EMD vs brand? I'm new to moz

[asbchris]

Hi to all

so this is my first month using moz tools. When I check my competitors and keywords, everyone close to google #1 is a emd site

But with google always getting smarter, is it smart in order to compete to get an emd?

So say I rank first page #9, or not at all for my brand, if since my site is a construction site, if instead of say abc construction.com I find colorado home builders.com etc would I maybe do better? Or would google give me a bad ranking?

I am just so lost?

One last question? If I did build a emd site then just pointed my brand to it, would this be good or stupid for seo?

thank you for all advice and tips

chris

[KeriMorgret]

Thanks for the answers, EGOL and Andy. Really appreciate the time you both spend in here!

[EGOL]

But its hard to know what is right and what is wrong. For years a phone book is all we needed, now we want to be found.

I understand.  When I was starting out I spent a lot of time reading the basics of SEO.  Moz has lots of resources for people who are learning.  You can read the beginner's guide and ask questions here.  It is also a good idea to record the changes that you make on your site, what works, what doesn't and use that as a source of learning.

The most valuable thing that I did was to start a site and then hire an experienced person to do a study and review.  That person spend a couple hours learning about my business, looking at my website and then gave me an opinion of what I might do.  That kept me going down the right road.  Still, now, after about ten years and a nice amount of experience, I am still working on websites and still getting paid advice from people who are smarter than me and people who think differently than me and people who know how to do technical work that I don't want to spend time learning.  I do 98% of the work myself but smarts, opinions and tech savvy from others are very important.

[asbchris]

Thank you for the help.

It is truly appreciated.

This is why I am here in the first place to try and learn seo stuff, and Moz seems to be the best site around. So I am playing around with the tools and such, and it is all very scary, and confusing.

Like do I go with wordpress for a construction website that does not get updated very often because it needs new content, or is this exactly what Google wants, new content? So create content to stay afloat and survive the rankings game?

Basically I feel like I am at the bottom of the food chain with all of these big brands, with big advertising dollars eating companies up left and right for online rankings.

I understand that a site must be made for visitors first, then maybe Google. But its hard to know what is right and what is wrong. For years a phone book is all we needed, now we want to be found.

If I may ask, and this is left field - I have two Google + pages. Business and Local. Is it smarter to create posts and get likes and followers for the Business page or Local Page? I have read they may combine them one day, so don't worry about it much, yet I feel like I am in a boat that has a hole in it, so again just trying to survive.

Thank you again so very very much

Chris

[EGOL]

I'm just a small local company trying to survive.

If this is the case... if you get most of your business from a certain city then you should be putting your time and brains and effort into local search.

** if a company has facebook likes, twitter posts, great backlink profile and content, then you should be able to go by whatever domain I would think?**

You have to beat your competitors by having a stronger web presence.  The domain is only part of it or maybe none of it.  Right now if people know you by our name and you plan to remain a small local company then your name might be a better choice of domain... like EgolsConstruction.com.    I might not use that (or ColoradoGarageBuilders.com) if I was a younger person because I might decide to build homes or barns or do paving someday... and people who want those services might say.... :"EgolsGarages.com"...  don't get them, they can build garages but would probably screw up building a house.  Keyword domains can be very limiting.

I know a guy who does roofing in my community who has no web presence, does not advertise, does not give estimates, doesn't even have a truck with his name on it and he is flooded with work because he has been in business a long time and has done great work and everybody knows him.

The sign of an established business is a good reputation and immediate access to lots of work.  You don't even need a website, in fact it might cause phone calls and queries that eat your time.

[asbchris]

Wow great insight.

i have a lot to learn and I am truly grateful for your help. The reason I used the example as I did is because with using these moz tools if I put the state at the end, it showed traffic. If I put the state in the beginning, it showed a competition percent of 29, but no traffic.

so if I may venture to say, if a company has facebook likes, twitter posts, great backlink profile and content, then you should be able to go by whatever domain I would think? So maybe emd are helpful, but if you do not bring it, somebody else will.

