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These are personal opinions... you will find lots of people who disagree... Google still gives a good bonus to exact match domains in the search results.  I own several and believe this is true.   They will not automatically rank you for highly competitive money keywords.  You must still work there - but not quite as hard. Lots of people think that EMDs get an unfair advantage in the SERPs.  These are people who purchased their domain late, want to buy cheap, or just don't understand that prime domains are just like Main Street real estate in a prosperous town.  If you are willing to pay the obscene price you will get all of the benefits.  I go after them.  I want the EMD for my important sites. Lots of people talk about the EMD penalty... they are full of beans.   What they think is a penalty is the EMDs not getting quite the full bonus that they did in the past.   Now, if you publish crap on an EMD, that EMD will not perform well - just like publishing crap on any other domain. Lots of people think that a partial match domain gives a big bonus in the SERPS... I'd say don't waste your time unless you have a brandable slogan or name. Conversion rates can be higher on exact match domains.  That is my experience. It is easier to get cooperation from other people if you own an important EMD.   The EMD can give you immediate credibility even if undeserved. Most importantly... owning the EMD gives me mental energy.  If I owned baloney.com then I would be the big baloney and build the best site around for that topic.  This mindset is more powerful than any SEO.