Advice on buying a domain name for a valuable link
-
There is an expired blog which scores well for a search term I'm interested in. I'd like to know if people think it's a good idea to buy it to get a link essentially? Also, if I buy the domain and the content is wiped, does anyone have any tips on what I should do in regards to content to maintain the domains value? I don't generally look to buy domains for links but on this occasion it could be worth the effort and expense.
-
Kris, decided not to buy the domain. Your info help me to conclude it was just too risky. Will see if I can negotiate a content link on the site instead. Thanks again for a great answer!
-
To be honest, I think Google re-evaluates domain transfers when the who is changes. I've seen some domain transfers help SEO, and some seem irrelevant. If you purchase a domain make sure it has high-quality links from sites that have an actual followings (look at the site's social interaction and comment participation.) If your new site sends qualified visitors to you, than it is worth it.
To be safe, just buy the new domain, set up 301 redirects, and then contact the sites that link to you and tell them that you've re-launched your website on a new domain. Ask the site owners update their link.
-
Kris,
Most excellent, thought out response. Wow.
Thanks,Robert
-
Thanks for the awesome reply! Will review and revert back.
-
Thanks for the awesome reply! Will review and revert back.
-
I do this pretty regularly so hopefully this will be of help. If you decide to go this route there is a ton of diligence that needs to be done. First keep in mind that post-penguin there are a ton of people dumping essentially burned domains. When you are digging through your drop lists first start off by making sure the domain is still indexed by google at all. Next take your list and dump it in a google doc and use the moz api (tutorial here: http://www.seomoz.org/ugc/updated-tool-seomoz-api-data-for-google-docs) to pull up the following stats on your list:
Page Authority
Domain Authority
Domain Trust
Root Linking Domains to Root Domainpage authority is really not overly important at this stage, you are just using it to figure out if they were WWW or non-WWW for when you do your site rebuild (more on that later)
For the other ones dont touch anything with a DA below 40, a DT below 4 and RLDTDs below say 150.
once you have your remaining list (it'll be a lot smaller than the one you started with) you now have to basically check SEOmoz's work. A lot of times a domain that has been spammed all to hell will still have semi-decent numbers with moz. They just aren't that good at determining spammy links just yet. Look for really high money term anchor counts (bad) really high link to root linking domain accounts (means lots of sitewides, also bad) and things of that nature.
Once you've chucked out all the domains that are really ugly take your now very very small list and go to archive.org. You are looking to see how long the domain existed in its most recently current state. Does it look like it changed hands a bunch? Or has it been pretty much the same for years. Does archive.org have most of its site archived? You'll need that for site reconstruction. As others have mentioned you basically want to restore it to its previous state as closely as you can. At least to start out with. If all that checks out then you'll want to look at the whois info. You are going to want to register it with the same registrar it was last time. Match their whois data as best as you can. Make it look like they just forgot to renew for a while but then fixed it. Once the whole site (or as much of it as you can) is restored, just let that sucker camp for a few weeks. Let google get used to it being back. Make sure they don't pull a pagerank reset on it for the drop (if it had some and it suddenly drops to zero, you might as well toss the thing out. It means google knows it changed hands). If all looks good after a few weeks? Slip your link in wherever it makes sense. A new page linked to from the home page would be ideal. Adding a new link to an old content page is in most cases a pretty glaring sign of link manipulation.
Hope that helps
P.S. in the version of the google doc included in that tutorial it doesnt have DT or RLDTRDs build in. You'll need to mod the code slightly if you want to pull those stats. Here is the bit you need to change
add this:
"ptrp" : "domain trust" , // 524288
"pid" : "root domain links" // 8192under this row:
"upa" : "page authority" , // 34359738368
and then change this row from this:
var SEOMOZ_ALL_METRICS = 103616137253; // All the free metrics
to this
var SEOMOZ_ALL_METRICS = 103616669733; // All the free metrics
now in the main sheet just add 2 columns. One with the heading domain trust, the other with root domain links and be sure to change the yellow box formula to include the extra 2 columns during its fetch. Cheers
-
Good advice for sure, but this site has had no new content for 2 years and is in a good position, probably because keyword is not that competitive. It's not where it is due to regular content. Would that change your advice?
