.One of the best parts about being an SEO company is when Google changes their algorithm to something new. This invariably causes a number of sites who have used shady SEO or put their eggs in one basket to all of a sudden drop in the search rankings. One of the latest changes to the Google search algorithm is something known as EMD, or Exact Match Domain.

EMD refers to the use of a possible search term for your website’s URL. For example, howtoinvestinstocks.com is your URL. “How to invest in stocks” is an exact phrase that someone might type into Google when looking for financial advice; so Google could be penalizing a site with an exact search phrase in the URL; seeing that as an unfair advantage over other sites offering financial advice which don’t use this practice. While it may not be intentional, there are sites out there which name their domain after a search phrase in order to get found on Google. EMD is just Google’s method of cracking down on these sites.

However, if you do have a site with some exact search names, you can still overcome a penalty simply by following usual SEO best practices

SEO Best Practices

• Make sure you have plenty of legitimate links coming back to your site. While an EMD penalty might take away your advantage; having more links than your competition can get you to the top of the search rankings.
• Use social media to your advantage. In our experience, the people who tend to get hit with penalties don’t use social media so they aren’t getting their sites out there for people to consume them.e
• Keep your site up to date. Add at least one piece of original content each week and then send it out via social media.
• Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Too many times, we have seen people lock in on one keyword only to find that later once Google makes a change they lose all of their work spent trying to outsmart Google.

Google is not being shy in weeding out every low quality site technique out there to grab traffic. By creating content regularly, investing in social media, and a legitimate linking strategy; we will make sure you aren’t penalized in the future.