For a long time now (especially since Panda) I have been against exact match domains, just because I think a branded site is going to convert a lot more. Think about it if two sites are listed in similar position then are you going to click onto www.cheapsofas.com or www.dfs.com? That said I’ve recently started to think a little differently…
A former colleague of mine informed me that a keyword match domain might not convert very well through organic searches but for PPC it can out perform a branded website. But why is this the case?
- One of the major factors that comes to mind is that mobile users are more likely to click on PPC results than computer users. This could be because it is harder to distinguish which results are which on a mobile or it could be that when using a mobile people are less patient and less savvy at identifying which company to choose from. Instead they want the most relevant result in the quickest amount of time, so a site called www.cheapsofas.com makes it crystal clear what is on offer; whereas with www.dfs.com you may have to scroll through a bunch of pages until you find the right one for you.
- PPC may be less appropriate for branded domains as people expect branded sites to list naturally anyway, so if a branded site starts to be listed within PPC results then people start to see a mismatch of over-optimisation vs organic practices. Essentially one site would be listed once, twice or even thrice on one page, which is a bit spammy.
- When people click on PPC they are looking for a specific service rather than a selection of services, which means an exact match domain is more specialised to meet their needs. i.e if you want a cheap sofa then you know www.cheapsofas.com is the site for you.
- Some other reason that I have not even thought of, after all I’m not a PPC expert.
Regardless of the reason I now appreciate the value of PPC, especially for keyword match domains and I could even see myself recommending the use of the two as part of a campaign in the future. It’s weird how thought processes change. Two things are certain though, 1) I need to read more about PPC and 2) Tim is full of pearls of wisdom.