EMD Google Update: Is It Mass Genocide of Exact Match Domains?
Unless you were hibernating in a deep dark cave underground, you might have heard some bloggers, all SEO experts and every internet marketer scream about EMD update by Google in the last week of September 2012. Most of the stuff we all heard were panic reactions by the so- called ‘overnight Google EMD update experts’ who began prophesying doom for the EMDs or the exact match domains.
What is Google EMD Update?
What exactly happened on September 28th, 2012? Well, it was too early to say in September, but now that it is almost a week after the update, I guess the time is ripe to find out what EMD Google update means and evaluate its impact upon web users and website owners in general.
The update is supposed to affect 0.6 % of English-US search queries and prevents sites with exact match domain names and low quality of content from showing up in SERP. To simplify this more further for beginners, it means that websites that have domain names that exactly match certain niche keywords will be affected, but only if the content they have on their site is low in quality.
Important Criteria Mentioned in EMD Google Update
Before we panic and run off to check our site’s SERP results, let us first examine the two important criteria mentioned by Google in the update:
1) The domain name must be an exact match. This clearly specifies that the domain name must be made up of ONLY keyword/s and no other extra words as prefix / suffix. So if the keyword is blog seo, then the domain name must be blogseo.com / blogseo.any extension.
2) The content on the site must be low quality. Now that brings us to the logical question about what exactly is considered low quality by Google? It is definitely tough to describe this clearly, because as we all know, Google updates keep changing the meaning of quality content every 3 or 4 months a year.
Who Were Affected By EMD Update?
0.6 % of English-US searches does not imply a huge number of the websites, but if you take a look at the real picture, facts are quite different from what Google claims. Over the last week, a huge number of website owners with EMDs have been complaining about their sites being..
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Many have suffered from the update and many will still get hurt with time to come. Although, I welcome the idea to scrap low quality websites from top search query listings, it has nonetheless affected a lot of business on the long run. I think people should now learn to focus on playing around with synonyms as over optimization and keyword concentration is fast fading away in SEO
Ivan Aliku recently posted..How to Generate Traffic and Backlinks from Blog Commenting
Yes Ivan, over-optimization has become quite outdated w.r.t SEO. It is time for every online business owner to focus on quality and readers rather than on search engines.
drkavita recently posted..High Bounce Rate of Your Site- How to Evaluate Analytics Data and Find the Culprit
I really think this update affected Micro Niche Sites more than all EMDs. If your domain has authoritative content and decent links, why should you pay the price for the malfeasance of other EMD owners?
I think anyone who wants to salvage their EMD just needs to make their content more compliant and make more of it. They can come back in the future. This is not a penalty, but rather a devaluation of the boost once given to EMDs.
Darreb
Thanks for your visit and comment Darren. You’re right; it was Google who first showered its blessings on EMDs and now it has decided to devalue them and again focus on quality of content.
drkavita recently posted..High Bounce Rate of Your Site- How to Evaluate Analytics Data and Find the Culprit
This has been the worst of all Google updates so far. It has affected more sites than previously thought. Its actually like a storm in the SEO world. A complete destruction of small businesses.
Shalu recently posted..Corruption in India
You are right Shalu. The latest update has caused a huge upheaval for numerous small businesses. But I think the entire blame cannot be placed on EMD update alone. The fatal combination of 2 heavy duty updates within a span of 24 hrs must have caused the mass destruction.
drkavita recently posted..Did Google Panda Update Sneak In With EMD Update?
Well it was rolled outon weekend eve. Lets wait for few week days and hear impact. Some webmasters start reporting huge drop in search traffic
It seems there are several other updates rolled in as well along side the EMD.
Any tips on how to recover if someone if affected by these updates?
Shamelle recently posted..How To Promote Your Blog With Word Of Mouth Marketing
You are right Shamelle, there was a Panda update a day before EMD. I have created a new post on that today. Take a look to see the recovery tips suggested. Thanks for your visit and comment.
drkavita recently posted..Did Google Panda Update Sneak In With EMD Update?
Excellent article, I have seen people with non exact match domains, just their main keyword in the domain complaining too.
Mark recently posted..My sites been hit by the latest Google update what should I do?
Mark, you are right. several sites that did not have any EMDs were also affecetd. It maybe the Panda update that came a day before EMD that caused havoc.
drkavita recently posted..Did Google Panda Update Sneak In With EMD Update?
I can not say that I have the best content in the world but I think my website didn’t deserve to be going from #3 to #700s something in rankings for the EMD keyword. I have low keyword density, unique moderate level content and a good web design. Maybe, just lack of backlinks were the factor
amc recently posted..Glow in the dark iPhone 5 Covers
If your content is good and there is no spammy keyword stuffng, your site ought to bounce back soon. This is the usual way in which Google updates work. Any sites that were affected by mistake will bounce back within a month / two. Until then keep tweaking your content.
drkavita recently posted..Did Google Panda Update Sneak In With EMD Update?
Hey very nicely written Kavita.. The EMD update which was held late night @ 3:48am on 28th Sep. has hit more than 0.6% search queries which was mentioned by Matt in his tweet.
Also this update has shown some drastic change in the search queries.
Thanks! SERP rankings were influenced by a combined attack-EMD-0.6% + Panda-2.4 %
drkavita recently posted..Did Google Panda Update Sneak In With EMD Update?
Hi Gouri, Welcome to my blog. Yep, Google is gonna keep online business owners busy for the next 1-2 months over this EMD update, its aftermath, tweaks etc etc.
drkavita recently posted..When is the Next Google Page Rank Update-Are You Worried?
Rightly said Kavita, like most of the previous algo updates, the EMD update too will likely have some adjustments coming up soon. Thanks for this detailed write-up.
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