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EMD For Local Business Sites: Are They Still A Good Practice?

When you are looking to market your Dallas or Dallas small and medium business, it starts with a website. You need a domain name that people will remember. While an EMD (exact match domain) may sound like a great idea, you may want to think twice. Let’s start with the basics.

What is an EMD?

An EMD is a domain name that utilizes exact keywords that may be popular within a search. For example, if you are a roofing company, you may name your domain something like dallasroofingcompany.com in hopes that it will generate a significant amount of traffic.

When you consider how important it is to rank on the first page of Google and the other search engines, this may seem like the easiest way to make it to the top, but it’s not that simple.

Why is EMD a Bad Idea?

The many exact match domains are getting spammier as time goes on, and they have a reputation for dominating the search engine result pages, but not in a good way.

Source: https://www.searchenginewatch.com/2016/11/28/what-is-an-exact-match-domain-emd-and-how-can-you-safely-use-one/

Google has decided to do something about this, and it started in 2012. Google is always changing their algorithms to eliminate spam and low quality sites. If you choose an EMD for your website, it could be extremely dangerous. If you don’t get a good ranking with the search engines, it can be as though your website is invisible – and this means minimal traffic and minimal contact forms being filled out.

You can avoid this by focusing on a better domain name.

Starting from the Inside Out

There are some SEO tactics out there that aren’t worth your time. Instead, you need to focus on the tactics that are really going to get you somewhere. Search engine optimization is leaning towards inbound marketing, not outbound marketing. This means you want to do what you can to lure people directly to your website instead of trying to find them out in the abyss of the internet.

Branding is an important way for customers to connect with you. It is the brand that attracts them to a company and keeps them coming back. Therefore you need to promote who you are and what you have to offer, front and center. When it comes to choosing a domain name, you don’t need an EMD. Instead, focus on branding your business so that you become more relatable – and people remember your name.

Your local business needs the branding so you become more recognizable. Let them remember your website domain name because of who you are, not what you do.  People work with businesses they know, like and trust, not what they do.

This will help you to get more contact forms being filled out online and more calls coming into your business, but also encourage people to make an effort to connect with you. It’s what will allow you to grow your sales and start to see more brand engagement on social media and the click-throughs from your newsletter.

Since Google is changing the way they work with EMDs, you need to be cautious about what you use for your domain name. Even if you have an EMD, it may be time to go through a rebranding effort. Switch out your domain to something catchier that represents your business as opposed to keywords that are most commonly entered by people in a search engine.

Through the content you have on your website and the way you attend to the needs of your target demographic, you will get the business that you desire. Cheap SEO tactics don’t have a place in today’s marketing strategies.

Build your brand, get a domain to match, and then drive people through the sales funnel so that they become customers. Establish brand loyalty through tried and true practices. Your SEO tactics can be done with keyword selection and quality content – and this is the best practice you can ask for.

For more information on how you can your reach contact Dialed In Web.

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