-
I totally agree with you Dana, whatever the domain might be, it should have original and updated content, that is whole single formula which could work now.. Thanks
-
If it's relevant and valuable I'd advise buying it only if there two conditions are met:
- The original content stays intact
- You are willing to devote time and resources to adding fresh new content, regularly
If those things are satisfied I'd say "go fot ir!" - Otherwise, it's a no go. IMHO
As always, I am interested to know what others have to say about it.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Should I change a domain name with a good score for a newly registered one
Hi I have inherited a website http://www.hanmersprings.net.nz/ Domain sore 17 The website promotes Rippinvale so I want to register a domain rippinvale.com and direct the old domain to the new one. Is this the best way to do this to maximise the link authority?
Link Building | | VelocityWebsites0 -
What is the process of link earning to avoid link building?
Hi All, I want process to earning links for new SEO 2014. Can anybody explain? Thanks, Akhilesh
Link Building | | dotlineseo0 -
What is the number of links do you require your link builder to attain each week or month? What is a reasonable goal?
Hello Mozzers... I would like to get a survey or feedback from other Mozzers who owns an SEO company or manages / hire link builders. **What is the average number of links does your link builder need to attain per week or month? what is their goal? ** I understand quality over quantity but I want to make sure there is a reasonable average to provide them goals and something to achieve on. Of course reward them more if they exceed or get .edu links. What do you institute? What do you think is fair and achievable per website? PS. There is no right or wrong answers here. I am looking for a measurable answer not subjectable. Again just gathering MEASURABLE GOALS.
Link Building | | ChatterBuzzMedia0 -
Sidebar Links
If I have x number of posts with sidebar having popular posts. Will each post acts as a link to popular posts? or will be penalized for site wide links? Thanks, Venkee
Link Building | | Venkee0 -
Links or Redirect?
My client's company has just acquired another company in the same industry and with that acquisition came two websites; companyname.com and companyname.co.uk. companyname.com has PA13 and DA10, companyname.co.uk has PA15 and DA10. At the moment, the two companies are to be run as separate companies but will become fully merged in time. My client's own website is brand new (PA1 and DA) and I'm wondering what is the best way to use these other two sites to improve my client's search ranking. Should I use the two sites to link to my client (these would be logical and natural links e.g. explaining the acquisition, under new management) or would it simply be better to redirect the domains to the new site? Many thanks
Link Building | | mikecartmel0 -
Do No follow links from social media platforms transfer authority or value when they link to third party websites?
With social media playing a bigger role in SEO (since the Panda, Penguin updates etc) and how search engines rank sites now, does anybody know why Twitter for instance has 'no follow' when I check my client's websites under 'inbound links' on Open Site Explorer?
Link Building | | caroline19770 -
How many nofollow links should we build to have a natural link profile
Hi guys, As with many link builders we have been building lots of dofollow links for our site, so many that mainly our incoming links are dofollow. Some pages have 99.5% dofollow external links which I know is not very natural. In your experience in terms of percentage how much should you have in terms of nofollow external links in your link profile. I noticed SEOMoz has about 12-13% nofollow external links, shall I go with this figure? Thanks guys. David
Link Building | | sssrpm0 -
9306 inbound links but onle 143 root domains?
I need help with my link building efforts so I have started to search around for companies and/or freelance contractors to hire. I always ask for examples of sites they are working on. In many cases the number of inbound links are high (9306) compared to the number of root domains that are linked to (143). Or as in this sample (120792) inbound links compared to (157) linking domains http://www.shortsalesafe.com. How can this be? To me the only logical answer is "link farms" or some other form of black hat magic. Am I right in my assumption, or is there another logical answer for so many links with so few linking domains.? Thanks Gary
Link Building | | fun52dig0