What the Google EMD update means to you
Google's announcement this month of an EMD update was pitched as a minor 'weather report' type of announcement - however, it's certainly got tongues wagging more than your average Bureau of Meteorology forecast. EMD stands for 'exact match domain'. In essence, EMD's used to shoot a websites ranking straight to the top of the pile.
Let's say you enter the search term 'budgie enclosures Melbourne'. The first result that comes up directs you to a business using the domain name 'budgieenclosuresmelbourne.com.au'. They've leapfrogged to the highest ranking by using the most common search term for people looking for their product.
It's no indication that they're the best or most reputable supplier. Google's new EMD update is designed to help curb this practice, as it means the honest, established businesses don't get left in the dust just because they've actually designed their website for their customers rather than a search engine.
The EMD update is not designed to harm legitimate businesses with exact match domain names. Google are simply trying to weed out low quality businesses. The change was brought about by years of complaints directed to Google concerning the weight given to keyword domains in the search rankings.
It's good news for us here at Optimising, as the changes recognise and reward legitimate, quality websites. We're all for above board SEO techniques and any measures that weed out the Christopher Skase's of our industry!
James Richardson
Co-Founder
James is Co-Founder of Optimising who’s worked with everyone from national retailers and franchise groups to fast-growing eCommerce brands. He’s as interested in how AI engines send traffic as he is in old-fashioned rankings, and spends a lot of time testing how brands show up across search.
He started out running sports fan sites and early eCommerce stores, picked up a few senior sales and marketing roles at ASX-listed companies, then decided to build the kind of SEO agency he actually wanted to work at. Outside work, James is usually being out-negotiated by his three daughters, hosting very serious pretend tea parties, or supervising yet another cubby house build in the lounge room.
