In Episode 038, Mark's daughter Morgan kicks off the show, then Mark dives into the biggest SEO news of the week: Google's exact match domain update. He also discusses the Micro Site Profits course from Internet Business Mastery, provides a corn sheller site update, and shares his podcast award nominations.
What You'll Learn in This Episode
- What Google's exact match domain update means for internet marketers
- Why the EMD change coincided with a Panda update, confusing the data
- How Micro Site Profits bridges the gap between quick wins and authority sites
- Whether the corn sheller site survived the EMD update
Episode Summary
Google's Exact Match Domain Update
Matt Cutts called it a “minor weather report” on Twitter, but for internet marketers building portfolios of exact match domain sites, the impact was anything but minor. Mark breaks down what happened: SEOmoz detected a sharp drop in EMD influence, the AdSense Flippers team reported a 68% drop in earnings, and the simultaneous Panda update muddied the waters further.
Mark's analysis: this is not a penalty but a removal of an artificial advantage. Sites need to compete on the quality of their content and backlinks rather than relying on their domain name matching the target keyword. His advice is straightforward: keep building quality links with diversified anchor text, analyze competitor backlink profiles, maintain social presence, and do not build businesses entirely dependent on Google.
Micro Site Profits Course
After lunch with Jason Van Orden from Internet Business Mastery, Mark discusses their new Micro Site Profits course. It teaches building small AdSense sites for quick income, with the final module showing how to convert your best performers into authority sites. Mark sees this as a clean strategy: throw multiple small sites at the wall, see what sticks, then invest in the winners.
Corn Sheller Update
The corn sheller site appears unaffected by the EMD update. Traffic is at record levels with 300 visitors per day and approximately $40 in monthly eBay commissions.
Podcast Award Nominations
Mark asks listeners to nominate Pat Flynn's Smart Passive Income in the Business category and Cliff Ravenscraft's Podcast Answer Man in the Technology category.
Key Takeaways
- Google's EMD update removed an artificial advantage rather than imposing a penalty
- Diversified anchor text and quality backlinks are the path forward post-EMD
- Small niche sites can serve as testing grounds before committing to full authority site buildouts
- Do not build businesses entirely dependent on Google search traffic
What's Changed Since This Episode
Mark recorded this in October 2012. The trends he identified have accelerated dramatically.
Exact match domains carry no inherent ranking advantage in 2026. The playing field Mark predicted has fully materialized. Brand authority, content quality, and user experience now dominate rankings.
The micro site to authority site pipeline described in Micro Site Profits anticipated a broader industry shift. In 2026, the consensus is firmly on building fewer, higher-quality authority sites rather than portfolios of thin micro sites.
Resources Mentioned
- Moz (formerly SEOmoz) — SEO research
- Pat Flynn — Smart Passive Income
- Cliff Ravenscraft — Podcast Answer Man
- LNIM Podcast
Related Episodes
Listen and Subscribe
Listen to Late Night Internet Marketing on Apple Podcasts or subscribe at latenightim.com/internet-marketing-podcast/. Have a question for Mark? Call the digital recorder at 214-444-8655 or drop a comment below.
Loved Morgan’s intro!