• Skip to Main Menu
  • Skip to Main Content
  • Skip to Footer
  • About
  • Capabilities
  • Pricing
  • Blog
Free Trial Login
Google Algorithm Changes > Exact Match Domain (EMD) Update

Exact Match Domain (EMD) Update

Update Date:
Sep 27, 2012

For many years it was possible to find domains that were an exact match of the phrase you’ve searched for. Google’s search engine gives importance to domain and page names, so as a result, for many years if you were searching for an expression in the form of your expression here it was very likely that at least one of the results would be your-expression-here.com.

Many SEOs (and spammers) took advantage of this fact and purchased domains consisting of key phrases by the dozens and hundreds, while for the most part each of these domains had very thin content, and their entire purpose was to rank for the specific keyword or phrase that consisted of their names.

With the release of the EMD update Google announced of a change in the way that it deals with exact match domains (EMDs) in order to address this phenomenon. The aim of this update is not to make exact match domains disappear completely from search results, but rather eliminating poor quality content EMDs that existed for the sole purpose of ranking for a specific phrase.

The update led to a large scale reduction in the presence of exact match domains. According to Mozcast’s data, the presence of EMDs in search results was reduced by over 10% as a result of this update. This change has impacted a total of 0.6% of English queries according to official reports.

If you’ve been affected by this update:

  1. This updates purpose is to harm EMDs with problematic content. Google stated that the information the update uses will refresh periodically, similarly to Panda and Penguin updates.
  2. To cope with this update your website content must be revised to improve its quality. After improving the website’s content, all that remains to be done is to patiently wait for the next data refresh (the exact time remains unknown – Google does not publish their refresh date schedule for this update) until the penalty is removed.

Google's official announcement on the update: https://twitter.com/mattcutts/status/251784203597910016

More Information

  1. www.seomoz.org/blog/googles-emd-algo-update-early-data
  2. https://twitter.com/mattcutts/status/251784203597910016
Previous update - Panda 3.9.2
Next update - Panda #20

Interested in learning the system's capabilities?

We believe that the best way to understand the differences between ZEFO and other solutions is to try ZEFO for yourself!

Start Trial Now »

The professionals work with ZEFO

Zafo customer: Digitouch

Eyal Rahamim

Digitouch

At our SEO department, just like morning coffee, ZEFO has become an inseparable part of action and activity. Whether it’s one project or 150 projects, ZEFO always provides us with accurate and reliable data and helps us every day to improve performances. Undoubtedly an essential system for any SEO.

Zafo customer-Digitouch-Eyal Rahamim
Zafo customet-Wisy

Ido Sela

Wisy

We’ve been working with ZEFO for years at Wisy – the system has proven itself to be superior to its competitors in its ranking accuracy on a daily basis.
It’s super important that Nir the owner, has an in-depth understanding of SEO and knows the needs of agencies perfectly, and they’re also open to discussions, changes and improvements. In addition to being very good and service-oriented people.

Zafo customer-Wisy-Ido Sela

Jack Chetrit

Fullpower Ltd.

The ZEFO system is without a doubt the backbone of SEO management at Fullpower! The whole team works with it every day, all day. We’re very satisfied and warmly recommend it.

Zafo customer: Jack Chetrit
Zafo customer: Eli Sasi

Eli Sasi

Eli Sasi SEO

What I love about ZEFO is that beyond the incredibly accurate rank checking and a super convenient interface, I have the ability to receive super critical and important data for a small and a large website as one, with one click. Critical data for the success of every SEO project. Keep on doing good.

Zafo customer: Eli Sasi
Zefo customers-A-2-Z

Alon Zakai

A-2-Z Internet Accessibility and Digital Marketing

A-2-Z’s SEO department was among the first in the country to adopt ZEFO for our clients. Today ZEFO is a key tool for us in monitoring website errors, keyword rankings, and ongoing analysis reports. The system is being updated constantly so we can always be at the leading edge of technology for our customers. Wishing us many more years of fruitful cooperation.

Zefo customer-Alon Zakai
Zefo customers:Nekuda

Gilad Sasson

Nekuda

ZEFO helps us stay in control and receive important and specific alerts out of huge amounts of keywords, rankings, and competitor data, the daily, weekly and monthly reports save our work time and shed light on points for improvement and our future SEO strategy.

Zefo customer: Gilad Sasson
Zefo customers:extra-digital

Yossi Cohen

We’ve been working with ZEFO for several years now, and there’s no doubt that the system is the best solution for SEOs, with its daily rank tracking and report production. It’s important that I note the personal service by the guys at ZEFO that know to provide answers, support, and solutions to every request. ZEFO allows us to take an extensive look at every website and every SEO on the team, to analyze and improve our processes and performances.

Yossi Cohen- Extra
Zefo customers : Optiwise

Nitzan Sinansky

Optiwise

I’ve been working with the ZEFO system for quite a few years, and it saved me thousands of hours of work over the years, and helped me specialize in the work that I do. Asides from the system’s superior functionality, ZEFO’s customer service is no less than amazing. I definitely recommend it to marketing company owners, as well as any private website owners that do their own marketing.

Zefo customers: Optiwise
Zefo customers: Webs

Gilad Kamer

Webs

ZEFO provides the perfect solution! We’ve been very happy with ZEFO for several years now, and I’ll favorably note that the listening, help, customer service, desire to learn, and even upgrade and improve the system constantly, are at the forefronts of these wonderful people’s minds. I highly recommend the ZEFO system to any business owner or professional company.

Zepo customers-Gilad Kamer- WEBS

Asael Dreyer

Asael SEO

I came across it about 3 years ago in a digital convention. From the very first moment, it was clear to me that it was a well-oiled system that can create order in the whole issue of SEO project management, and is definitely worth the requested price. I have no doubt that the system will benefit any SEO project manager, especially after they find out about the feature of producing monthly reports with a click. I warmly recommend!

Asael Dreyer
investing_logo
avatradeLOGO
מקאן דיגיטל - לקוח זפו
לקוחות זפו:
לקוחות זפו: Wisy
לקוחות
לקוחות זפו: קבוצת זאפ
Zefo customers:Nekuda
Start your free 14-day trial!
No Credit Card Required
Visit us on Facebook Visit us on Instagram Visit us on Twitter
  • Contact Us
  • Jobs
  • Terms of Service
  • Privacy Policy