My current domain has about 30k backlinks, ranks around #4 or #5 for my target keywords, but does not contain the keyword in the domain, IE. old-domain.com I'm going to be using a 301 redirect to point to a new domain, which includes my target keyword: old-domain -> new-domain-with-keyword.com In theory (providing all other factors are unchanged), the SEO of my site should improve. It's usually agreed (and verified by Matt Cutts), that 301 redirects retain all link juice. So, by retaining the current structure and link juice, and adding my target keyword into the new domain, I should be improving the SEO of my site, right? Does anybody have any views on or experience with this?
Yes, 301 Redirection retain all link juice. But it is not sure that after changing your keyword based domain will rank on 1st position. You will have to do some more SEO activities on your site with new domain after 301 redirection. Don't forget to use google webmaster tool to assign new domain to your site.
Hi there, I have a bit of the opposite issue. I own a few domain names with certain keywords that I am targeting. I have directed these keyword domains to a branded site. Will any SEO value from those keyword domains then pass onto the branded site? Thanks for the clarification! Best,
Yes to the TS. Having your keyword in your domain is quite useful and a pretty huge factor. and yes to the above poster. It will pass link juice. hope that helps, Nigel
301 would be a good option to choose, lesson here you should always include your main keyword in the url before finalizing things... this has happened to be and it cost me much!
Hello everyone... Just a question about the keyword domains. Do I need to build up SEO value for the keyword domains that are being directed to my branded site? For instance, do I need to add content or build external links? How can I tell for sure that they are really 301 redirected? I've analyzed the server headers and sometimes, 302 redirects show up on some programs while 301 redirect shows up on other ones. Many thanks!
I think you're likely making a big mistake. Having your keyword in your domain ONLY gives you a boost in rankings for exact matches. In other words if your domain is SomeKeywordPhrase.tld and someone searches for "some" or "keyword" or "phrase" or "some keyword" or "some phrase" or "keyword phrase", that domain name is not really going to do you any good... no more than you could have achieved by having those same keywords in a folder name or page name in the path portion of the URL. The ONLY search phrase that SomeKeywordPhrase.tld is really going to get a significant ranking boost for is the exact match search phrase "some keyword phrase". That "some keyword phrase" would have to get 10s of 1000s of searches per month typically to make it worth changing the entire domain, and even then it might not be worth it. If you're ranking well already for lots of keyword phrases in your niche, I would advise you to leave well enough alone and keep your existing domain. 301 redirects WILL transfer credit for inbound links pointing to your old domain URLs over to the new domain URLs, but you will lose some PageRank or link juice because of the redirects. Matt Cutts and other Googlers have confirmed 301 redirects do NOTpass ALL PR to the target page. Here is an interview by Eric Enge of Matt in March 2010 where he clearly states that there is a decay or loss of PR due to 301 redirects: If you understand how PageRank is calculated you would know there is a damping factor that is part of the calculation. When PR was first created this damping factor was around 15%. Not sure what it is today but it's likely still in the 10-20% range somewhere. If a page has a PageRank of X and it has Y outbound links then each outbound link gets passed approximately ((1-D)*X)/Y in PageRank where D is the damping factor (like 0.15 for a 15% damping or decay factor). If you think of a 301 redirect as an old page with a single outbound link pointing to the new location then it makes sense that this damping factor that is part of the PR formula likely is the cause for losing a little juice with each redirect because you end up with something like ((1-0.15)*X)/1 or 0.85*X or 85% of X where X is the total PR passed INTO the page that is being redirected (assuming a damping factor of 0.15 or 15%). Sure the PR formula has changed since Brin & Page (Google founders) wrote The Anatomy of a Large-Scale Hypertextual Web Search Engine (the blueprint for what became Google - see Section 2) to account for things like penalties, nofollow, certain types of devaluing of links as possibly for site-wide links, etc. But the core of the calculation is likely very similar to the original.
i don't know much about redirect link but i think 301 redirect is the good method to redirect your web page. Main thing is ,you have to add your main keywords in the redirected URL.
Agreed with social-meda guy, 301 redirect pass link juice but not all of them. Also, redirecting whole website to new domain is something loosing everything. If you are planning to move your domain then make sure to redirect individual pages from Domain 1 to Domain 2 so that it will not harm your rankings.
Sorry I don't have any Idea of 301 redirect method. I am using Meta Refresh Method, this is also work for redirect you website.
when you are using keywords based domain then dont be worry about rankings if you are doing well in SEO, 301 redirect should not do any wrong with your current rankings, just you need to wait for some time
301 is going to definitely help but then you need to get originals links for the new domain as well. Goa head with the re-direction and start with the link building for your new domain..I dont think there would be any issues
You should also use Google Webmaster tool to notify the change of address. It helps preserve your ranking to a certain extend.
301 redirects do not pass all pagerank/link juice. If possible, change the urls of any existing links that you have, although this may not be practical if you have thousands. Having the keyword in the domain will work very well as Google especially are giving this a lot of weight at the moment. It will also help with link building as you will not have to force the anchor text.