Google EMD Update (Exact Match Domain)
So something that many of us internet marketers fear happened … Google made an update that wiped out tons of niche websites. On September 28 around 6:00 EDT all 25 of my new niche websites were wiped out. The sites were experiencing some good early success and I made a little over $30 in the first 45 days. Then the update hit and blew my sites right out of the Google search results. They were all very new sites without any backlinks and each website has a 800 – 900 word article. The articles are informative, helpful, and entertaining – and written in perfect conversational English. Hopefully I will be able to still use at least some of these sites in some form or way. There was 5 of them that looked very promising, maybe I need to build them out into larger sites now? I guess like everybody, I have to be patient for now and see what happens over the next few weeks.
What is the Google EMD Update?
The Google EMD update was an algorithm change that targets “exact match” domain names says Matt Cutts, and either penalizes them or takes away the bonus it was giving them. Having an exact match domain name was one of the important parts of the system that I started following and was one of the things that helped my sites to start earning right away. Looks like this may not be the case moving forward.
This Google update most likely has some other considerations or filters involved as well, such as targeting a certain profile of website that mine all happened to fit.
It will take some time for the dust to settle and see what the end result of this algorithm update is, so for now we just have to keep working!
What Will I Do Post EMD Update with my 25 Mini Niche Websites and my Future Plans?
The short answer is … work more on my authority site and my first product launch. These two things were more background projects while I got my niche websites up and running, but it looks like they will take take the forefront for now. I have to work on what’s working at the present time, and if exact match domain sites are not working … I need to stop building them for now and focus my efforts elsewhere.
As for my 25 small niche websites I recently built …
In an attempt to slightly change my website’s profiles, I just took all of the Adsense off them for now and hopefully when Google does a cache clearing or refresh, it will help me out a bit. So now I’m going to let them sit for a few weeks and see what happens.
I’ve only just gotten into the mini niche website game, so I only have $411 invested into them and many hours of my time. I can afford to wait it out, see what happens, then take appropriate action when the time is right. Since I just started all of those sites within the past 5 weeks, I still have about a year to figure out what to do with them before it’s time for the decision to keep them or drop them.
I did have 5 – 8 of my first 25 sites I built show a lot of signs of success, so at least I know that those keywords are profitable … now to figure out how to get back into the first page of Google results.
I’m also going to keeps tabs on Adsense Flippers, Niche Pursuits, WSO Testers, & Mike from Maine to see what these guys come up with in this situation. Their names link to their current posts on this topic. They have a lot more sites to test new ideas and changes out on, so hopefully they can figure some things out.
In Spite of the Google EMD Update, I Am Dedicated As Ever to Making a Full Time Living Online!
This current Google Update is definitely frustrating to me since I just got my first 25 sites up and was seeing a decent amount of early success. I even had a site that was looking to be at least a $40/month Adsense earner in my first group of 25 sites. I really hope that I can salvage or re-purpose that site eventually. I’m not giving up hope!
Although this change might end up having a drastic effect on my online business plan in the beginning, it will not change my overall plan to earn a full time living online. I was just going to use mini niche Adsense websites to get my foot in the door, generate some monthly recurring income that I could re-invest into my bigger long term projects. Looks like for now I will stay focused on those larger projects, and wait it out with my small niche websites. Who knows, maybe this is all temporary and will even out or open new opportunities for all of us niche website builders.
Let Me Know What You Think about the Google EMD Update
I know all of the big guys have large scale conversations going on on their blogs about this, but please leave a comment below and let me know how your sites are doing and if there are any particular tests or changes you are going to make. I’ll be leaving comments myself if I see any changes take place over the next few weeks.
