Exact match domain for product page that is already ranking well

[DrApple]

A customer has asked me to register an exact match keyword domain to park on the matching product page of their website.

Previously I would have thought this helped but I suspect not after Google's changes this year and that it might even hurt them.

They already rank number 2 in Google for the term. They now have a big (new) competitor in a market they previously dominated in Australia.

I've told them to register it just to stop anyone else doing it but not to park it.

Any thoughts?

 

[helloworld]

Huh. Why on earth would you think parking a domain would hurt them?

The perfect use of a parked domain in this scenario would be to run adwords campaign. Improve/increase click through rates. See carloans thread, although this is a tactic i use for many clients.

I.e. client sells rubbish bins. XYZ rubbishbins are very popular. Distributor doesn't care if reseller has xzyrubbishbins.com.au.

Run adwords campaign > park to landing page > user get's what they want.

 

[zhenjie]

Interesting strategy helloworld. Can see that benefitial with some CTRs. Do you have trouble tracking the entire funnel/conversions though?

 

[DrApple]

The reason I was worried is because Google has cracked down on duplicate content. Do they see parked page as duplicate content considering it can still also be accessed by the main domain?

I know someone that has pretty much been removed from Google for copying content off another website. They went from page one to zero organic traffic and don't even show for exact match searches on their company name.

I would love to get them to run AdWords but at the moment they are only interested in organic search.

 

[helloworld]

Interesting strategy helloworld. Can see that benefitial with some CTRs. Do you have trouble tracking the entire funnel/conversions though?

You can see entrance/exits via analtyics. That said, conversions is not my job. But we do believe it is working traffic wise and landing page has been set up to convert...they get a lot of product enquires but also rank well SEO wise for their main domain/brand

The reason I was worried is because Google has cracked down on duplicate content. Do they see parked page as duplicate content considering it can still also be accessed by the main domain?

I know someone that has pretty much been removed from Google for copying content off another website. They went from page one to zero organic traffic and don't even show for exact match searches on their company name.

I would love to get them to run AdWords but at the moment they are only interested in organic search.

It's OK, I wondered the same thing a while back but you don't need to worry about it. It's not duplicate content and you're not copying content. The fact Adwords allows this should be a good indicator that it is 100% fine.

That said, there is zero SEO value in parking a domain other than direct traffic and getting the paged indexed for future use.

Honestly, the main thing to bear in mind with clients is what is right for them , not what Google might think.

If you want to provide real value, create traffic sites that are 100% not linked with main site. EMDs are perfect for this. You can still own an entire search field if done properly (excluding places).

My biggest tip is to provide exactly what the user wants. Google will take care of the rest, i.e. stripping useless parts of the domain.

 

[DrApple]

Thanks Helloworld. I'll recommend they do park it then.

 

[James]

If the term gets type in traffic which I suspect it does not you can re direct it to a category level page.

That been said the client could build a micro site on the term if it is not competitive and try and aim for a multi serp play. that been said you would would have use different website elements/content/ hosting ect could be a bit of work and money.

Or if they just want to get the domain park it.