Can you really buy old domain names and create redirects? Is this a sound system to get backlinks quickly. Sorry if that sounds like a stupid question. I'm very new to all this.
The backlinks will only be useful if they are relative with the website they are redirecting to, others google will just ignore them. MSN and Yahoo will probably like them, but they will sooner or later follow Google's trends. Good idea though, dont take my word for it, buy one website and see if it has any affect.
Redirects are different from backlinks. Unless you use the old domain to create content and links (backlinks) to your other sites. Redirects is only useful if there are users visiting the old domain url.
if you redirect the whole domain name you will loose the serps soon enough the better option is to add some relevant content and put some links to your site
not a sound strategy. If you do more than one I'm sure it can be detected and the links would be devalued.
Yes you can but ensure that you use keywords similar to that of the old domain otherwise people will get to the site and then find it unrelated to their needs.Also, do a backlink check and see where the previous owner has linked to, as a bad neighbor effect can worry your ranking.
I absolutely agree with you. That's exactly what happened to me. Google just ignores them, so one of my sites ranks like Google's 10th page, while it ranks on hte first page of MSN and Yahoo. Unless it is related, G ignores them.
I advice you not to go for expired domain names. Google will ultimately find them and you will lose the advantage. They may even penalize you for foul play. If you work hard, you will surely succeed. Don't go for easy solutions, because in the long run the will turn harmful.
That would depend how often google caches them. There are ways to know if a site is about to expire before it does that why you are first in line to buy it, whilst google is none the wiser.