Exact Match Domain Question?
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I should probably state up front that I'm not a fan of EMDs per se. They are still often used as a "trick" even though a legitimate one. However, to answer your question as of today the answer is yes, all things being equal the EMD would probably rank higher. But tomorrow?
Judging by Google's recent update with it, I agree with you. I think I'll go ahead and stick to a similar or branded domain instead of an EMD.
I'd much rather have a memorable domain name than an EMD. They also sometimes limit how you can expand and progress your site. I prefer brands. You can drive relevant traffic to anything. After all, Apple doesn't sell fruit, Amazon doesn't sell rivers, etc. :)
While Google may have devalued the weight of EMD to a significant extent it still counts as a ranking factor. SEO is like creating the best recipe for the best result. Getting that recipe correct as in best SEO practices (maximizing ranking factors) will go a long way. However SEO (and smart marketing) has evolved whereas you need other elements in that recipe such as strong well structured relevant and LSI content, good user experience as in offering high reading value to your audience and of course good social signals such as FB likes, pins ect and referral visits from social sites. But to answer your question in short, it can help significantly if your EMD is the theme of your site compared to a similarly ranked site without EDM! Hope that helps!
Oh, the way I look at it, if a phrase is searched even by 10 people a month the having this phrase as a domain is still an emd right? Isn't pretty much every phrase an emd?
From what I've seen, I think it doesn't matter. I think the permalink is the only thing that matters. I've been looking at some of the top ranked sites, and often many of them have branded domains and rank really well anyway for all the keywords they're going after. I think content trumps everything. :) Google's stance with this is pretty down, so if you're serious with a site I think you'd be better off using a similar or branded domain instead. :)
Hard to say because there are other factors like quality backlinks (some people will say these don't exist still). If you use EMD, my advice is to rarely use that phrase in your content, the bulk of pages will rank you for the EMD phrase.
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Of course I failed to mention the extremely valid consideration of brand! Completely right that you can drive relevant traffic to any domain name. I am more of a fan of theme related keyword domains as far as lining up all your ducks in a row SEO factor wise. EMD can be very useful depending how you use them, so far, but all this can certainly be overshadowed a good brand name. Even if you have the best SEO and are ranked at the top, its not going to matter unless you serve your audience and provide value and good user experience!
I caught Kyle posting a website he was talking about. buildanonlinebusiness on a siterubix site... He used an EMD to verify what you were talking about with EMD's. My only guess is EMD's are great if you don't plan on writing a lot of content. The more posts you have, the stronger your rank will become for your title anyway I think. ;)