No More Easy SEO For Exact Keyword Domains?
As someone who owns quite a few exact keyword domain and who has long known the weight given to them by google in the search results, the following news from google’s Matt cutts came as a bit of a shock. I’m not overly worried though as I never rely solely on the strength of the domain and always carry out the necessary SEO to gain higher rankings. It’s worth noting though, especially if you have reached your current search engine position from the domain name alone…
Check this post The Free Google Ride is Over for Lazy SEOs & Keyword Domain Names from Marketing Pilgrim – Internet News & Opinion:
There’s a lot of discussion surrounding a new video from Matt Cutts.
In it, the prominent Google engineer explains why you should not be swayed into registering a domain name that includes the keywords you are likely to target for your SEO efforts. He provides many examples of successful companies that have a branded domain name–and not a keyworded one.
Then he drops somewhat of a bombshell for all those SEOs that have been relying on the keyword in the domain to do all the heavy-lifting:
Now if you are still on the fence, let me just give you a bit of color. that we have looked at the rankings and the weights that we give to keyword domains, & some people have complained that we are giving a little too much weight for keywords in domains. So we have been thinking about at adjusting that mix a bit and sort of turning the knob down within the algorithm, so that given 2 different domains it wouldn’t necessarily help you as much to have a domain name with a bunch of keywords in it. – Matt Cutts
So, should you panic? Only if you registered something like “ringtones.com” and are sitting at #1 without lifting a finger to optimize it. In other words, the free ride may soon be over for those that managed to secure a keyword-rich domain name and failed to build relevant content or links.
