Lots of questions about 301 redirects?

10 replies
  • SEO
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I want to start a local business directory. I think it may be a good way to get in the door with local businesses. And try to pull some SEO gigs.

Does it matter what the domain was before it was used at a 301? If I found a great domain about kid books and pointed it at my SEO site and started sending links to it. What would happen? Will it still pass all the link juice and metrics? Or will it get smacked for having nothing to do with SEO?

Does a 301 redirect just pass all the links to the new site? If that is the case could you say I am just buying an aged link profile to ad to my site with domains?

Should I build three page WP sites on all these before I redirect them?

How much of the link juice gets passed in a 301. If I point the TF-18 CIT-8 site at a fresh domain will the new domain now also be 18/6?

Should they be trickled on to the new sites? Or can I just plug them in.

This is the breakdown of the domains I picked up. I have $40 invested in this bunch. All the domains were directories at one point. I will most likely use 2-3 of these for my SEO site. And use the rest for the business directory.

An old seo-web-directory - TF-6 CIT-11 373-links 142-Domains 7yo

An English Directory - TF-14 CIT-7 12-links 8-Domains 4yo

A old Diamond buying directory - TF-11 CIT-6 23-Links 14-Domains 10yo

An old business directory - TF-15 CIT-6 7-Links 2-Domains 2yo

A religious directory - TF-18 CIT-8 109-Links 1-Domian 1yo This goes to a Jewish learning site with a domain that is paid until 2018. So I think the links are safe a while.

Business directory - TF-14 CIT-6 3-links 2- Domains 2yo

An old article directory - TF-12 CIT-9 45-Links 17-Domains 8yo

Any feedback of thought on this will help. Sorry it's so long, I wanted to make sure to cover everything.

Thanks
#301 #lots #questions #redirects
  • Profile picture of the author SEO Power
    Maybe you should try asking less questions

    - Relevance helps but isn't imperative, so you can 301 an unrelated site to your site and build links through it. This is blackhat (in case you didn't know).

    - I think you'll get better results if you build sites on those domains and then build links to them before redirecting them.

    - Some SEOs say 90%+ of the link juice is transferred but, in my experience, all of it gets transferred.

    - I've never redirected more than one site to any single domain so can't answer your question regarding whether to 301 all of them at once or drip feed them.
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    • Profile picture of the author Mr Gone
      Originally Posted by SEO Power View Post

      Maybe you should try asking less questions

      - Relevance helps but isn't imperative, so you can 301 an unrelated site to your site and build links through it. This is blackhat (in case you didn't know).

      - I think you'll get better results if you build sites on those domains and then build links to them before redirecting them.

      - Some SEOs say 90%+ of the link juice is transferred but, in my experience, all of it gets transferred.

      - I've never redirected more than one site to any single domain so can't answer your question regarding whether to 301 all of them at once or drip feed them.
      SEO Power are you sure this is the case? I just read this in another thread. The last thing I want is to hurt my rankings. I have no problems trying it on a new site. But I have the fear of doing it on my main site.

      Originally Posted by SEO-Dave View Post

      This will cost the site ~15% of it's link benefit, it will have a negative impact on current SERPs.

      David
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      • Profile picture of the author SEO-Dave
        Originally Posted by Mr Gone View Post

        SEO Power are you sure this is the case? I just read this in another thread. The last thing I want is to hurt my rankings. I have no problems trying it on a new site. But I have the fear of doing it on my main site.

        See the Matt Cutts video embedded at WordPress SEO Tutorial 2014 301 Redirects

        Basically a 301 passes the same/similar link benefit as a normal link, there's a dampening factor.

        The original PageRank formula had the dampening factor set to 0.85 which means 85% of PR is transfered out via links, so 15% is 'spent' on the webpages SERPs. Since the original PageRank formula is very old and Google doesn't publish what they use today, could be 10% today or 20%, we don't know, all we know is there is a dampening factor (I assume 15%, the exact figure doesn't matter that much, it exists).

        So a 301 redirect is like have an intermediate landing page, the cost is around 15%.

        David
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        • Profile picture of the author Mr Gone
          Originally Posted by SEO-Dave View Post

          See the Matt Cutts video embedded at WordPress SEO Tutorial 2014 301 Redirects

          Basically a 301 passes the same/similar link benefit as a normal link, there's a dampening factor.

          The original PageRank formula had the dampening factor set to 0.85 which means 85% of PR is transfered out via links, so 15% is 'spent' on the webpages SERPs. Since the original PageRank formula is very old and Google doesn't publish what they use today, could be 10% today or 20%, we don't know, all we know is there is a dampening factor (I assume 15%, the exact figure doesn't matter that much, it exists).

          So a 301 redirect is like have an intermediate landing page, the cost is around 15%.

          David
          David,

          The last thing I am not sure about is where the 15-20% dampening factor comes from. Is that taken from only the new 301(intermediate landing page)? Or do I lose some link juice on my main site as well?

