The relevant part is when Matt says:

Now if you are still on the fence, let me just give you a bit of color. that we have looked at the rankings and the weights that we give to keyword domains, & some people have complained that we are giving a little too much weight for keywords in domains. So we have been thinking about at adjusting that mix a bit and sort of turning the knob down within the algorithm, so that given 2 different domains it wouldn’t necessarily help you as much to have a domain name with a bunch of keywords in it.

What does this mean for DeclareMedia? Obviously we use keyword-rich domains as a key part of our strategy, and perhaps the value of those domains will be less in the future than they are currently. This might hurt us a bit. However, it’s not the only part of our strategy, and there are reasons to believe it will have little to no effect on the rankings of our directories and the value they provide.

Put simply, our strategy for rankings is:

1. Niche focus (geography + industry/service/product)
2. Unique and valuable content
3. SEO-friendly website
4. High-quality incoming links
5. Keyword-rich domain

Yes, that is the order of prioritization. In other words, while having keyword-rich domains is part of our strategy, it is the least important part. If the value of the domain itself is completely nullified, as far as rankings are concerned (there is still value in the keyword-rich domain outside of the rankings that may or may not produce, such as creating an incentive for searchers to click on what appears to be a relevant website), there is still the value of the other three strategies, and that is what we really depend on in the long run.

One of the most important points is #1. Because we are not targeting highly competitive keywords, it is not much of a stretch for us to gain an advantage in items 2-4.

In fact, this change may actually help us, because in those cases where we have a directory competing against another keyword-rich domain, if we can gain an advantage in areas 2-4, then our ranking will be higher, even if their domain is better than ours.

In other words, while this potential change might have an effect and hurt in some cases, especially in the case of those directories that are weak on content, incoming links, etc., I don’t expect that it will affect those directories where we have already mastered items 2-4.

If you’re not in Utah, you can watch it streamed live at http://www.launchup.org/live/.

But if you have a listing on one of DeclareMedia’s directories, and especially if you have a paid featured listing, you may be wondering how these changes at Google have or will affect the value of your investment.

To answer the first question, there appears thus far to be no effect, or if there has been any effect, it has been a slightly positive one. Here is a summary of the rankings for our directories, as of this post:

Directories with #1 Rankings
Today: 85
30 days ago: 48

Directories with Top 10 Rankings
Today: 591
30 days ago: 415

Directories with Top 100 Rankings
Today: 1664
30 days ago: 1547

As you can see, our rankings have improved compared to 30 days ago. If we had been caught in the net of Google’s wrath, these rankings should have gone down.

This isn’t to say we might not get caught in Google’s in the future, but I think it’s unlikely. In Google’s official statement on the changes, Matt Cutts et al state “Our goal is simple: to give people the most relevant answers to their queries as quickly as possible.” This is DeclareMedia’s objective as well. If someone performs a search for “utah web design firms” then we have a directory that helps them find what they’re looking for quickly and effectively. What we provide is better than Google’s own search results, and therefore it is in Google’s interest to rank utahwebdesignfirms.com high in the results for that keyword search.

A bit below the blog post says “This update is designed to reduce rankings for low-quality sites—sites which are low-value add for users, copy content from other websites or sites that are just not very useful. At the same time, it will provide better rankings for high-quality sites—sites with original content and information such as research, in-depth reports, thoughtful analysis and so on.”

Are DeclareMedia’s directories a low-value add? Well, if they don’t have any listings they may be, but that’s a temporary issue. Do we copy content from other websites? No, or if we do at all, it’s not the blatant copying and pasting of masses of content this post is referring to. We do have plans to add (or rather, allow you to add) yet more original content, research, thoughtful analysis, etc. to further increase the value of these directories.

In short, we are enthused by the changes Google has made, because we see it as an opportunity for our directories to improve in their rankings.

As of this post, there are 475 directories that rank in the top 10 on Google. But this list is dynamic, so that number will fluctuate (30 days ago it was 453).

What keyword are they ranking #1 for? 99% of the time, it’s for the title of the website, or in other words, the orange link below. For example, if you look at the line “Alabama SEO Companies – A Directory of SEO Companies in Alabama.” then the keyword that directory is ranking #1 for is “Alabama SEO Companies” without the quotes. Whatdoyouknow, it ranks #1 for “alabama seo company” too.

The rankings may not be 100% accurate to what you see on your computer given regional differences in rankings, whether or not you’re logged into a Google account, and the fact that we only check these rankings once every few days.

This data should be quite helpful if you’re part of our DeclareMedia affiliate program, since you can target your market according to which directories are ranking best.