Exact Match Domains Punished By Google

Stop the press… I should have hosted this blog on www.samfrostistheman.com because it now appears as if Google is putting the knife into exact match domains (EMDs). In fact, it doesn’t appear as if Google is lashing out against the EMD brigade – Google is cracking down on exact match domains.

Now I’m not going to bore you with all the details, and will instead try and sum up in as few words as possible.

There’s a storm a-coming:

And the result?

I prefer to let images do the talking:

Here is the general tone of complaints about the latest Google algorithm update:

And another:

 

Even yours truly has not escaped the wrath of the latest Google algorithm update. Some of my own sites, including How To Invest In Gold and Diablo 3 Hero Guide have disappeared from the search rankings – although they haven’t been removed by Google altogether.

How can you tell if Google has dropped your rankings, or if they have dropped your site altogether?

It’s very simple, just type in the search string “site:yoururl.com” and if you see your site come up, then it’s still indexed – you’ve just been slammed down the rankings:

So How To Invest In Gold is still indexed, it just cannot be seen in the search engine rankings on Google – all because it is an exact match domain (howtoinvestingold.org). Now if you actually head over to my site and take a look, you will notice that there are over 150 pages of high-quality unique content. I don’t build spammy links (I don’t really build links at all to this site) and the only product I promote is my own Golden Bull eBook.

What this suggests to me is that my site has been hit not because it is a “low quality EMD”, but because it just happens to have an EMD. Basically, Google has once again caught people in the crossfire, and the collateral damage is never pretty! Following on from the Panda and Penguin updates, Google is certainly making life difficult for us affiliate marketers.

The message is clear – Google hates you (unless you’re making THEM money)

Although this might sound really harsh, it’s true. If your business model revolves off leveraging your search engine rank in Google to get free traffic that makes you money in turn, then you are at risk from being shut down overnight by an algorithm change that will no doubt “make search results better” (/sarc).

Google wants you to move towards PPC (namely Google Adwords) – and who can blame them?

After all, if they aren’t actively making money off you, then they are losing money by giving you free traffic!

However, that is little consolation for the thousands of honest affiliate marketers, IMs, and “mom and pop” webmasters out there who are getting slammed to the canvas like Sonny Liston with each successive Google algorithm change.

So what can you do?

Well, stay tuned for part two of this blog post, where I will show you some of the best methods for recovering your rank and traffic after algo chages, as well as methods for building a business online that isn’t reliant on Google.

Sign up for my free Super Affiliate Secrets report + newsletter here, and I’ll send you a quick email to let you know when part two is up!

Check out my guide for building passive income online for $1 for more “Google-free” secrets.