The ranking power of exact match domains

[bjalc2011]

I've read previous Q&A where people have been a bit dismissive of the ranking significance of exact match domains but my experience recently using the keyword competiveness tool is that exact match domains seem to outrank other sites regardless of domain or page authority or other on-site/on-page optimisation.

I'm interested in other people's opinions and experiences.

[SeoStallion]

Completely agree with you, a site I am about to begin working on www.writeawill.co is ranked on the first page of Yahoo search even when at the time it had no inbound links and no on-site SEO. The owner simply used a WYSIWYG tool and submitted in to the search engines.

[SeoStallion]

Completely agree with you, a site I am about to begin working on www.writeawill.co is ranked on the first page of Yahoo search for 'write a will' even when at the time it had no inbound links and no on-site SEO. The owner simply used a WYSIWYG tool and submitted in to the search engines.

[EGOL]

I have a few exact match domains that compete in niches that range from easy  to highly competitive.

In easy niches they can get you top rankings with a couple of links.  However, as the degree of difficulty goes up the importance of doing "real SEO" comes significantly into play.

In my opinion, the two real values of an exact match domain are their impact on conversion rate but more importantly the amount of  mental energy that it gives me to work on the site.

[SparkplugDigital]

In my experience you see exact match domains ranking higher than they "should" all the time. I have talked to another SEO who prefers to go with an exact match over a brand name almost every time.