i really only own exact match domains and i advise my clients to purchase exact match domains as well , i seem to have gotten through all the panda /penguin without dropping any rankings for 90% of my sites.
it certainly hasn't been a stress for me over the last few years.
the only sites that have dropped have been ones with weak content and i have been working on that,
but my cients sites with unique local content have held their ground almost 100% without any SEO, as in NONE, fair enough they are domains like dubbodentist so low competition.
but
HTML:
lismoreoptometrist.com.au
still ranks organically above specsavers and the same is for many more of my clients in a multitude of verticals
having said all that i do feel exact match is back, i've always felt that it would.
google places is the major problem i see, and have always disliked it, here is a good example
http://screencast.com/t/mT4xa9cMp2Cr
it takes up everything above the fold before you get to organics !
i have a client that is a signwriter , he services the whole of melbourne but can only get listed in places at his home address which is in the dandenong mountains ! which sucks.
anyway, i'm off track, ..........bottom line is i think google has come to its senses and exact match domains are back where they belong and what i mean by that is they are no longer penalising them, so you still need to create good content to gain the rankings.
buying an exact match is no guarantee of search results any more and i can not see that returning EVER, it does help and will help from a visitors point of view in establishing the domain as an "authority" and "trust" + you get the direct type in traffic, as we saw from posts about the "credit check" when it was on the news just recently.
exact match domains have now turned into " you need to brand them " IMO, and that takes money.
but without preaching to the converted, a brandable name can save the purchaser a lot of money in the long run so the value is definately there in grabbing those domains.
tim
