from dropped to number one in 7 days !

[findtim]

I've spoken about this before but it amazes me so can someone trash this idea for me !

I got a domain off drops .

http://www.goldcoastbackpackers.com.au/

I put it in this box so you know I'm not link building.

when I bought it it was STILL alive ? and ranking 9th ! so I grabbed the homepage words then went to waybackwhen and grab some other old words from different pages and created a homepage with the new owners backpackers name, go have a look right now.............. basiccccccc

So today I am about to build a landing page and for me in Melbourne and for the client ( who has never visited the URL it ranks number 1 )

GO EMD's

but I tell a small lie, I actually bought it a few weeks ago and only last week had a chance to move it to my servers and put up those words but it was ALIVE everyday????

weird, this is the 3rd time now this has happened to domains I have purchased

tim

 

[James]

This site seems to have been around for a while in the past and the people who use to own it were building some half decent links, a look at the link profile shows that they have a good mix of natural links and also fresh links to the site.

As you can see 70-100 decent links, the issue is you have moved it to a 1-2 pages website.

If you check the index on Google "About 62 results" still show so in Google mind this is till a decent quality site with 62 indexed pages.

When they re crawl the site and only 2 pages are showing and 60+ 404ed pages it may not end that well.

So if you ask why is this ranking? EDM with no link building it is not 100% true.

It is ranking because of the legacy natural link profile and because 62 pages are still indexed.

 

[Offtap]

Sorry if this is derailing - But James I am interested in your opinion in this situation - which will be very similar to the OP's.

I'm about to buy an old domain in my niche which has :

External Backlinks 10,093
Indexed URLs 542
Referring Domains 262
Referring IPs 142
Referring Subnets 132
Trust Flow 19
Citation Flow 13
Trust Metric 19

despite not being "active" for 2 years.

Would you painstaking redirect each indexed link - or would a general home page 301 suffice - or do nothing and just have a useful-ish 404 page?

 

[findtim]

I think you are "ontap" offtap its a valid extension of the question imo
tim

 

[James]

Sorry if this is derailing - But James I am interested in your opinion in this situation - which will be very similar to the OP's.

I'm about to buy an old domain in my niche which has :

External Backlinks 10,093
Indexed URLs 542
Referring Domains 262
Referring IPs 142
Referring Subnets 132
Trust Flow 19
Citation Flow 13
Trust Metric 19

despite not being "active" for 2 years.

Would you painstaking redirect each indexed link - or would a general home page 301 suffice - or do nothing and just have a useful-ish 404 page?

So many factors you need to think about with old aged domains with links.

For example -

1. What is the quality of the links, 250 root domains does not mean any thing if they are 249 junk links.

2. What is the level of current referral traffic to the domain, this is a good indication that the links are good quality if they send referral visitors.

3. What has been on the site for the last 2 years if it has been taken down it can be an issues.

4. Does the domain have existing penalties on the domain from historic links - Manual penalties will show up in GWT if you can get access Algorithmic penalties will now show and you need to rely on 3rd party tools.

In regards to what to do with redirects, it depends on the old structure of the site, personally it is a good strategy to re build the main level structure and then re direct to related pages from one site to the other. Where you have problems if you have 100 pages of good content on an old site, then you 404 x 98 pages and you have 2 pages of a few lines not the best signal in my experience.

 

[geodomains]

I've spoken about this before but it amazes me so can someone trash this idea for me !

I got a domain off drops .

Hey Tim I knew this was a good domain when I was the under bidder, the quality of the website on it before and backlink profile. Does not surprise me it is number 1 Grrrr

Don

 

[findtim]

NOTE: 6pm Monday, just presently converting the site so it will look like crap for a while. hopefully before google comes back I will have the next stage done

tim

 

[Ryan]

Assessing links
I agree with James referral traffic is a good way to judge links.

Another way to determine whether a domain you have a link from is any good is to use the SEMrush traffic estimate. This gives you a basic idea of the amount of organic traffic a site receives. In my opinion, the search visibility Google gives a site is an endorsement of the quality of the site. So it makes sense to judge a domain in this manner.

Redirecting
When redirecting you will need to redirect to the most relevant pages on your site. Redirect according to the old directory structure that you are receiving 404's. If you are using htaccess to do your redirects you will need to order your redirect from the most specific to the least specific.

Tip: Force an 404 error for all the bad links. Place the forced 404's above your general redirect rules in your htaccess.

 

[findtim]

thanks all, so I have now thrown up a landing page with the clients logo and phone number plus a scroller and the basic content, no links out, not email links out.

http://www.goldcoastbackpackers.com.au/

given I have no budget from the client yet, they go on holidays tomorrow till 13 jan 2014, is there anything else I should do?

I VERY sure they would pay me for my effort to keep the rank till we build the site ( but that breaks my rules on payment terms )

remember I am coming from a dropped site and not a planned change over.

ryan: can you post a link to read more info on what you are suggesting

Tip: Force an 404 error for all the bad links. Place the forced 404's above your general redirect rules in your htaccess.

thanks
tim

 

[Ryan]

Here is an example:
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/9302347/need-to-force-a-404-in-wordpress

You can also redirect to a 404. See here:
http://wiki.dreamhost.com/Htaccess_tricks

Dont forget to disavow bad links too!! See here:
https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/2648487?hl=en

 

[James]

Dont forget to disavow bad links too!! See here:
https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/2648487?hl=en

I personally would not disavow links on a fresh domain.

Also I had a quick look at the link profile the other day 97% of the links on this site are good/ natural. If you look at the old versions of this site they clearly did spend a bit on design.

 

[Ryan]

for Offtaps domain or FindTims domain? Offtap is referring to a different example right?
(slightly confused!!)
FindTim: my redirection advice was for Offtap. If you have such a squeaky clean profile and are still ranking no1 dont fix something that aint broke!

 

[James]

for Offtaps domain or FindTims domain? Offtap is referring to a different example right?
(slightly confused!!)
FindTim: my redirection advice was for Offtap. If you have such a squeaky clean profile and are still ranking no1 dont fix something that aint broke!

If you post in the main thread with no quote it usually means you are referring to the original post. So I thought you were referring to FindTims site.

I was just saying be careful what you disavow, I have seen many brands receive bad advice and disavow 100's of quality links. To many people play around with these tools and they do not know what they are doing it can make for a real horror story.

 

[Ryan]

If you post in the main thread with no quote it usually means you are referring to the original post. So I thought you were referring to FindTims site.

I was just saying be careful what you disavow, I have seen many brands receive bad advice and disavow 100's of quality links. To many people play around with these tools and they do not know what they are doing it can make for a real horror story.

Point taken and true! I'll be sure to give a disclaimer when raising the disavow tool

 

[findtim]

well google has been across it now and cached the new site/landing page and I have gone to number 2, so really not a bad effort from a dropped domain.

tim

 

[thelostagency]

Hmmm Tim I would consider adding a booking widget for HostelWorld, HotelsCombined or Wotif so the visitors to the site can actually do something (book a room) besides just bounce back to the Google results.

 

[findtim]

I agree, but I am waiting on client decision

tim

 

[Ryan]

yeah good idea.

I would personally add an name/email/phone/details capture to start generating some leads and sell to the place.

... it also needs a map

 

[findtim]

yeah good idea.

I would personally add an name/email/phone/details capture to start generating some leads and sell to the place.

... it also needs a map

yep, but unfortunately the client is being SLOWWWWW to take action even though I have said they should make it a priority.

also the old owner still has the domain on THEIR google places listing

tim