What the Google EMD update means to you
James Richardson
Co-Founder & Partnerships
Posted: 24 Mar 2020
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 & Partnerships
Working in the SEO industry for many years alongside some of Australia’s biggest brands, James started his online career running online Sports Fan sites, as well as cutting his teeth on several successful eCommerce brands and content sites.
Previously holding various senior roles across the Sales and Marketing teams for ASX listed companies, he went on to found Optimising with Daniel and is proud he has helped mould it into one of Australia's leading SEO agencies.
When he’s not in the office he’s at home having pretend tea parties, or building a cubby house in the lounge room with his three young girls.
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