Too many crappy links to my site...Should I start over on a new domain?

14 replies
  • SEO
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Hi Warriors,

I have a cool review site that makes me a couple hundred a month but early in its life when i didn't know any better, I blasted it with a bunch of random backlinks.

It ranks ok, but the #1 spot has way fewer links and less content.

Should I just focus on building high quality links from here on out or should I start over with a brand new site and transfer the content?

Thanks!
Vic
#crappy #domain #links #siteshould #start
  • Profile picture of the author cashcow
    I think if it is ranking ok, then there is no penalty so you'd be better off to keep that domain and focus on getting good quality links to it. Apparently those links are not hurting it so there's no reason to start over.
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    Gone Fishing
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  • Profile picture of the author Soren
    There's no reason to start over. A couple of hundred a month isn't that bad either, is it? I mean it's better than to start from 0 right?

    If google buried sites like that, you could just spam the hell out of your competitors, don't you agree? Actually someone did that to one of my fairly new sites, when I made it to page one and he had to share it with me (actually I can't be sure who it was). Suddenly I had more than twentythousand suspicious and no good backlinks, and my site did disappear for some time..

    But what I did was to continue building quality backlinks like I always had done, and in time I got my rankings back - and then some.

    What I'm trying to say is that, google has not doomed your site for life, if it ranks "ok". Just do it the right way from now on
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  • Profile picture of the author billspaced
    There is absolutely no reason to begin anew! Like Soren said, if getting "crap backlinks" were a problem, and because it's so easy, why wouldn't your competitors just send a bunch of them your way?

    All backlinks are positive (well, maybe not porn or hate sites--I don't know), but they have a wide variance in weight. Meaning that "quality backlinks" (think high authority and high relevance) count for more than "crap backlinks."

    Just add more quality and your site's rankings will improve. Don't forget to add quality content, too, because the search engines place an emphasis on topical and timely content as well.

    Finally, incorporate some social media into your promotion efforts. Some will tell you that backlinks from social media are "crap" but I disagree. Because social media is playing a bigger and bigger role in how search engines display their results, and it's way more personal than search used to be, neglecting social media is a bad idea.
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    Bill Davis
    Chief Marketing Officer, SoMoLo Marketing

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    • Profile picture of the author Kay King
      should I start over with a brand new site
      Do you throw the $200 away each month? If not, why would you throw away a site that's earning money?
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      Saving one dog will not change the world - but the world changes forever for that one dog
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      My ducks are absolutely not in a row. I don't even know where some of them are...
      ...and I'm pretty sure one of them is a pigeon.
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      • Profile picture of the author Tom Ryan
        If it is ranking well and earning, there is no point in starting over. Just focus on getting higher quality links to it.
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      • Profile picture of the author bummed.out
        Originally Posted by Kay King View Post

        Do you throw the $200 away each month? If not, why would you throw away a site that's earning money?
        Exactly! That much cash/month from a new site is nothing to sneeze at. Multiply the efforts which have worked and reap the rewards.
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  • Profile picture of the author Phoenixfk
    Do not start over and yet you've put in that much work to get your site to where it is... Don't let it be for nothing. Think of your site as a brand new site and build your ideal site from now henceforth. But don't throw away something good just because it isn't perfect!
    Felix
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  • Profile picture of the author Kauzmo
    Wow I'm completely blown away. This entire thread is responding that you need to build more quality back links even though your competitor has fewer than you.

    Instead of looking at more back links, maybe you should focus on more content. Your competitor is probably outranking you because of content not back links. Focus on the content.

    Back links , back links ,back links - it should be content, content, content.
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    • Profile picture of the author vtotheyouknow
      Originally Posted by Kauzmo View Post

      Wow I'm completely blown away. This entire thread is responding that you need to build more quality back links even though your competitor has fewer than you.

      Instead of looking at more back links, maybe you should focus on more content. Your competitor is probably outranking you because of content not back links. Focus on the content.

      Back links , back links ,back links - it should be content, content, content.
      That's the crazy part, I have more high quality unique content that I wrote myself than all my competitors put together!

      It's a review site and and I'm an expert in the niche and individually contacted product owners to get access to their products and wrote OBJECTIVE reviews myself...how many review sites do you see like that?!

      I guess I just need to keep focusing on high quality content and links.

      Thanks for the input, all!
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    • Profile picture of the author Black Hat Cat
      Banned
      Originally Posted by Kauzmo View Post

      Wow I'm completely blown away. This entire thread is responding that you need to build more quality back links even though your competitor has fewer than you.
      Maybe you should re-read this thread, because it's clear you didn't read it as closely as others. What he said was his competitor has fewer backlinks, not fewer QUALITY backlinks. Hello...the title of the thread even says his own link profile consists of crappy links. His competition may have fewer backlinks, but actually have MORE quality backlinks.

      Instead of looking at more back links, maybe you should focus on more content. Your competitor is probably outranking you because of content not back links. Focus on the content.
      His competitor is likely outranking him because he has better backlinks that also say the right thing.

      Back links , back links ,back links - it should be content, content, content.
      Yep, that's right...if you're not interested in getting ranked, that is.
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  • Profile picture of the author Chris Sweeney
    Keep your current domain (and your $200 income per month!) and just build some high quality links. You'll be in that #1 spot before you know it. If that's the route that you do choose to take, be sure to keep us informed of your results!
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  • Profile picture of the author linkbuildr
    If the competitor has fewer links, how do they differ? You have way more links but Google is most likely just simply not counting them..that's what they do.
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  • Profile picture of the author Matt Red
    Absolutely not, just make sure to ONLY post high pagerank and high quality backlinks from this point on. This could actually start to work out in your favor because a natural looking blog has lots of lower tier backlinks and fewer higher tier ones. There's no point to grab a new domain, domain age is a big factor to remember too...
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  • Profile picture of the author OO
    No way, that doesn't affect you according to Google themselves.
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