Google EMD: Does It Impact Non EMDs As Well?

Google EMD: Does It Impact Non EMDs As Well?
 When Google launched the EMD Update in September 2012, I assumed that it only impacted keyword rich domain names. Specifically, sites that target the keyword phrase in their primary domain.
For example, a site targeting the keyword phrase [cheap flowers] would be impacted only if their domain name was www.cheap-flowers.com or a variation of that.

A WebmasterWorld thread asks if this is not true. Is it possible that the EMD update also impacts non EMD sites but with very exact matched subfolders or file names or both? For example, the flower web site might be www.johnsmith.com but the URL targeting the [cheap flowers] keyword phrase would be www.johnsmith.com/flowers/cheap-flowers.html.

Got that? Why am I even suggesting this is possible?
Last night I saw a case of a site that had a huge drop in Google traffic, like 60-80%, exactly on the date of the EMD announcement. I know there were other updates around that date, but Penguin was way after, Panda was a week or so after. The traffic statistics clearly shows a Google penalty on the date of the EMD update. But the site isn't a pure EMD case.

Author: Barry Schwartz