Minor weather report: small upcoming Google algo change will reduce low-quality "exact-match" domains in search results.

EMD and domain best practices

1. Always be willing to spend 10-15% of your overall budget on the BEST domain name you can get. It will make a big difference in both the short and long run. Dive into the aftermarket, and send some emails.
2. Skip the second level TLD’s - .mobi / .travel / .info isn’t worth it.
3. No more than one dash in your domain (better to just skip dash domains altogether)
4. 3-4 words max for .com EMD’s
5. 2-3 words max for .net/.org EMD’s
6. Best to build a Brand site on a keyword domain so you get both brand mentions and generic intent keywords (see Toys.com owned by ToysRus.com and associates)
7. Geo-local EMD’s are great to own, and offer lower barriers to entry
8. You're going to have to focus some efforts on "de-optimization"

EMD’s do have their advantages, but they have some disadvantages as well.

Pros of an EMD

• Great for a startup to gather some relevant longtail traffic
• Easier to get targeted anchor text
• Easier to get social mentions with keywords
• Can dominate a single niche (IE: “Category Killer”)
• Good for targeting variations in the long tail keyword phrase set
• Brand mentions and keyword mentions become one in the same
• They can be very effective for generic commercial intent queries
• They can be very effective in local search
• Great way to build startup “bootstrapper” traction
• Can be an effective strategy with a well built microsite to target a single niche.
• Some businesses have very limited keyword sets – this is a decent approach in these areas.

Cons of an EMD

• Limits future brand expansion
• Can create “brand confusion”
• You don’t get the same “credit” for brand mentions.
• Your brand can come off as “generic”
• It can be harder to claim social media profiles
• It can be more difficult to associate mentions with your brand
• Hatorade on your site quality if you outrank competitors
• More chance of “over-optimization” (seriously, does anyone else hate this phrase as much as I do?)
• There are a limited amount of them
• They can be very expensive
• The effectiveness of the advantages are slowly being neutralized

A few things to consider for solving problems with EMD sites:

1. Disavow all public knowledge of SEO
2. De-optimize
3. De-link
4. Prioritize your SEO efforts – you can’t win the battle on all fronts anymore
5. Focus on quality of quantity (with site indexation)
6. Redesign and Rebrand (maybe it’s time to get a mascot for your .org)
7. Innovate ways to improve user engagement metrics
8. Develop a social presence and improve your social mentions
9. Diversify your backlink profile
10. Diversify your anchor text
11. Okay – I’m (kind of) kidding on rule #1 - #3

Types of EMD’s