Can I 301 re-direct a page to regain the authority from a penguin penalized page
-
I built way too many anchor text links to an internal page and was penalized for the associated keyword. However, I do rank on that page for less significant keywords that I didn't build anchor text links for, though not super high. Subsequently, I've found that the sites that rank highly for the keyword that I was looking to rank for are high domain authority with almost no links built to those pages.
Can I 301 re-direct that URL to my homepage, where I'm not trying to rank for that term, to make use of that authority of the links I've built to that page and start over on the page that I was hit by penguin on?
This appears to make sense to me as my pages that have been hit are specifically for the terms that I have gone overboard on anchor text links. Terms that I haven't built too many anchor text links to still rank on those pages.
-
Thanks for all of the input. I'm still scratching my head, but I think I'm going to re-direct and abandon the link if necessary. I think my problems are algorithmic so if I'm not trying to rank for that term, I'm hoping I won't have an issue. I'll keep everyone posted with the results I see.
I figure I'll need to abandon that link anyway as my link profile is so much different than my competitors.
Thanks!
-
I always find these questions interesting. I think the best way to look at it is to remember that Penguin is algorithmic and not manual and that the algorithm is mathematical.
Assume there is an algorithmic penalty to a page with lets say 50 inbound links of varying value; what would that look like? IMO given that there is mathematics involved, you can surmise what happens this way:
Lets say that the bot detects some combination of link values that equal a change in the equation from positive to negative at some level: So a page that once had link juice to it equaling some X value times 100, or 100X. That page ranked well and you were happy.
Now, due to the change in the algorithm, there is an added equation that says for any page with these type links and a value greater than 50X multiply the value times negative one. (Note: I am being purposefully simplistic here) You now have these groups of links equaling -100X.
Now you are unhappy and you want to find a way to "fix" it. You are facing a rebuild to a new page or is there any chance I could just change the direction of these links by changing the direction of the devalued page? Well, here is the answer: You can do a 301 and it will have the same value it had if you left the page up and alone. If your new page that you 301 to has something that intrinsically makes it so much better that the math result on that page when added to the math result (-100X) from the other page makes it strong, then you will be fine. But, if you did not do the 301 and you simply built a new page, you would likely rank quicker by virtue of not working against yourself.
Now, for those who will say, "How do you know it is an inbound negative number," I will tell you I don't. But, either way, you are adding a damaged page's links or link value to a new page, what are the chances there is no deleterious effect to the new page? At this juncture, it is a gamble. Your call.
-
Dustin,
I think you should leave the URL as it is and work on building new, good links to the page. I suspect that the value of the links that had been helping the page rank for the target keyword were negated and thus the decline in ranking for that search term while still ranking for other terms.
If you were to redirect the URL to the homepage, as you ask, the penalty may or may not get redirected with it but you'd no longer have that URL to start over with (because it's being redirected) so that wouldn't achieve your desired result.
Read through this thread http://moz.com/community/q/can-penalties-be-passed-via-301-redirect and see if it doesn't make you think that leaving it where it is might be a valid option for you.
-
Seems like you would pass along the positive and negative link equity from that page to your home page.
My gut says that you would not want to pass a penalty of any type from one page to another.
Separate point here. The 301 redirect passing equity is really only effective if there is a semantic relationship between the two pages. In other words, if you have a page that ranks for red widgets and you 301 it to a page that is all about green bogies, you are not going to get much benefit. Google also does not like a many to one relationship with 301s and so you want to try and minimize that anyway.
http://moz.com/blog/save-your-website-with-redirects
"The new page doesn’t have to be a perfect match for the 301 to pass equity, but problems arise when webmasters use the 301 to redirect visitors to non-relevant pages. The further away you get from semantically relevant content, the less likely your redirect will pass maximum link equity."
This is also a nice article here
http://miamiwebcompany.com/blog/study-website-recover-from-a-bad-301-redirect
So, even if there was no penalty, if not semantically relevant then it is really not worth it.
-
There's been many case studies where penalties have been passed with 301's. That may not always be the case, but it is something that can potentially happen. You may be better off working to fix your link profile.
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
-
Puzzled by high ranking page (#2 in SERPs) with zero/low page or domain authority
So, I get the smoothie that is page authority and domain authority and the link metrics that Moz uses to predict how well a page will rank for a certain keyword. I can look at a specific search term where we are on say, page 2 or 3, with a page authority of 1 and domain authority of 26, I get why competitors rank above us. But then I look at a keyword that is much more competitive, where we rank #2, which is awesome, where the landing page is also showing a page authority of 1, and domain authority of 26. How can we rank higher than competitors with a page authority of 56 and domain authority of 65? Their onpage optimization for the keyword is no worse, and sometimes better that ours but we maintain this ranking. By the way the competition also have hundreds if not thousands more linking root domains than our page. Any ideas why one keyword is a rockstar and one is a dud, with the same poor PA and DA?
Link Building | | seo-lab1 -
Can I make a universal 301 redirect rule for my site?
I.e. I switch shopping carts and every page has the same path/name but now ends in .php instead of .htm.
Link Building | | absoauto0 -
How to check if the website effected from Penguin or not?
Hi, We collecting links from some directory and forums etc but i am not quite sure if they are effected from Penguin update. Would you please guide me how i could check this? Thank you
Link Building | | Rubix0 -
Please point me in the right direction.
Hi everybody, My company recently stopped our SEO service as a cost-saving measure. Now it's up to me to do SEO in-house. I mainly do marketing and graphic design. Though I know exactly (maybe not) what to do to successfully maintain our rankings the SEO company achieved and rank for new keywords, not sure where to start. I know i need to make sure our website is optimized for SEO. Got that in the works (Our SEO company never advised on on-site seo) I know I need to create good content with the proper keywords and use anchor links. Where do i put this content? Do i purchase a domain and just put it up there? EZinearticles? or any of those article sites. I've already reached out to do guest blogging on some sites but have not received any response yet. Should i hire a writer? If anybody can give some pointers on where to start. I've got my list of keywords and keyphrases, I'm all ready to go. How can I begin my in-house SEO campaign? Thank you so much!
Link Building | | mike_sif0 -
Individual keyword pages or single page with backlinks and anchor text?
Hi, I was wondering which is the better strategy? People say the keyword dig is the basis for any SEO strategy, which i totally agree with, however, traditionally the strategy for these keywords has been to write fresh content based on sometimes very similar keywords / terms to attract specific keywords traffic... With google getting smarter and smarter, would you say it is safer (if you know you have a very tight and stable backlinking strategy) to backlink a page that has a number of your similar keywords present, with the relevant anchor text on the inbound sites? So in essence the site ranks for multiple keywords..? I hope this makes sense, it's a very difficult one to get out onto paper! 🙂 Many thanks in advance!
Link Building | | turnips
Turnips0 -
What are your latest backlinks? How can you tell?
Hi Can anyone recommend a tool (which is up to date) which shows the latest backlinks (in date order) that has been added to a website? Mainly I am planning for checking for bad links etc Many Thanks
Link Building | | ocelot0 -
Links from local.com after Penguin
I have been doing some research on where some competing links are getting their links from and I see that a decent number seem to be getting some juice from local.com. My question is- have the panda & penguin updates rendered these useless- or even worse can links from directories like this now harm my SEO?
Link Building | | eddieredwood0 -
Ranking Inner Pages or the Main Page?
Hello Guys, I am relatively new to the SEO world. So I am just wondering what would be more helpful. Getting the homepage ranked for a list of targeted keywords or creating a separate page for each keyword and then getting those pages ranked? Look forward to hear back, Thanks! Naimath
Link Building | | Sizmic0