Hi guys, I have a question about expired domains and how best to use them to gain backlinks to your other sites. I would like to know which you would choose from the following options, given that the expired domain has been unregistered for many months, has no current PR BUT has some very high PR backlinks from .edu .gov domains etc. 301 the domain towards a fairly unrelated site that you own so that the high PR links point directly to your site. Put up a one page site, with content to match the site you are linking to and then to put a single link from the expired domain to your site. My theory is that the expired domain will eventually regain pagerank if you put a site up there and then the value of the link is boosted by the relevant content that you put up. So i would personally choose option 2. My apologies if this doesn't make 100% sense when you first read over it but I am supposed to be working! Cheers guys
A very good question. I am interested in what people have to say. All I know is that Google is very smart and they are getting better every day.
There are a lot of things at work here... A one-page site may not retain a high page rank because Google will know how meaningless it is. Even if it does maintain its PR, you're not getting the full benefit that a 301 gives you. Having said that, I would definitely do some more research to see if there is a consensus out there about how Google is treating non-topical redirects. I've yet to hear of a penalty, but I know that in Google's perfect world they would probably, at the very least, not pass juice. At most, you could be looking at a 30/80 situation. I'd apply the 301 today, get the love, and keep a finger on the pulse of that issue. If you see a penalty one day, undo the 301, change it to a shell page with a link, and submit your site to Google again telling them what you did.
I am thinking more in terms of SERPs rather than PR and for that wouldn't it make more sense not to dilute your backlink profile with a load of irrelevant links with untargeted keywords? Instead, being able to choose the anchor text of a single, high quality backlink from a page of related content is surely more beneficial, no?
I definitely understand where you're coming from. I mean that the PR of the domain you have my be diminished if you have a one-page site. Google likes deep sites with good internal structure, and if you put up a one-page site with little content, I fear the the value of the link may be diminished over time. I guess if you're super creative, I'd put a blog on that page that merges both the domain and your target site with a text link on it. Make it a couple of pages deep so it looks decent, and post something once a month. That way, it would be a perfect "bridge" and the link might be worth more? Heck, I'd even contribute if you gave my client a link!
Yes, maybe you have a point...single page sites could have their drawback in the eyes of the big G. I really haven't looked into that debate at all so there's some homework for me to do. The only problem with a blog is that I barely have the time to write for my own sites...although maybe i could get around that using wordpress uniquefier and some free articles from ezinearticles or something. It's definitely worth considering. I'd love to hear some other opinions too if anybody else out there has a view on this.
Best thing to do is redevelop the website along the same/similar topic as what it was that garned those good links. Not only will that ensure the links will likely stay long-term, but it will also help with that domain's ranking for those anchors that have been used with the inlinks. At least use it for a minisite to promote another site. Doing a 301 over to another site is pointless unless it's received backlinks for the same topic/keyphrases you're targetting.
Hey guys. I have a love hate relationship with expired domains (for lots of reasons). Hope this helps: I'll only buy an expired domain if it still shows links & indexed pages in G & Y. First thing to do is get dummies of all the indexed pages up and running (so they exist next time they're crawled) - then you need to get content and link crazy! If you make it through the next update then you could sell a few links to cover your costs - if you just want it for 1 link - what's the point? You may as well go buy/exchange/barter/blag a relevant link on someone else's site. I'm inclined to agree with mdvaldosta, a 301 is pretty much pointless . . . defeats the object.
Ok so i see your reasoning here, returning the site to it's original topic is an option but then my link becomes totall unrelated in terms of content/context. Well here is the thing, this domain has been dormant for many months, possibly even years so putting up the old content word for word seems almost pointless because there are no pages in the Google index. It also has no PR at all. As for using it for just one link, my thinking is that the domain becomes a PR4 or PR5 next update and then my link has the benefit of being the only link (internal or external) benefiting from the juice.
But that's just it, in order to get any real value from the prior backlinks going to the dropped domain you'll have to be on topic with the anchor texts from those backlinks - else they're useless for anything other than "pagerank" - which does very little to help pages actually rank for something, but that's an entirely different topic. If you can't use the domain to be on-topic with it's prior existance, then there is little benefit to using it.
Hmmmm, yes and no. While I agree that returning the site to it's original theme will allow it to rank for certain terms, my aim is not to rank the expired domains but rather help the rankings for the site I link to. In this respect I am not sure if the ranking of the expired domain matters and indeed if the relatedness of the backlinks to the content matters either. This is far from being an obvious one to answer...