Exact Match Domains Exposed!
For those who know me I’m sure you must have realised one of my pet hates is the inflated prices of some exact match domains. It is a fact that many new to the gambling affiliate industry have been “burned” paying over the odds for these types of domains. The trouble is that using the Google Adwords External Tool in most cases the number of searches that an exact match domain is suppose to be targeting is vastly over reported. Also in many cases the competition for the exact match domain means that the buyer is never even going to get close to a top 3 ranking.
Search any affiliate forum and you will find posts such as “Why Is My Exact Matched Domain Only Generating A Fraction Of The Traffic I Expected?” or even “Why is my exact match domain only on page 3 of Google?”. In my opinion exact match domains simply don’t have the power they use to have for competitive search phrases.
Many believe buying an exact match domain is a golden ticket that will help them obtain a top 3 ranking with minimum link building. Many don’t even research the sites that have the top 3 ranking for the exact match domain they intend to purchase. You may be surprised to learn that most affiliates don’t even know how to measure the strength of links that a competitor may have. Most simply look at the page rank of links but for now lets leave the topic of link analysis alone.
Big branded portals have more power than ever before and can outrank an exact matched domain even with only their own internal links. I also believe Google’s May Day update has hit some exact match domains. Rather than spending thousands on an exact match domain I would prefer to buy a domain I could brand spending the saved cash on content. I have dozens of successful sites most of which use domains that cost under $10.
So before buying an exact match domain do the following.
Check How Many Searches Word Tracker Suggests The Domain Will Generate.
Check The Sites That Occupy The Top 5 Places For The Key Phrase.
Check The Links Of The above Including Internal Links.
Check If Others Have Targeted The Key Phrase With Other Domains Such As .org or .net etc.
Check Where the Above Rank Plus How Many Links They Have.
If You don’t Know How To Do Any Of The Above Then Don’t Buy The Domain!
