Do Exact Match Domains Still Have Value?

[RyanShahed]

I realise that there has probably been a lot said about Exact Match Domains, however, I want to know 2 things:

1. Is this two exact match domains or one EMD: "londonfootball.com" and "footballlondon.com" so is "London Football" one EMD, and "Football London" another?

2. Does having an EMD add a big advantage in getting ranked? Is it worth paying 2 months SEO expense to buy an EMD? To me if it still has an advantage then it probably is. However, I would like to hear the opinion of the experts.

I would specially like to hear from anyone who owns or bought an EMD to rank.

Thank you.

[WilliamKammer]

EMDs still carry weight, more than they should IMO.

LondonFootball.com and FootballLondon.com are two different EMDs, just similar.

Is it worth paying two months of your SEO budget? Depends on the EMD and the SEO you were going to hire. Also make sure to do a lot of research on the EMD to see what it's history is. It is indexed? Does it have an acceptable backlink profile? Was it used for anything shady in the past?

There are very few domains I would drop thousands on, and even fewer that I would purchase strictly for SEO gain.

[DarinPirkey]

I think that EMDS are still good if they are BRANDED EMDs.  If you want to name your company that particular EMD then you'll be alright.  I think domain metrics are a better judgement of a value of a domain name vs just the name itself.   Neither one of them will give you much value (I ran them through MajesticSEO).  You are basically starting from scratch either way. I would spend my money elsewhere unless you plan on branding the company "London Football".

[David-Kley]

EMD or keyword-driven domains can carry a huge amount of weight when optimized correctly. I agree with William "EMDs still carry weight, more than they should IMO"

If you use a EMD, you can potentially limit the exposure of the site, due to focusing only on one keyword or subject matter. This is where I agree with VZPro, where a branded EMD would provide more benefit.

I'm guessing you are referencing the cost due to someone selling the domains mentioned at a high cost?

[DarinPirkey]

I agree and the EMD update in Google wasn't about Exact Math Domains themselves, as much as EMDS with very little or "thin" content.  Before, you could literally rank a EMD with no backlinks.  I own a sports ticket buying site that I never did SEO for and was making around $6000 during the college football season until the update came out.  I never had a single link pointing to it and it floated in the number 3 to number 5 spot for a 10k per month search.  Not so much any more...

Here is a great article from over at Search Engine Land on some EMD rearch http://searchengineland.com/google-emd-update-research-and-thoughts-137340

[RyanShahed]

Thanks to all for your responses.

@VZ Pro The domain in question was not londonfootball.com , this was just an example.

I personally have made a domain rank 2 years ago constantly for about 1.5 years on the top of Google, until the most recent Google update, with very little links, just by being an EMD, it was just a simple brochure site. Nothing spammy, and the business I was involved with made substantial amount of money through just this one domain. To make matters worse, this was a org.uk domain, which, for those in the UK, are often considered low value domains, and I think Google gives it far less weight then co.uk. So this proved to my that EMD's can be well worth it. This was also in a very small geographic niche, which probably made it easier to rank. I only paid around £6 ($10) for 2 years registration. The site stopped ranking because we made the mistake of using someone who got us some bad links, so the Google update hit it badly. But since disavow, it still continues to bring in some business.

Now currently I am negotiating with someone on a domain broking site for an EMD for a niche. I am hoping to I can negotiate him to $1,000. I was just debating in my head if there is still potential in the domains. Based on what you guys are saying, it seems like there is still quite a lot of potential. Especially if you make the site good, and make sure it has quality content and is not spammy.

[David-Kley]

Glad to help Ryan. It sounds like you have a good plan going forward. As long as the site has good content and seo, I'm sure you will be fine. Best of luck with the new site!