Exact match domain

[seoug_2005]

Will buying an exact match domain and redirecting it to our main site a good idea, if such a domain is available ? What are the pros and cons ?

Are exact match domains still powerful for ranking purpose ?

[JamesNorquay]

To be honest it will work better if you buy the exact match domain and then build a small site on it and have it rank for the keyword.

Just buying an exact match domain will not mean you will get it ranked if it is a 301 re direct, the only traffic it will yield will be direct type in traffic for the domain and this is only small.

[Keszi]

I totally agree with James!

If you are buying that domain name, then with a small effort you can get it "rank well" (it depends on niche).

Istvan

[RobertFisher]

This is what we did with one client who was not ranking in the first 5 pages for anything in his profession/niche. We bought an exact match domain utilizing hyphens for a major keyword (3 word phrase). His original domain was his name and Lawfirm. You must understand that law firm is not a good keyword.

We then built a new site that was fully optimized around his discipline and what will be most beneficial to him from a client type point of view.

We then did a 301 redirect of url to url www.oldlawfirm.com to www.new-law-term.com in the .htaccess file. Over the first three months we got about 80% of the previous authority and are still getting some now.

Understanding that we are good at SEO and that we write new content, get new links, have him blog, etc. We now have him ranked on Page One of Google and Bing for about half of the best terms for him.

Was it the exact match domain that did it....not alone, but I do believe it helped. I think it still does but don't believe that will be true in say 2 to 5 years.

So, to just get it and use it as a redirected to the old site I would say, don't waste the time or energy. If you are willing to work a bit, you can do some voodoo with it.
Best

[SimonCullum]

Hi Atul

James is correct in his answer and likewise Robert provides a good answer also.

Check out a blog post from back in December 2010, 'The Problems with Exact Match Domains' which highlighted the issues associated with exact match domains being given too much weight and SEO benefit.

This was shown in blog post by Rand himself entitled 'Are Exact Match Domains Too powerful? Is Their Time Limited?'

Since then, it is widely believed that Google has changed the weighting that is given to exact match domains and they now count for less than previously.  Check out this blog post entitled 'Google: Exact Match Keyword domain Does Not Mean Rankings' by Barry Schwartz over on Search Engine Roundtable.

Going back to your question, there will be Zero SEO benefit from simply buying a new domain and redirecting it to another site.  If you were to buy an existing strong relevant website with it's domain and redirect that, there would be some SEO benefit, though mainly from the website rather than the domain name.

I hope that helps,

Regards

Simon

[seoug_2005]

Thanks to all of you for your useful insights. The takeaway is that it's better to buy an exact match domain and build a useful site rather than redirecting.

[Wynyard]

My experience fits best with what Robert is saying. Simply purchasing a domain and expecting a benefit from a redirection is likely to lead to disappointment, unless the new domain is so appealing and memorable that you plan to use it elsewhere to grow awareness. Otherwise, you should do some additional work to get any benefit from this. But to answer your question ... it's not a bad idea.

We recently moved a client site from page 3 to page 1 for some keywords in the pcb manufacturing industry by moving the entire site to a new keyword domain, being sure of course to implement 301s, flag the change in Webmaster Tools and so forth. It helped that, bizarrely, this particular client had been sitting on the domain for some time and in fact some of their inbound links already referred to it. The transfer of authority therefore has been smoother than might normally be expected. But since nothing else about the site has changed the jump can really only be attributed to keywords in the domain.

[EGOL]

A very similar discussion here....

http://www.seomoz.org/q/exact-match-domain-names-2