Before Buying a Domain

[TravG]

Is there any way to check if a domain has been penalized in the past before you would buy it? I have a site which I have worked pretty hard on but it has never really ranked well and just wondering if maybe whomever owned it prior got a penalty.

Is there any way of checking that before you buy a domain and develop it?

Thanks

[edgarf76]

I heard this is good for current domains and potential domains. http://www.linkresearchtools.com/tools/dtox/

It is a bit pricey, I have not subscribed yet. I'm looking for something similar but cheaper


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[baldidiot]

My super quick test for whether or not a site has a penalty is to take a sentence or so from the page and search for it (without quotes) - if it comes up as the top result, then that's a good sign that it's ok (but doesn't mean it definitely is). If it doesn't even come up on the first page, then you have yourself a penalised site.

If there's no content to search, you could look at the backlinks using majestic or OSE and then check the web archive to see if it had a site on it previously. No site and no links mean it's very unlikely to have a penalty (ie: how would it have got it).

On the other hand, a crappy site and/or a ton of crummy links is a warning sign that the site might be in googles bad books.

[Christiaan]

If you have an algorithmic penalty you'll never know for sure if you have a penalty. But you will see it in drop of serp.

Tools like Link Research Tools are great, I use Link Research Tools myself. You can analyse the backlink profile. It will give you a good insight in the sites past seo strategies. But you are never sure about a penalty. If the site has a bad backlink profile then you shouldn't buy it. It maybe hasn't had a penalty yet, but it can come with one of the next algorithm roll outs.

[edgarf76]

Cristian do you of a cheaper link research service?


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[edgarf76]

My super quick test for whether or not a site has a penalty is to take a sentence or so from the page and search for it (without quotes) - if it comes up as the top result, then that's a good sign that it's ok (but doesn't mean it definitely is). If it doesn't even come up on the first page, then you have yourself a penalised site.

If there's no content to search, you could look at the backlinks using majestic or OSE and then check the web archive to see if it had a site on it previously. No site and no links mean it's very unlikely to have a penalty (ie: how would it have got it).

On the other hand, a crappy site and/or a ton of crummy links is a warning sign that the site might be in googles bad books.

Based on that test one of my sites is penalized. Any recommendations?


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[TravG]

My super quick test for whether or not a site has a penalty is to take a sentence or so from the page and search for it (without quotes) - if it comes up as the top result, then that's a good sign that it's ok (but doesn't mean it definitely is). If it doesn't even come up on the first page, then you have yourself a penalised site..

Yes I do that myself, and will even Google the domain name. If a site doesn't come up in the top 3 or so for the actual domain name things do not look good (unless it is a very competitive exact match domain).

I guess looking at the back links would be the best way to do that. There would not be content because what I am speaking of is buying the actual domain for the first time. So if was going to buy the domain xyz, I am just hoping xyz didn't have a penalty in the past that was never resolved.

Edgar, you may not have an actual penalty per say, that is a manual penalty or Google would notify you, but by doing that test you are not in Googles good graces. Look at your links and try get rid of any that may be seen as suspicious. You can also submit a link disavow file through webmaster tools. I will just tell you it is a very tedious process and hard to do. I had a site actually get a manual penalty and I just finally got it released after over 1 year. Another of my sites has not received a penalty but it does not show in search well and is probably in the same boat as your site. It is just going through the links and trying to get them deleted. The link disavow tool is great but honestly I have not had a lot of success with it. I think Google still wants to see you get the links removed. When submitting the file you have to even list what you have done to try to get the link removed. You can read more about it here

[universal4]

Another part of the problem is that half the sites you use to determine the penalties, as well as links and seo scores etc, will suck down the entire site, and put it in their database, and index and publish the content, thus adding to the risk of penalties.

In addition to that, due to extremely poor coding, a handful (or more) of the so-called seo sites will publish email addresses as being indexed and found on your sites even if they do NOT exist.

