Can this redirect be read as spam?

Please read carefully before replying:

I have a main site and registered the same name with 2 different tlds.

These 2 extra domains have been turned into small sites adding information pertaining to the subject matter with one of them having served as a social network for a while.


That social network, which I forgotten to have put up there, was getting so infested with spam and attacks that the server kept crashing, so in a quick fix I took that domain off the server and killed the content.

Now here is my question:

I want those 2 extra domains to become redirects to the main site, but my concern is as follows:

On at least 30 occasions have I linked to parts of the sites that were once on it from the main site.

If you now go to a post on my main site and there is a link to


domainname.extratld/socialnetwork and that link redirects back to the site that links to it, can that trigger a penalty?

 

Hey total in-depth information related to redirects you can visit http://moz.com/blog/save-your-website-with-redirects in this article you will find in depth of redirection and they have discuss the same topic for which you want answers in the comment section of this blog. Then also if you find any difficulty free to ask.

 

Pretty good article and if anything, it points out that I have to invest some time redirecting the urls either to the most applicable pages or just go through the pages and replace the urls.

Still it didn't address my main concern:

What if site A links to site B and then the url of site B redirects back to a page of site A?

Is that something which will trigger a penalty or not?

 

In these situations you will not penalize. But if you are redirecting site A to site B then if site A is penalized then there is chance that site B also got penalized and if you are redirecting Site B to Site C then Site C also get penalized.

 

No because you enter with this kind of thing of redirect in a type of link exchange.
The google bot maximum sees here a link back so..
You can't be penalized just for ONE type of link exchange, to trigger some type of penalty you have a lot of redirects like this one

 

OK, thanks. I just checked and the domain to redirect IS in fact not just penalized, but completely deindexed by Google. Took your advice and am not redirecting it anywhere (blank default registrar page now).

 

Hmm, I would call it endless redirect. Judging from my own experiences, Google (and probably another SE as well) didn't like such kind of redirect.
Google welcome each webmaster to redirect any domain to any URL of their choice as long as the new URL didn't point to the old url (to avoid confusion and endless redirect).
Endless Redirect, with or without intention will hurt rank and bring down trust to the lowest level. The process will took longer time. What really bad is, the process to recover will take even more longer times.

Endless redirect often being used to misleading visitors and deceiving Bots. SE didn't like such kind of attitude (intentionally or non intentionally).

I wish my own opinion above could answer your question. I see you already drop the domain and not redirect them. I prefer redirect the URL to new domain (301 only to domain) and delete any link in new domain that point to old domain (which is being redirected). It will strengthen the 'branding' and most SE love it (even if the old domain was being sand-boxed).

Arick.

 

OK thanks a lot. This is exactly what I was asking about.

If I redirect to a completely different domain, my question still is:


The domain to redirect receives about 1,500 uniques a day, but only about 120 of them are targeted. The rest is from the spam nest on the platform I've abandoned. The domain has been de-indexed by Google indicating a strong penalty. If I redirect this domain to a new site, will that new site be hit with the same penalty? The 120 or so uniques don't mean too much to me, especially in light of the danger coming with it. But I am wondering if there is still something that I can do with it.


Thanks.

 

I understand your feeling.
It seem you really care with your (new) domain and thinking redirecting 'old domain (de-indexed domain)' may cause troubles.
For now on, I'll call:

1. Your existing new domain as 'Domain A'. This is your beloved domain.
2. Your two old domains as 'Domain B/C'. This is your de-indexed domain.

TO answer your latest questions, I would like you to read my experiences below:

1. If you really sure big G de-indexed your B/C domain because of so many spam links (made by spammers in your sites), the best thing to recover is by completely wiped out the 'spammy links'. Deleting posts isn't necessary. Only delete spam comments which make your sites (B/C) being de-indexed. If you choose to update it with more updated and valued content, believe me, Your sites will not only comeback to SERP but also gain some high and trusted ranks (based on my personal experiences - each person may have different result).
   Time Period: 1 - 7 months.
   Prospective: Very high prospect.
   Difficulty: Identifying spam isn't that hard while updating content could take months.
   Benefits: Domain B/C will be back to SERP with higher trust and ranks.
   Negative: Took very long time depend on skills and knowledge. Need professional that is able to update articles with more information and format it SEO-able. bring back de-indexed domain is difficult but it could be easier depend on skills of the webmaster and performance of the sites.
   Overall: I recommend this for you.
2. If you choose to redirect B/C domain to A, I believe there would be no effect on domain A.
   Off topic,
   Lets' imagine what will happen if a someone with low-level and spammy domains pointing it to high and trusted domain. What will happen? Nothing, In-fact, the spammy domain will get the 'stamped' information of the established domain. This is a technique to sell domain with PR6/7/8/9 with low prices. They redirect domain to 'blogspot.com', 'Google.com' and so on. The fake stamped information will wore out but it need some times to update the data.
   Back to Topic.
   So, It is fine to redirect your B/C domain to A. Because B/C was de-indexed, there is high chance it wouldn't receive 'stamped' authority form blog A.
   Blog A would not in danger while Blog B/C slowly will regain trust, Not because it redirect to domain A but bots see the domain didn't have so many spammy links/information. I have to tell you the truth that it will take very long time.
   Time Period: 1 - infinite years.
   Prospective: Has no (less) impact to all domains.
   Difficulty: Very easy. Setup 301 permanent redirection and forget it.
   Benefits: Domain B/C will not being flagged as spam domains (lifting de-index). If domains were deindexed because of spam links, there are high chances both of them will be back to SERP faster.
   Negative: I wish your server could handle the traffic. Domain A will receive lots of request if A/B redirect to domain A not to homepage of domain A.Ex:
   B/C has page at: B dot com/me.html and C dot com/me.html
   A will receive lots of request to A dot com/me.html and A dot com/me.html because bots think the old url of B/C were passed to A.
   It is important to use proper redirect. Becareful if setting redirect from Cpanel, your hosting provider or domain registrar. Always take look at '.htaccess' file. I'm afraid they redirect all pages from B/C to A (which is common). It would not drag your server performance to the bottom limit but also has the ability to draw more bad bots to your lovely site (A).
   I recommend you to use .htaccess to properly redirect all pages from B/C to homepage of A (A dot com and not A dot com/bla.. bla.. bla..) as it will not only hurt your server and probably your ranks (if A was setup incorrectly to handle 404 pages).
   Here are few codes which may useful for you:
   A. codes for .htaccess
   

   Options +FollowSymlinks
   RewriteEngine On
   RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^B/C.com [NC]
   RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.A.com/ [L,R=301]
   RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^www.B/C.com [NC]
   RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.A.com/ [L,R=301]

   PHP:
   B. codes for php file
   

   <?php
   if($_SERVER['REQUEST_URI']){
   $urlredirect = http://www.A.com;
   header("HTTP/1.1 301 Moved Permanently");
   header( "Location: $urlredirect" ) ;
   die();
   }
   ?>

   PHP:
   Both codes did the same. Always make sure to verify both of it with your site administrator. I'm not responsible for any bad things which may arise from both codes above (which I think is nothing). I always warn people because I 'm afraid this/other sites may removes some codes (due to html markup - I see DP has features to show codes as is).
   PHP codes need to be changed to nice and simple codes. existing codes already simple but I was thinking for better alternatives.
   Overall: I didn't recommend this but it is up to you to chose what is best to your domains.