As I research I find sites in my competition that do not even have the name colorado or term searched showing, yet they have a huge national following.

I'm just a small local company trying to survive.

[EGOL]

a few years ago he is quoted to have said how Google was going to crack down on EMD's

Matt did say that and Google did do that.  But they mainly hit EMDs that had crap content.  EMDs that had robust content were not really hurt.  The value of the EMD might have been diminished a bit but they are still slightly favored.

Slightly favored means that they will rank well in low competition with few links, however, against major competition the advantage is very small.  They still have to earn their position.

I think to myself, as long as I get a good social, link, and content profile, I am going to compete with them.

If they have any strength at all that will not happen.  I advocate EMDs but not for that reason.  If you think you can buy an EMD and loaf, you will be disappointed.

garagebuildercolorado.com

I think that domain sounds spammy.  Very few people are going to type "garage builder colorado" into search.  That is the exact match.  What will it get you?  Sounds like somebody talking who doesn't know proper English.  I would not use it.  It sounds like a spammy domain and not the domain of a business.

I would use ColoradoGarageBuilders.com if I owned a business that lived up to that name by building garages all over Colorado.  buildergaragescolorado and garagebuildercolorado are domains registered because somebody wants to stuff keywords.  Just my two cents and personal opinions.

[asbchris]

Thank you for your thoughts.

I guess my main worry is that I have Google + local, and Business, Facebook, twitter and social stuff that all point to my main brand, which is my business name. Yet there other sites, for years have never left the #1 through 4 positions just based on having so many keywords in their domain name.

Now these are not keyword-keyword-keyword.com These are like garagebuilderscolorado type of domains. So when you type in a variations of this name, the site is always ranked well. Even though a company might be 123 enterprise or whatever.

I am just nervous because I watch Matt Cutts video's almost to the point where I look at him like the all knowing Google prophet. So if he says something, do it. So here a few years ago he is quoted to have said how Google was going to crack down on EMD's so I'm like well if they are doing it, I'm going to do it. Say I buy the un-plural version of the EMD. So in this example, which is completely an example, I go and get garagebuildercolorado to compete with garagebuilderscolorado. I think to myself, as long as I get a good social, link, and content profile, I am going to compete with them.

But this whole thing seems like a chess match. I am just trying to rank at a state level. Colorado is my state. So by adding Colorado to a keyword domain name seems smart, yet now with Google Local, maybe it does not matter?

I just thought well I will get a EMD, and then point my company domain to it. So people will still find me by company name, maybe those backlinks follow a pointed domain, and play this game of keyword rich domains?

Again I appreciate all of your thoughts and advice. I am new to the tools here, and I am having fund with them.

Chris

[EGOL]

I use all EMDs and have spent good money to obtain them.  I believe that they compete better if you place good content on them.  In my opinion they convert better and are easier remembered by your visitors.

It is really hard to create a brand if you are competing nationally or globally, however, an EMD can make it easier for you to be remembered, in my opinion.

A lot of people think that EMDs are penalized.  In my opinion that is BS.  They still give some advantage if you have the Exact Match Domain and not a partial match or an exact match and a word.  If I thought that EMDs were penalized or any disadvantage I would be out of them, instead they are kicking butts.

Most important, the EMD gives me mental energy to work on the site.  If I have that the competition is in trouble.

I think that you are going to get a lot of "opinions" on this question.

[Andy.Drinkwater]

Hi Chris,

There is a lot to consider in the purchase of a domain, but you will not get any SEO benefit from having an EMD to a brand. Your positions are all to do with how good your site, content and link profile are.

The trouble with your example of an EMD, is that this then means you are completely tied to that as you move forward. Google have also started to give preference to Brand vs EMD, so I would say you should purchase the brand domain and then work on getting that brand known.

I hope this helps a little.

-Andy