Backlinking to 301 redirected domain / Is there a strategy?

[amika1968]

I had a website, domain was 5 years old, PR 5, danced between 4, 7 & 9 in the SERPS. Closed business and took down website last spring due to illness. Lost some backlinks due to closing down the site. Domain is still at the same registrar.

I am now opening my business again, but with a better domain. I feel it will pay off in the long run, especially looking at the domains of the competitors. I have the old domain 301 redirect to the new domain. Two weeks in I'm 15 in the SERPS with the new domain.

I am building link to the new domain. Is there any benefit to building links to the old domain too? What about the similar domains I have registered? I know I need to 301 redirect those to the new domain, but should I build backlinks to those other domains too? Or is this overkill that will backfire?

Thank you.

[AffDad]

I wondered this same question. In my case, I have a couple exact match domains that match terms I already rank for with my money site.

I wondering is it a better strategy to build links to the exact match domain and 301 it or focus on building links directly to the money site or maybe a combo of the two?

[zabalex]

Please note, 301 is meant to divert everyone from old location to new location. When a search engine spider see a header response 301 (means MOVED PERMANENTLY) it shift all the back link juice of OLD URL to NEW URL. During the process of shifting some link juice may disappear, so you may get a lower link juice to the new URL.

So if you are thinking to building back link for the old domain, I'll say NO. Build back links for the new one to get 100% link juice as somehow a bit of link juice may reduce during the shifting to the new URL. Also logically it is not OK, why you'll build link for a page which do not exist rather permanently shifted to somewhere else.

[AffDad]

Originally Posted by zabalex

Build back links for the new one to get 100% link juice as somehow a bit of link juice may reduce during the shifting to the new URL.

Understood. But what about the benefit an exact match domain provides? Wondering if any relevance boost would be carried to the 301 page by building links to the exact match phrase which is also the 301 domain. If so, would that outweigh the reduction given to a 301?

Originally Posted by zabalex

Also logically it is not OK, why you'll build link for a page which do not exist rather permanently shifted to somewhere else.

There are legitimate cases in which 301 might still get new links. For instance, an RSS may contain a link that has moved but is still being syndicated thus receive fresh links to a 301. I'm not questioning the logic, rather the effectiveness of the tactic. If it works, I don't care much if it's logical (within reason). I'm not in favor of this tactic per say, just curious of whether it has any added effectiveness or not.

[John Williamson]

No reason to build links to any old domains that are redirecting, just build links to the new domain. Since the old domains are de-indexed, it doesn't matter if it's exact match or whatever.

[AffDad]

Originally Posted by John Williamson

No reason to build links to any old domains that are redirecting, just build links to the new domain. Since the old domains are de-indexed, it doesn't matter if it's exact match or whatever.

I've been reading about some seos that build links to 301s instead of their customer's domains so they can 'control' the destination of their link building efforts in the event a customer cancels service. Cheap tactic without a doubt, but it got me to thinking about that tactic a bit which is what spawned this discussion.

I hear what you're saying since your telling google the old domain is dead and it now lives over here. But strictly from a link building strategy standpoint, there are numerous cases where links will not contain a keyword term and simply show the url itself. If these links could utilize the exact match term in the 301 domain, would it pass that benefit to the destination domain?