Google on Exact Match Domains and other questions

[Greg]

Hello all,

Happy Belated Mothers Day.

I've been out of the IM stream for a while, now just getting back to it.

A while back Google started penalizing Exact Match Domains (EMD). I'm reading now that G may be loosening up on that, and taking other site factors in consideration. This is good.

Question: Are Exact Match Domains still a good idea, or are they to be avoided?

Related to that...I picked up a wonderful domain having to do with "buying guides". This is a generic domain, but I just couldn't resist. It is pretty sweet.

I don't want to make a catch all niche site, but how would niche_product.genericdomain.com work. Or even genericdomain.com/niche_product. I think the link would play well for human eyes, just not sure about Google. Maybe I'm over thinking this.

Greg

[Lynn Terry]

Hi Greg,

My first thought is this: You don't want to build a business, or even a site, around keywords and Google rankings (or algorithms). To succeed in the current space you'll need a broader marketing strategy, including a strong social media rank - which includes the quality of your connections and the amount of engagement.

Personally I wouldn't put very much thought into the domain outside of whether it brands the site, or is descriptive of the site content. As for subdomains vs directories - directories will lend to the overall site theming and size of the site, where subdomains are viewed as separate domains.