Google EMD Algorithm Change
Google’s head of webspam Matt Cutts took to Twitter last Friday to break a quiet algorithm update that’s had anything but a quiet response.
Hear that? That’s the sound of affiliate marketers everywhere running for cover. But before we take a look at the changes let’s cover the basics about EMD’s
What Are EMD’s?
EMD’s or Exact-Match Domains are domains that are named to match a specific search phrase in order to achieve inflated rankings. For example a website selling gold watches in Melbourne might register the domain melbournegoldwatches.com to rank for that specific key phrase.
Sites utilising EMD’s as part of their SEO strategy can often rank easier for their corresponding search terms than other non-EMD sites, which is often why you’ll discover businesses with domains matching their products rather than their business names. Until now, EMD’s have had a significant impact on SERPs, allowing sites of lesser-quality to achieve higher rankings.
So What Exactly Has Google Changed?
With this change, Google has reduced the influence EMD’s have on rankings to weed out low-quality sites using an exact match domain as a crutch for their rankings. But rather than going after every EMD, Google is instead only targeting those that they deem low-quality.
As long as you’re serving up high-quality content relevant to your EDM and your users you can breathe a sigh of relief. But if your site has been coasting on your EMD until now, you might be in for a rude awakening when Google rolls out the EMD algorithm changes internationally, that is, if they haven’t already.
According to Cutts’, the change only affects 0.6% of English-US searches to a “noticeable degree”. There are a couple qualifiers in that sentence to make us think the damage to EMD’s is far worse than Google would like to admit and if the webmaster stories being told by EMD-users in the past few days are anything to go by, it might be a rocky ride.
So What Can I Do Now?
If you’ve got a low quality site on a good EMD it’s time to get working on your site. Start building high-quality, fresh content for your site and look through Google’s Webmaster Guidelines to see any your site may be falling afoul of that can be easily fixed. The less you can rely on your EMD to rank for your key phrase, the more likely your site will regain its rankings!
Have you been hit by Google’s EMD algorithm change? Let us know how your site’s fared over the past week in the comments below!
Jim’s been here for a while, you know who he is.
