EMD's vs Business Name?

[ColoradoChris]

Hello to all,

I may be in the wrong spot, but I am looking to ask about exact match domains.

See my competition uses exact match domains, and have ranked #1 for years. But if I go down that road, is that bad?

For an example, if I bought a exact match domain, will Google catch on soon and bury me in a deep hole? Or is an exact match 3 keyword domain still a good idea?

Or is branding the real future? So instead of risking Google having there way with you, just get a domain with your business and rank for your brand?

I am sure this debate has been asked, but just curious if EMD's are dead? or a great strategy.

Thank you

Chris

 

[Linda Buquet]

Hi Chris,

Google still loves EMDs in local, providing all the content and optimization is done well. Then EMDs that have nothing going for them have lost steam, as they should!

But if you already have a mature site I would think long and hard before starting over with a new site. That's always going to cause a downward shuffle for at least awhile and but time all is said and done EMDs may no longer get the preference they do now.

A new site will break your NAPS (NAP+ SITE) and new sites can take a long time to rank.

Bottom line too is that there are plenty of EMDs that don't rank well either, because they have not done everything right. We never notice those losers cuz they are buried. We only see the top ranking EMDs so it's easy to think that's the easy way.

Not necessarily. Like with anything kind of depends.

If you have a bad site that has nothing going for it, is penalized or won't rank no matter what you try and you need to start over with a new site anyway??? Then I'm torn 50/50 between brand domain and EMD.
Pros and cons to both.

BUT if you have a decent site that's ranking decent, just wish it ranked higher, I would def get help finding out what you could do to boost the existing site before I would start over.

 

[ColoradoChris]

Sounds great. I deep down thought that keeping with my business name for branding might seem best.

It just gets so frustrating sometimes watching other sites rule the search.


But I guess that's another reason why I am here.