Rick
Universal4

[edgarf76]

I am pretty sure that it has to do with on page Seo too. The sub domain ranks first page second place for several decent key phrases and that has good content an very few back links. I have been removing poor content and redirecting the 404 to the home page. I have not looked at my backlinks in a while I just check to see if there is a penalty then leave.


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[Christiaan]

Another part of the problem is that half the sites you use to determine the penalties, as well as links and seo scores etc, will suck down the entire site, and put it in their database, and index and publish the content, thus adding to the risk of penalties.

In addition to that, due to extremely poor coding, a handful (or more) of the so-called seo sites will publish email addresses as being indexed and found on your sites even if they do NOT exist.

Rick
Universal4

Correct, if you want good seo tools you have to pay for it. Don't use these free so called "seo tools".

[muffincrumbs]

I used Link Detox and am now a pro at it. It has a small learning curve. I did not resubscribe simply because, like Ultimate said, if it is/was ranking for its EMD combined with a free check on Majestic (use historical data), and MoZ, but for a domain that may be spammed heavily in the past and has been offline for awhile I would also throw in the Wayback Machine https://archive.org/web/web.php and see maybe why it got killed. Maybe it was a shallow site, who knows...

[edgarf76]

Is link detox the same thing as link research tools or is it a product of lrt? I see the 600 plan per month, and there is a 150, but it doesn't seem to cover tutorials. Is anyone paying less than 600 a month for this?


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[muffincrumbs]

Yes I mean link research tools. But link detox is one of the tools. It is worth the 150 per month for one time multiple websites. So yes it is worth it, but not as an ongoing basis unless you are deep into rank, bank, lol as it sank.... Aka blackhat.

[edgarf76]

When you guys submit a disavow file, do you send a reconsideration request with it?


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[pinkytoe]

Yep

[sweetbet]

When you guys submit a disavow file, do you send a reconsideration request with it?

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If it's an Algorithmic penalty, then I wouldn't. Algorithmic penalties usually expire shortly after you fix the problem. If it's a manual penalty, then I would send a reconsideration request with it. However, speaking of manual penalties, I have a site that was hit by a manual penalty 2-3 years ago. I left the site as it is and didn't fix it or submit any reconsideration requests. I figured I'd make a new start with another domain. A few days ago, the manual penalty was removed, but that's another story

[Christiaan]

Is link detox the same thing as link research tools or is it a product of lrt? I see the 600 plan per month, and there is a 150, but it doesn't seem to cover tutorials. Is anyone paying less than 600 a month for this?


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You can buy Link Detox as a seperate tool or you have it with the full LRT packet.

If you want to learn the tools you can try the LRT Associate training http://www.linkresearchtools.com/tra...lrt-associate/
Or you can read the case studies http://www.linkresearchtools.com/case-studies/ , these case studies learn you how to use the tools and are written by Certified Professionals and Xperts.

[TravG]

When you guys submit a disavow file, do you send a reconsideration request with it?


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I would only send a reconsideration request if you received an email from Google saying your site is penalized. If you have not received that you do not need to submit a reconsideration. Google will know you sent in the disavow file and actually send you an email saying they got it (automated email).

[baldidiot]

I would only send a reconsideration request if you received an email from Google saying your site is penalized. If you have not received that you do not need to submit a reconsideration. Google will know you sent in the disavow file and actually send you an email saying they got it (automated email).

I think you have to have a manual penalty now to be able to submit a reconsideration request - I tried to do one on a domain I bought recently that I cleaned up, but their was no option.

[baldidiot]

Based on that test one of my sites is penalized. Any recommendations?

Try and clean it up as best you can, then cross your fingers.

So, look at:

- Links (both low quality and artificial/paid)
- Content (get rid of anything low quality, combine pages that are similar etc..)
- On page (reduce your keyword usage, make titles natural)
- 404's (make sure any 404's are taken out of googles index or redirected somewhere useful)
- Page Duplication (some CMS's will create duplicate pages without you realising etc.. also make sure you don't have a wildcard in your DNS as it'll make your site accessible under anyprefix.yoursite.com)

etc..