Domain forwarding/masking/redirection for SEO?

4 replies
  • SEO
  • |
Hi,

I bought a domain for an affiliate link.

The affiliate link looks like: something.infusionsoft.com/go/etc/etc

The domain is the actual product name.

I want the domain that I bought to rank.

A 301 redirect is not the answer as that tells Google to ignore the domain I bought.

Right now I have it set up as a 302 redirect and its not showing up in Google.

How do I get Google to rank my domain instead of the affiliate link it redirects to?

Thanks!
#domain #seo
  • Profile picture of the author paulgl
    Google ranks websites, not domains.

    If a domain is just a domain, there is no PR.

    If it had some in the past, and now is parked, it will
    lose it all.

    What you need to do is to make the domain's landing page
    just that. Put some content, etc., with a link to your
    affiliate.

    Then build a few very high PR backlinks.

    Then when the site's the PR you want, do a 301 redirect.

    But, even that, over time, the domain may lost some if not all the
    PR. Unless, if, and maybe, you keep linkbuilding to the domain.

    Now some people may tell you can get PR for a domain that never
    had any content but just forwarded. I don't believe it could. For
    one thing, if you use a server side url forwarder, then the domain,
    (I think) is never going to get indexed as it still looks parked.

    Doing a 301 redirect at least makes it seem the site is/was live.

    That is, after getting some PR.

    But, personally, I think you are better off never doing a 301 redirect.
    To fully use the domain, you need to make it a live website with content
    and backlinks.

    Now this is different than taking an established website and transferring
    it to another. That would be a good 301 redirect. You are trying to do
    the opposite.

    Forgetting about SEO, you could just forward the domain and get traffic
    via type ins, links, ads, etc.

    If someone can convince me a parked, forwarded domain that never had
    content can be ranked, I'll stand corrected. But give me a full explanation.

    Paul
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  • Profile picture of the author malcasid
    Thanks Paulgl.

    I removed the redirect and will install a wordpress blog on the domain instead.

    I bought the domain for lazy reasons. I just wanted to rank my affiliate link by just forwarding a keyword rich domain to it.

    But that won't work as Google will see the 301 redirect as a signal that I moved to new domain. And I'm trying to rank my domain and not my redirect.
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  • Profile picture of the author Domain Stryker
    You have to setup a minisite on it with at least some unique content, as well as meta tags; title + description... Without it, you will have a hard time making your way to the top of the rankings. Google isn't stupid
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    • Profile picture of the author malcasid
      Originally Posted by Domain Stryker View Post

      You have to setup a minisite on it with at least some unique content, as well as meta tags; title + description... Without it, you will have a hard time making your way to the top of the rankings. Google isn't stupid
      So your saying I can do a redirect? But I need to put content on the domain that I bought first?
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