How much weight does Google give to Exact Match Domains?

[ZeroGrav]

I'm building a site on a virtual host and now it's ready to go online, but i still have to choose a domain name.

One of the main keywords i want to rank for is a 3-word keyword phrase with 9000+ exact match searches per month. Here's an example to better understand my question: 'Guitar training lessons'

My main competitor's domain is only 5 months old but it does have the full keyword phrase in it with  '4u' added at the end:  www.guitartraininglessons4u.com

I wanted to go with www.guitartrainingcenter.com (notice that 'lessons' is left out of the domain name) but i'm wondering if my main competitor would have a big advantage by having the full keyword phrase in his domain.

How much weight does google give to sites that have the exact search query in their domain name? Does a domain still qualify as 'exact match' if a word (info) is added to it? How much harder would it be to outrank this domain as apposed to a site that doesn't have the keywords in its domain name?

Thanks in advance

Freek

[DavidKauzlaric]

Generally speaking in my experience, EMD's are junk sites because usually the person is doing AdSense or something and the site has junk content w/ an EMD for page one rankings for the AdSense revenue. Just my thoughts, though.

[NebraskaChicagohh]

A few years ago the boost for an exact match domain was significant. This positive signal has been devalued since then, but it is still a signal and for good reason. A quality domain can indicate a significant investment - not unlike thousands of pages of quality content. One signal of many.

A lot will depend on the competitiveness of the industry. Cellphone.com is a great domain, but it's in a competitive environment and the signal of the domain does not outweight all the many other strong quality indicators. I have seen many examples of where the domain name that is not an exact match, but still contains the keywords (such as your example) is not an indicator of quality. It's not necessarily lacking in quality either, but a signal boost it is not.

[Getz.pro]

Much agree there. but GuitarLessonsCenter is not bad at all. GuitarLessonReviews would be great if all you plan on doing is reviews. It depends on what the niche is and why the site is created to do.

[DavidKauzlaric]

Because it's generally too limiting. It leaves little room for growth and having a brandable domain in my opinion is better.

My comment about a crap domain was in reference to a domain like www.GuitarLessonReviewsInfo.com or something. He was talking about those earlier, where people add-on some words because the EMD is taken but still want the phrase in there to get the EMD boost.

[DavidKauzlaric]

You are very welcome!

You could cover electric guitar reviews using "AcousticGuitarReviews.com" but why have a domain that implies you are only reviewing acoustic guitar reviews? To me, it makes more sense to build a brandable website!

With Google liking brands, it makes sense to build a brand and do things the white-hat way, this insures you don't fall off the map on every whimsical algo update, you know?

[Getz.pro]

I disagree with not using an EMD. How is it crap if the metric goes away? As long as the EMD is descriptive and not spam, then it will be accurate and therefore always relevant.

[ZeroGrav]

Thanks for the detailed answer David. I do agree with you that in the long term, an EMD could tie you down to that particular keyword. If my main keyword is Acoustic Guitar Review and i buy acousticguitarreviews.com, i can't cover electric guitar reviews, because my domain name doesn't imply so...

I do hope google weighs down the importance of EMD's in the future, as some spammers use it to their advantage. I've heard people say they ranked for reasonably competitive keywords with just a domain that had a fresh wordpress install on it with only one article and and some backlinks...

[Getz.pro]

WAY too much. I see exact domains ranking in the top 3 with hardly any site metrics. I always suggest getting one or two keywords in your TLD (top level domain) when it seems natural to do so. SEOsudo is mine which is how I add SEO into my TLD. (sudo is a UNIX command for Super User DO)

But more to your example. Yes, he would get a bit more over you when you have only 2 to his 3, but at this point, other metrics will play a stronger role.

I like your TLD name.

Richard

[DavidKauzlaric]

Nobody knows the exact boost you get, but I can assure you that it is quite significant. Very significant.

You will not get the full boost unless you have the entire keyword/phrase in the domain. So yes, your competitor would have an advantage over you. How much? No one knows for sure, but I will go out on a limb and say it's pretty substantial. You can beat EMD's but it requires a lot of links and a strategy that outperforms on every level.

Yes, it qualifies as exact match even if there are added words as long as the exact phrase appears in the domain.

It all depends on the keyword to determine how difficult it would be to outrank him without an EMD.

My advice? Don't use an EMD... they'll eventually take that boost away and you're left with a crap domain. Focus on high-quality content that is engaging and provides a ton of value. That will yield you better results in the long-term.