          If its only from the new 301(intermediate landing page) I view it as a win. Even if I have to give up 40% of the new 301 site. I am still getting a 60% push on my main site. Without losing any of the link juice I already have.

          Thanks for clearing this last part up.
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        • Profile picture of the author yukon
          Banned
          Originally Posted by SEO-Dave View Post

          See the Matt Cutts video embedded at WordPress SEO Tutorial 2014 301 Redirects

          Basically a 301 passes the same/similar link benefit as a normal link, there's a dampening factor.

          The original PageRank formula had the dampening factor set to 0.85 which means 85% of PR is transfered out via links, so 15% is 'spent' on the webpages SERPs. Since the original PageRank formula is very old and Google doesn't publish what they use today, could be 10% today or 20%, we don't know, all we know is there is a dampening factor (I assume 15%, the exact figure doesn't matter that much, it exists).

          So a 301 redirect is like have an intermediate landing page, the cost is around 15%.

          David
          The only reason to worry about any authority loss on a 301 link is If the backlink sucks to begin with. Solution - stop building weak links.

          There's no reason to BS about fake percentages that you'll never prove in 20 lifetimes.

          Carry on with a wall of useless text.
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          • Profile picture of the author Mr Gone
            One of the sites I picked up is xxxxxxxxxy.info. I found it on the expired domain list for $2.99.

            Its 8yo
            Majestic says its TR-12 CIT-8
            Its has 45 links from 16 IP's.
            No foreign language links
            All the anchor text is Url variations like www, http://, http://www
            It is fully brand-able.

            Knowing how much of the link juice will pass though the 301 would be great. But knowing I will not hurt my current rankings would be even better.

            Is the link juice passed based solely on the links of the domain that is passing the juice? This domain here may be an exception to the rule where it has a old and strong link profile. So it will be passing all good links.

            While another domain that some hack killed with GSA may hurt my site?

            Am I stating to put this together?
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            • Profile picture of the author yukon
              Banned
              Originally Posted by Mr Gone View Post

              One of the sites I picked up is domain.com. I found it on the expired domain list for $2.99.

              Its 8yo
              Majestic says its TR-12 CIT-8
              Its has 45 links from 16 IP's.
              No foreign language links
              All the anchor text is Url variations like www, http://, http://www
              It is fully brand-able.

              Knowing how much of the link juice will pass though the 301 would be great. But knowing I will not hurt my current rankings would be even better.

              Is the link juice passed based solely on the links of the domain that is passing the juice? This domain here may be an exception to the rule where it has a old and strong link profile. So it will be passing all good links.

              While another domain that some hack killed with GSA may hurt my site?

              Am I stating to put this together?
              Don't post your domains/URLs on a public forum, good grief. The domain name screams spammy history.

              Anyways...

              When you first get a new domain test it by ranking a few pages on that new domain, If they don't rank there's a problem. So... don't point links from the new domain to the money domain/pages until you prove it's ok.

              GSA is all spam links, dump it or use it for testing.
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          • Profile picture of the author SEO-Dave
            Originally Posted by yukon View Post

            The only reason to worry about any authority loss on a 301 link is If the backlink sucks to begin with. Solution - stop building weak links.

            There's no reason to BS about fake percentages that you'll never prove in 20 lifetimes.

            Carry on with a wall of useless text.
            I'll use a video this time


            WOW, Yukon, everyday you show your lack of SEO knowledge. Is there anything you understand???

            Watch the video Yuken and note what it's called:

            What percentage of PageRank is lost through a 301 redirect?

            I understand why you never post your domains here, they'd show your lack of SEO skill.

            Do other regulars here seriously trust Yukon's SEO advice when he doesn't understand these basic SEO things???

            David
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  • Profile picture of the author bertieallsorts
    What your doing is trying to redirect say a website that was once a kids book site, which may have a lot of backlinks for "kids books" and directing it to SEO themed website, well depending on how many backlinks were built to old site, if its a ton then it might be wise to build backlinks to those sites first, then redirecting it

    infact i done this 2 months ago, i purchased a good domain, built backlinks that were relevent to the site it was about to be redirected too, and then applied a full 301, and transfered new links that were actualy relevent as i say to the place it was going, worked out just fine

    up to 90% was transfererd, you do lose some juice with a transfer
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    • Profile picture of the author Mr Gone
      Originally Posted by bertieallsorts View Post

      infact i done this 2 months ago, i purchased a good domain, built backlinks that were relevent to the site it was about to be redirected too, and then applied a full 301, and transfered new links that were actualy relevent as i say to the place it was going, worked out just fine

      up to 90% was transfererd, you do lose some juice with a transfer
      Can you tell me if you built a small website on the domain first? Say just a three page relevant WordPress site. And then link to that new site before you did a 301 redirect.

      Thanks
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