Could the EMD update affect my domain?

[cbielich]

My domain is: http://www.freescrabbledictionary.com/

"Scrabble Dictionary" is a huge keyword in my niche where I used to rank top 4. Do you see this domain as possibly being hit by the EMD?

My Google Analytics does not show that I was initially hit back in Sept 2012 when it first same out.

[EGOL]

When you say "I would not do it" are you meaning that you would not add "- Free Scrabble Dictionary" at the end of all titles?

Right... I used to have my domain at the end of the titles and removed it.

If you believe that your title tag becomes irrelevant without that, and could be confused with any dictionary or any other type of site, then leaving it in would be a good idea.

What I am advocating works for my sites, which are a mix of information and retail.

When you say "I would not do it" are you meaning that you would not add "- Free Scrabble Dictionary" at the end of all titles?

[cbielich]

I'm sorry but I think I didn't describe my title issue properly.

I currently use "- Free Scrabble Dictionary" on all my 500,000+ pages at the end of the titles. My homepage title only contains my brand name "Free Scrabble Dictionary"

When you say "I would not do it" are you meaning that you would not add "- Free Scrabble Dictionary" at the end of all titles?

Also when you said "because your domain name will appear immediately below the title in the SERPs - thus it is redundant." are you referring to the example in the image?

fsd-title.jpg

[EGOL]

If it was my site, I would not do it because your domain name will appear immediately below the title in the SERPs - thus it is redundant.

Leaving it out of the title tag also frees space there for more keywords, a value proposition, or empty space to emphasize the words on the left.

[cbielich]

What about using my brand at the end of all my titles

Example: - Free Scrabble Dictionary

Because of "Scrabble Dictionary" in that title on all of my 500,000+ pages could that possible be seen as spamming that keyword even though its my brand?

Maybe change my titles to "- FSD"?

[DennisSeymour]

Hi Cesar!

I dont think it's a problem unless you were blatantly over optimizing the site or maybe just stopped working on it if it's dropping in the rankings.

I love my EMD's. It's not as favoured as before from my POV but its still pretty effective.

[MoosaHemani]

I will agree with EGOL! In my opinion Google does not discriminate EMDs but according to the latest Moz’s ranking survey it is believed that Google still favor EMD’s to an extent. If you are losing rankings with EMD there can be other issues which can be over optimization, under optimization, low quality links pointing back to the website and more.

Hope this helps!

[Xtend-Life]

Could you try make your domain name 'Free Scrabble Dictionary' look like a brand rather than just a URL?

I thought the EMD update was quite old, and if it was going to affect your domain it should have by now?

[EGOL]

Do you see this domain as possibly being hit by the EMD?

All of the domains that are important to my business are EMDs.  I know other people who use EMDs as important parts of their businesses.  In my opinion, Google does not discriminate against these domains.  In fact, I believe that Google still favors these domains.  So, if you have an EMD with ranking issues it is likely caused by other factors such as Panda, Penguin, competitors, technical issues, low-quality SEO, among others.

And, if I was going to start another business, the first thing that I would to is go straight to the person who owns the appropriate EMD and try to get it from them - and be willing to pay good money.