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Site Redirect Question

by Giftys
8 replies
  • SEO
    • |
Would appreciate some input from some of the more seasoned marketers in here:

I have a site at GuitarGifts com that we were using for years to feature "guitar" related items. My initial reasoning was that I wanted "guitar" to have it's own relative domain with it's own audience because my first and main website, DrumBum com, I only wanted it to be about drums (this was the beginning days). Well, I learned along the way that Google wasn't crazy about it but they didn't seem to take any action so we just left it up and redirected traffic from that site to Drum Bum when they wanted to make a purchase. (By the way, we were going to eventually put its own shopping cart on there but never got around to it).

Fast forward to now. Google started cracking down on exact domain sites and has taken us out. The question is, is there value in leaving it up with everything in place because the other search engines continue to place it or is leaving it up, with so many links going to Drum Bum, hurting us more than helping us? When I talk to other "experts" I'm getting differing opinions.

What do you guys think?
#doorway #question #site
  • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
    Banned
    I don't think Google "cracked down" on EMD's at all (and neither do they, by the way).

    They simply withdrew most (perhaps even all) of the artificial advantage that sites on EMD's had previously had solely by virtue of their domain-name. So poor quality/thin EMD's took a tumble from some of the artificially inflated positions they'd previously held, but I'm certainly not aware of any suggestion that EMD's are actually "penalized" in any way, let alone sites redirected-to from them. (All my own EMD's did rather better, after that was brought in, than previously).

    It's certainly not easy to envisage why it might be "hurting" you in any way? I'm intrigued to know what possible reasons "experts" who've suggested that to you could have offered, to justify such opinions?

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  • Profile picture of the author Giftys
    Thank you for your response Alexa. I guess the question could go in the other thread but it's entitled Adsense, PPC also which this thread is not about. It is still relevant to internet marketing. We have used EMD's for years to market with great success.

    It's certainly not easy to envisage why it might be "hurting" you in any way?
    Because the site once came up hundreds of times a day under its related search terms and now it is not.

    I guess what I'm trying to get to is the definition of "penalized" in Google's thought. Some seem to think that when a site is "removed", it is being penalized.

    All my own EMD's did rather better, after that was brought in, than previously.
    Interesting. Why do you think that is?
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    • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
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      Originally Posted by Giftys View Post

      it's entitled Adsense, PPC also which this thread is not about.
      Few (if any!) threads are about AdSense and PPC and SEO. Any one is good enough.

      Originally Posted by Giftys View Post

      Some seem to think that when a site is "removed", it is being penalized.
      Not if they think it through, really? That's actually a very rare reason for big drops in the SERP's. We saw it happen to many because of the Penguin update, undeniably, and that was clearly "penalty" and Google said so openly, but it's not that easy to think of other common examples? A bit hard to justify "loss of a previous articificial advantage" as falling with any plausible definition of the word "penalty", isn't it? Google certainly didn't imagine it was, and said that that wasn't the intention at all, anyway. :confused:

      Originally Posted by Giftys View Post

      Interesting. Why do you think that is?
      Oh, that was just "from relative sinking of competitors". Not because my sites were rewarded, but when some sites above you drop off the SERP's first pages, relatively speaking it gives you a boost, i.e. you move up to fill vacant places?
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  • Profile picture of the author Giftys
    Not if they think it through, really? That's actually a very rare reason for big drops in the SERP's. We saw it happen to many because of the Penguin update, undeniably, and that was clearly "penalty" and Google said so openly, but it's not that easy to think of other common examples? A bit hard to justify "loss of a previous articificial advantage" as falling with any plausible definition of the word "penalty", isn't it?
    I suppose. But as sites can be hit by Panda, Penguin and EMD's, it can sometimes be difficult to determine what all happened and for what reasons. Sure, we can clean up some what they didn't like (that we know about) but many people are doing that and still not rising back to the top after doing so.

    Oh, that was just "from relative sinking of competitors". Not because my sites were rewarded, but when some sites above you drop off the SERP's first pages, relatively speaking it gives you a boost, i.e. you move up to fill vacant places?
    Ahh, OK. That makes sense.


    So Alexa, to pull this back in... by what you've said, you don't think all the links at GuitarGifts com that point to DrumBum com are hurting Drum Bum? Am I reading you right?
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    • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
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      Originally Posted by Giftys View Post

      So Alexa, to pull this back in... by what you've said, you don't think all the links at GuitarGifts com that point to DrumBum com are hurting Drum Bum? Am I reading you right?
      Yes: I think they're not hurting it at all. But see what others think, too ...
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      • Profile picture of the author Giftys
        Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post

        Yes: I think they're not hurting it at all. But see what others think, too ...
        OK, thanks again for your input. I sincerely appreciate it.
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  • Profile picture of the author Giftys
    Hoping some others will chime in on this. Thanks in advance.
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  • Profile picture of the author UMS
    Looking briefly at your site on ahrefs.com, it's most likely you've been hit be an over optimization penalty.

    You don't have much anchor text diversity and a lot of your titles/descriptions are keyword stuffed.
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