My website jennifer-lawrence.com used to rank 1st page in Google for "Jennifer Lawrence", now it doesn't rank at all. Webmaster tools says nothing about any penalties so it must be an algorithm penalty. According to my Awstats Google referrals went down drastically in Feb of 2013 (87k to 38k) and then it went down even more in April, 2013 (10k). Anyone have any idea on what exactly would cause my site to get deranked for it's exact domain match?
Hi josh, It's the new google algo, exact domains don't mean anything like they used. You need to build links to that website, using jennifer lawrence and secondary keywords like jennifer lawrence's house. Also put some generic keywords like click here and the url of your website. Ratio should be first keyword 30 percent second keyword 30 percent url 20 percent generic or brand name 20 percent This worked best for me
It is the back-links that will buoy your site up in SERPs. "Exact Match Domain Penalty" only took the advantage of exact search words but if your site is relevant to that keyword and has superior links then your page will still come up even despite EMD penalty. Actually in 2014 many EMDs that had been punished are coming back again so create some back links and sit and watch your site go up in ranks.
I understand what you all are saying. I understand if I keep working on the backlinks that things will get better. But I also know that if I find whatever else may be causing my site to be ranked lower then that should make me jump back up more quickly. I'm fairly certain I have some other penalty other then the EMD, either Penguin or Panda related. My site has a PR of 4 and lots of backlinks (33,923 according to google webmaster tools), I'm thinking maybe my ratio is too high or maybe I have some "bad backlinks" due to scrapers. Does anyone have any suggestions on a Guru that I can pay a small amount to look into my webmaster tools, etc?
Exact domain searches have little to do with your rankings (if anything at all) its the long tail keywords and backlinks that got you ranked, not your domain name.
I know that, I never said my exact match domain got me ranked. My site got ranked because it was the first and only fansite about Jennifer Lawrence. My site has the age and the backlinks and it should be ranking higher based on that alone. I'm more concerned that the exact match domain got me penalized. Regardless I went from page 1 to page 10+ on almost everything I ranked for which to me indicates my site got penalized by an algorithm (or two) which I think is Panda or Penguin.
Also, my site is ranking page 1/2 on Bing/Yahoo still just fine. That's another reason I think its a nice Google Penalty.
If I had to guess, I would say the exact domain match is not your problem.... however, the duplicate content on your site maybe...
There is no penalty for exact name domains. Earlier, these domains used to get extra advantage, so it was easier to register high keywords domain name, put some garbage content, sleep and earn. Now, things have changed. But it doesn't mean you cannot be on number one position for that keyword. You need better content.