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Ditch all those bad links

by kimhopkins
18 replies
  • SEO
    • |
We have a new client and we want to create a new domain because their website has way to many bad incoming links. We still want to forward the old domain, with all the bad links, to the new domain. If we redirect the old domain to the new one will it retain all those bad links?
#bad #ditch #links
  • Profile picture of the author mosthost
    Yes it will. You're redirecting them all.
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    • Profile picture of the author kimhopkins
      Maybe I should have asked the question this way: Is there any way to redirect the original URL to a new URL without Google penalizing the new URL for the negative SEO of the old URL?
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      • Profile picture of the author mosthost
        Originally Posted by kimhopkins View Post

        Maybe I should have asked the question this way: Is there any way to redirect the original URL to a new URL without Google penalizing the new URL for the negative SEO of the old URL?
        No. You're literally telling Google 'the new permanent location of this URL is here.' They will follow the old links and then update the location to the new URL, effectively counting the bad links.

        You really have to audit how many 'bad links' there are versus good ones. If there aren't that many good ones you might be better off trying to get those changed by contacting the webmaster.
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  • Profile picture of the author Ezra Anderson
    I agree with mosthost. All of the bad links will now point to your new domain if you redirect the old URL.

    Just start with a totally fresh domain, and start building good links to it.
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  • Profile picture of the author Mikeys
    By 301 redirecting the domain, you are still going to redirect the old links to the new domain. They won't carry as much weight, but you will still be sending it to the new domain. Have you thought about just trying to remove the bad links?
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  • Profile picture of the author MatthewWoodward
    Look at it this way, this is a 301 that you have complete control over. If you forward it over to the new domain and it has a negative effect, remove it
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  • Profile picture of the author sovereignn
    If the current domain isn't in good shape why would you want to incorporate it into the new website?!

    Just start over. It will be easier
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    • Profile picture of the author MikeFriedman
      Originally Posted by sovereignn View Post

      If the current domain isn't in good shape why would you want to incorporate it into the new website?!

      Just start over. It will be easier
      Because you want to make sure past customers can find you. Real life businesses do not just throw away domains.

      Probably the safest thing is to do a 302 for awhile until people get used to the new site or just put up a message saying "we have moved to blah blah blah".

      Taking one down and putting the new one up could cause some issues though in that you are going to have a completely identical site on a new domain content wise. I would probably take it down and let it deindex or use Webmaster Tools to remove the site from the index before putting up the new site.
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    • Profile picture of the author kimhopkins
      Right, I am going to start over, but the old URL is the domain name for a contractor who has had the domain name for several years. It's on his trucks, business cards, invoices, etc. It would be a really expensive to switch URLs without being able to point the old one to the new URL.
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  • Profile picture of the author kimhopkins
    ok thanks guys =)
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  • Profile picture of the author Mikeys
    I'm blown away when people say that they want to start over. This is just an update, the sky isnt falling. You can work to chance some of your on site SEO, remove bad links and start building better links and bounce back. All while maintaining the orginal domain and age.
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    • Profile picture of the author kimhopkins
      The problem here is that this site has thousands of "bad" links, and also they are mostly using the same anchor text so the key word anchor text is unbalanced, and also with no blog posts, articles pointing to the site, or anything that Google likes these days. It would take a lot of new links to balance out the junk directory links, but we may have to do that if we can't find a clean way to redirect the old URL to a new domain name.
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    • Profile picture of the author mosthost
      Originally Posted by Mikeys View Post

      I'm blown away when people say that they want to start over. This is just an update, the sky isnt falling. You can work to chance some of your on site SEO, remove bad links and start building better links and bounce back. All while maintaining the orginal domain and age.
      Domain age isn't the factor it used to be. People start over because they would rather get moving on something than sitting around waiting. Plus once you've been dinged up by Google, you can be sure they're keeping an eye on you.
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    • Profile picture of the author MikeFriedman
      Originally Posted by Mikeys View Post

      I'm blown away when people say that they want to start over. This is just an update, the sky isnt falling. You can work to chance some of your on site SEO, remove bad links and start building better links and bounce back. All while maintaining the orginal domain and age.
      What you fail to understand is that these are real businesses that are losing money, not someone with their shitty little MFA site. There's a big difference.
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      • Profile picture of the author Mikeys
        Originally Posted by MikeFriedman View Post

        What you fail to understand is that these are real businesses that are losing money, not someone with their shitty little MFA site. There's a big difference.
        Its actually quite the opposite, those are the sites that I am referring to. If it were a MFA site, I'd say to start over. The fact of the matter is that you can beat Penguin/Panda with some site changes and cleaning up a link profile. If it is a real business, why would you abandon a domain that has been printed on flyers, business cards, etc. when you can make some site changes and bounce back?
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        • Profile picture of the author MikeFriedman
          Originally Posted by Mikeys View Post

          Its actually quite the opposite, those are the sites that I am referring to. If it were a MFA site, I'd say to start over. The fact of the matter is that you can beat Penguin/Panda with some site changes and cleaning up a link profile. If it is a real business, why would you abandon a domain that has been printed on flyers, business cards, etc. when you can make some site changes and bounce back?
          If you blasted thousands and thousands of low quality links, you probably cannot clean those up. Matt Cutts has even said that in some cases, starting over is the best option.

          Personally, I would design a completely new site with original content and maintain both sites. Try to rank the new one while trying to recover the old one. Worst case scenario is the old one comes back at some point, and you now have 2 sites ranking at the top.
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          • Profile picture of the author kimhopkins
            Originally Posted by MikeFriedman View Post

            If you blasted thousands and thousands of low quality links, you probably cannot clean those up. Matt Cutts has even said that in some cases, starting over is the best option.

            Personally, I would design a completely new site with original content and maintain both sites. Try to rank the new one while trying to recover the old one. Worst case scenario is the old one comes back at some point, and you now have 2 sites ranking at the top.
            This is exactly what I intend to do if I can't figure out any way to re-direct the old URL to the new one without bringing along all the old bad SEO "link juce."
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  • Profile picture of the author WebMeUp
    Originally Posted by kimhopkins View Post

    If we redirect the old domain to the new one will it retain all those bad links?
    Technically, these links will be pointing to your old domain, not to your new one. So, if there had been a penalty (manual action) or demoting of your old site, that should not effect your new domain.

    By the way, a 301 redirect would be SEO-friendlier I think. It lets you preserve the link juice you had for the old site, even though not in full.
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