Brian Chappell

Exact Match Domain Filters on New Websites

By Brian Chappell on August 6, 2012

[dropcap color=”black”]S[/dropcap]omething I have noticed over the last few months and even into late last year is something that gets back to, directionaly, how Google is attacking its algorithm as of recent.

[highlight]Google expects sites to showcase brand signals[/highlight]

One thing I plan on taking a deeper dive into on my blog in the coming months is this idea of portraying brand signals for a small, mom and pop site and/or affiliate site (basically any site that has a hard time naturally looking like an entity that is a Brand). It is critical going forward to make your site look bigger than it really is if you want to compete organically.

So back to the topic at hand, thinking about starting a new site? Like that exact match variation becuase you read an article from 2009 that says they are the way to go. Well trying to encourage users to search for your domain name and sticking around for a while is a great place to start. That’s one tip, there are many other signals you can portray but it certainly seems that IF the algorithm doesn’t see search volume for your domain, users dont stick around for long, there isnt much natural linking variations taking hold then you are going to struggle to get over the hump.

What do you think? Do you still roll with exact match domains if they make sense? Or do you completely disown them and go for a memorable name that people will search for after visiting your website.