buying sites to 301 redirect

[kidmercury]

i am planning on buying a few sites and using a 301 redirect to transfer the link popularity over to my site. has anyone tried this before? anything i should know before doing it? thoughts, suggestions, warnings, criticisms all very much welcome.

[AussieWebmaster]

Originally Posted by kidmercury

i am planning on buying a few sites and using a 301 redirect to transfer the link popularity over to my site. has anyone tried this before? anything i should know before doing it? thoughts, suggestions, warnings, criticisms all very much welcome.

I would look for sites that have relevance otherwise it may create problems.

[fathom]

Originally Posted by kidmercury

i am planning on buying a few sites and using a 301 redirect to transfer the link popularity over to my site. has anyone tried this before? anything i should know before doing it? thoughts, suggestions, warnings, criticisms all very much welcome.

what he said... and avoid keyword domains as much as possible. A 'brand' can be anything e.g. IBM.com could be cars, horses, etc. where casion-gambling-lounge.com would be spam to everything but the gaming industry.

[mcanerin]

I may be wrong (which is why I'm posting the question - it's a genuine question) but my understanding was that:

1. If a site changes ownership (whois data) AND
2. is redirected OR
3. Changes content substantially

...then the links no longer count? Is this true? My understanding was that it is, but since I've never done it I can only go from third hand reports, and I'm kind of skeptical.

I could see a company buying or merging with another company legitimately merging the sites together. It seems odd that this would be considered spam.

At the same time, my initial understanding was with regard to "bait and switch" sites in DMOZ, etc, and it seemed pretty reasonable at the time.

Bottom line - which version is correct? Can anyone speak from experience?

Ian

[fathom]

Originally Posted by mcanerin

I may be wrong (which is why I'm posting the question - it's a genuine question) but my understanding was that:

1. If a site changes ownership (whois data) AND
2. is redirected OR
3. Changes content substantially

...then the links no longer count? Is this true? My understanding was that it is, but since I've never done it I can only go from third hand reports, and I'm kind of skeptical.

I could see a company buying or merging with another company legitimately merging the sites together. It seems odd that this would be considered spam.

At the same time, my initial understanding was with regard to "bait and switch" sites in DMOZ, etc, and it seemed pretty reasonable at the time.

Bottom line - which version is correct? Can anyone speak from experience?

Ian

No actual experience but logically whois data can change periodically and not because of selling the domain; redirected - with a permanent 301 there is no user agent distinction between old and new IPs - it's simply superimposed; and substantial changes in content well website can have a major overhaul in both design architecture and copy.

Any of these would substantially target far more than 'bait & switch' gaming.

My understanding - an expired domain negates previous established link pop - but really not 100% sure.

[mcanerin]

expired domain

The missing link! That's the part I missed. Maybe that's what I was hearing about. I wasn't interested in doing it at the time so I didn't pay as much attention as I should have. Of course, as you say, that still doesn't mean it's true.

Ian

[AussieWebmaster]

Expired domains have all sorts of pitfalls to watch out for... there have been numerous discussions about them on many of the SEO boards... am surprised no one else has weighed in... maybe just did not want to rehash old stuff.

[I, Brian]

John Scott at v7n basically created on big live experiment on all this.

He bought the expired domain "webmaster-forum.net" in 2003 to set up his webmaster forums on, he reported that he fell foul of some form of expired domain filter - no PR at all, until he took the issue up with GG at WMW.

The site domain name was later relaunched as "internet-marketing-research.net" later the same year, which reached PR8. However, he then rebuilt the site on the domain "v7n.com" earlier this year. John mentions here that he's not seeing PR being passed.

Suggestion seems to be that redirects are of only very limited worth.

[Marcia]

I'd have to hunt to find the link to confirm it, but there's a filter for expireds; they don't accrue the previous PR. Not for quite a while now.

Buying domains that haven't expired may be a different story, but then there's the 301 issue which isn't avoiding the "sandbox" for the site redirected to if it's a new one.

[AussieWebmaster]

The expired domains have been filtered for quite some time.... 301 redirects are actually the recommended way to pass old sites (not expired but say renamed pages or new domain names).

[Chris Boggs]

this thread has a high Moderator density...

please kid merc keep us abreast of your efforts I am curious to hear some primary research on this subject...

[fathom]

Originally Posted by Chris Boggs

this thread has a high Moderator density...

please kid merc keep us abreast of your efforts I am curious to hear some primary research on this subject...

ya but a little off-topic... buying websites & 310 re-direct isn't picking up expired domain for link pop... so best not to seek expired domains for link pop development.

Also Ian I looked for some references to your initial questions - didn't find any.

[Marcia]

Here's the quote about the expired domain filter, with the reference from spring of 2003

http://forums.searchenginewatch.com/...ead.php?t=3267

I don't recall anything off-hand about active domains being purchased, but PR and anchor text are two different things. If the content changes substantially to a different topic previous anchor text won't be any help.

Actually, I think the best way to start seeing even more filters slapped on is to keep discussing the them. Getting them out from under the radar could help the engines a lot in cleaning up the SERPs

[fathom]

Originally Posted by Marcia

...If the content changes substantially to a different topic previous anchor text won't be any help....

I would rephrase and say 'help less' & not - 'not help at all' - correct?

[AussieWebmaster]

Originally Posted by fathom

I would rephrase and say 'help less' & not - 'not help at all' - correct?

Because we all know even the most bizarre inbound link pages give a little love....

[fathom]

Originally Posted by AussieWebmaster

Because we all know even the most bizarre inbound link pages give a little love....

LOL - ya sometimes it 'don't figure'.

This site's mainpage [a defaced phpBB forum by webworn] and now defunct http://www.mmmaple.com went from PR4 to PR7 in 3 months without a single new link... now look at the cache.

Still trying to figure this out.

[seobook]

Originally Posted by fathom

This site's mainpage [a defaced phpBB forum by webworn] and now defunct http://www.mmmaple.com went from PR4 to PR7 in 3 months without a single new link... now look at the cache.

weird that...

[David Wallace]

It seems to me that your efforts would be better spent buying good quality text links from reputable sites as opposed to buying domains. I wouldn't think buying other domains to permanently redirect would be of much use. Besides, what happens eventually when the PR of those domains you buy drop because there is either "actual" site there any longer and as a result, the links the site used to have begin to slowly disappear?

[Jill Whalen]

Originally Posted by kidmercury

i am planning on buying a few sites and using a 301 redirect to transfer the link popularity over to my site. has anyone tried this before? anything i should know before doing it? thoughts, suggestions, warnings, criticisms all very much welcome.

This is exactly the sort of thing that will ruin the usefulness of the 301 for the true purpose it's intended for. I've actually been surprised that 301's do transfer link pop. for this very reason.

Guess we can kiss it goodbye, soon enough.

[AussieWebmaster]

Originally Posted by Jill Whalen

This is exactly the sort of thing that will ruin the usefulness of the 301 for the true purpose it's intended for. I've actually been surprised that 301's do transfer link pop. for this very reason.

Guess we can kiss it goodbye, soon enough.

I don't know whether Google will race out to change this too soon... it works and if there is a loophole there will always be loopholes.

Like Danny Devito said in Other People's Money... "I don't break the rules I adapt to them... and when they change them I adapt with the changes"....

Louie the Liquidator buying up old domains is just around the corner!