD in the current scenario is to contact a professional SEO company offering advanced SEO services.