Google hits Exact Match Domains

Another painful release has been slipped under the radar again by Google this time its Exact Match Domains (EMD).  This is causing massive eruptions in the SEO world and webmasters pulling their hair out.

Exact match domains mean domains that match exactly for the search query. For example, if I sold blue widgets and owned the domain name www.bluewidgets.com, that would be an exact match domain.

The head of Google web spam fighting team Matt Cutts announced on Twitter that Google will be rolling out a “small” algorithm change that will “reduce low-quality ‘exact-match’ domains” from showing up so highly in the search results.

Cutts said this will impact 0.6% of English-US queries to a noticeable degree. He added it is “unrelated to Panda/Penguin. Panda is a Google algorithm filter aimed at fighting low quality content; Penguin is one aimed at fighting web spam.

The aim of the updates it to instantly punish low quality websites which have bad SEO and no substance from the top spots on google.  So if a site is named as a key keyword and is basically lacking in substance and quality it will drop through the rankings almost instantly.

What is a low quality website?

A low quality website is a site with no real content, such as a single page with only a few paragraphs with no quality backlinks.  Often low traffic would be key indicator.

Author : James Blackman – Cocoonfxmedia Ltd SEO Expert.