Exact Match URLs

The other day I wrote about localized SEO - and there's another point I'd like to expand upon here. This may not apply to all markets, as NewYorkGroceryDelivery.com is going to have a lot more competition than say, OntarioGroceryDelivery.com, but if you're trying to rank for the term "New York Grocery Delivery" - you'll have a leg up on on BigAppleDirect.com (or whatever some generic grocery delivery company in NYC is called).

That is because you have an exact match URL. So if I'm trying to dominate the Ontario, California water treatment services market and I'm trying to compete with a company like Culligan in the Ontario, CA market http://culligan.com/local-dealer/ca/ontario/ (notice the URL does feature the location and feed off the water treatment power of the Culligan.com domain) - I'd be better off with something like OntarioWaterTreatment.com or whatever - however, that could get tedious as maybe I'm selling water softeners, water filters, or delivering those 5 gallon bottles of water that you see in so many offices. In that case, something along the lines of "OntarioWater.com" might do - because then I can have separate pages for OntarioWater.com/Filters etc. that'll still match the keywords in the URL - though they won't necessarily be exact matches.

For local SEO - this is definitely a leg up. Even for national SEO, depending on the market, it can also be a big advantage. If I Google "lawn mowers" - by the second page you'll notice what is essentially a parked domain (an inactive one that is just used for traffic purposes) - lawnmowers.com. This site outranks millions of other pages, including Troybilt, Husqvarna, Lowe's, Home Depot, and others - simply because it has an exact match on the URL. Granted, it doesn't outrank Honda, John Deere, or Toro - but those three companies are all actively implementing SEO campaigns as well.