Google To Devalue Exact Match Domains: Is Google Going Too Far?

Barry Schwartz recently posted what he called his “Key Takeaways From Google’s Matt Cutts Talk At PubCon”

One of these points stated that Matt Cutts specifically mentioned “Google will be looking at why exact domain matches rank so well. For example, if you have a site at www.blue-widgets.com it may rank a bit too well for the keyword phrase [blue widgets]”.

This is unwise in my opinion – just get better at fighting spam…… 

I wonder if it’s just some webmaster type seo scare tactic… Keyword domains always made good sense to me. Keyword Keyword .com will in most cases be primarily about “Keyword Keyword”.

A domain like Los Angeles .com should get more weight in the search engines…. If for no other reason, what it’s owners likely went through in order to acquire it….. I really dislike the idea of Google considering this, it badly undermines the entire domain industry……. It will greatly reduce the value of domain assets…. Just a strange thing to do over spam in my opinion.

It will be interesting to see how the domain industry reacts to this…. If I had to guess I think any changes would be very minimal…… Maybe just a flag to look closer at a site, but not necessarily reduce it’s ranking.

John Colascione

John Colascione is Chief Executive Officer of SEARCHEN NETWORKS®, a digital marketing and technology company founded in 2001. An entrepreneur, author, and digital publisher with more than 25 years of experience, he specializes in search engine marketing, Website Monetization, domain names, and online business development. He is the author of Mastering Your Website and publishes commentary on technology, digital marketing, and the evolving Internet economy. Read more at JohnColascione.com.