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Buying A Website That is Sandboxed By Google

by NBaller
9 replies
Hi,

I am considering a purchase of a website that has been sandboxed /banned by Google (but not by Yahoo or Bing). The owner admitted that he was banned for including automatic content to his site. He also had his adsense account closed (leading to him wanting to sell the site). A few questions:

1) If I take over the site, will I have a chance to revive it assuming I switch out the automatic content with original content?

2) Will owning a sandboxed website have a negative impact on my existing websites under the same host?

3) Would you recommend I open up a reseller account to keep this site away from my other sites?

4) Will Google red-flag me for owning this site?

5) Anything else I should consider?

Thanks in advance,

Mike
#buying #google #sandboxed #website
  • Profile picture of the author helptobiz
    1)yes sandbox is a temporary penalty,if it is banned that is another story...banned you will have to contact them via google webmaster tools and request to be unbanned,which shouldn't be a problem since you're the new owner (I would mention this)

    2)no

    3)no,unless you plan on profiting with that account,not just for one site.

    4)no, again I would contact them and explain your situation.

    5)just make sure not to do the same offenses.
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  • Profile picture of the author cashcow
    Ditto what helptobiz said.

    Also, I would be pretty cautious about putting adsense on there (if you plan to) since the original owner had his account closed.
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    • Profile picture of the author Mike Anthony
      I'm going to go completely against the advice that others are giving you. First you indicate that the owner has told you the site WAS Banned. That is not the same as sandboxed. Second what are the chances that the owner is telling you the whole truth and nothing but? Slim. He's had his adsense account closed and he's been banned. Th reason could be anything not jsut what he/she is telling you

      I'd need to do more checking. At least run it through the archives to see what was really at the site.

      Internet Archive: Wayback Machine

      You are paying money for a site that may even have been involved and reported for spamming etc. In some cases Google may never lift the ban and the backlinks that cause it t rank on the other search engines may be dropping like flies.
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  • Profile picture of the author Kieron
    Why would you want such a website it has the potential to bring you nothing but heartaches. If the site is in a niche that you like then start with a clean slate, that site is not going to be a problem for you once you start your own version. After all it is banned in Google so you have a walk up start.

    Get a WP site up in 30 minutes, optimise it and move on.

    Kieron
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    • Profile picture of the author NBaller
      Originally Posted by Kieron View Post

      Why would you want such a website it has the potential to bring you nothing but heartaches. If the site is in a niche that you like then start with a clean slate, that site is not going to be a problem for you once you start your own version. After all it is banned in Google so you have a walk up start.

      Get a WP site up in 30 minutes, optimise it and move on.

      Kieron
      The reason is that the domain name is extremely valuable and there is no way I can get a domain name anywhere close to it for that popular niche. Also, the domain has high rankings in Yahoo and Bing and has a PR 1. I can't exactly duplicate this from new without putting in a ton of time and effort (that is worth more than the cost of simply buying the domain from the seller).

      It really isn't as simple as spending 30 minutes on it, setting it, forgetting it, and then watching the cash roll in. If it was, I'd be a millionaire .
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  • Profile picture of the author NBaller
    Thanks for your help. I am still strongly considering the purchase, but, it is highly dependent on how likely I think I can remove the ban (yes, he said it was a ban) on Google.

    It sounds like Google won't punish me for what was done by the last owner (per the responses above), so this relieves some of my concern.

    Thanks,

    Mike
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  • Profile picture of the author sbucciarel
    Banned
    There's no guarantee that Google will lift the ban, but they have lifted bans before when the bad behavior has been reversed by the owner. As was mentioned, DO NOT put Adsense on it until the ban is lifted.
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  • Profile picture of the author timber
    sorry for the n00b question, but how do you know you're in the sandbox? I'm not trying to be obtuse or anything, I just want to know if I'm in a similar situation and just don't know it.
    Will Google tell me I'm sandboxed if I just ask them?
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