Link from or 301 Domains?
-
I have 3 domains that are in the same niche as my main site and not connected in any way. Now my question is should I just link to my main site from each of them on a page that is relevant to my main Keywords or should I 301 them to the site?
I am thinking that building a link to my main site would have more effect than 301's. Thanks in advance!
-
Make the decision based on the business case, not which might have the most SEO benefit. If they are are their own businesses, with their own customers then those should be the first concerns not how to push PR around.
Presumably they were acquired for a purpose. That purpose should guide what happens.
-
If you include a message first then you can't do a 301.
Once you output to the browser you cannot send new header information. The 301 response has to go in the header, so it is too late at that point.
-
It would provide the best user experience to do a 301 redirect but include a message before (ex. Custom "You are now being redirected" page) or after (ex. pop up screen) the redirect to clarify the acquisition. That way you get the juice from these sites and you don't have a high bounce rate from users clicking off your site because they thought they typed in wrong URL.
-
Thanks for all of the responses! I should have been more clear. Let's say my company acquired these other companies not just the domains. Should I leave the sites up and say they are now a part of my company and then link to my company, 301 the domains, or none of the above?
-
Making a blind call - without seeing the sites I would say 301.
-
Google generally do not recommend to run multiple websites for same purpose and on top of that interlink sites to each other (kind of grey hat technique). However, if all of your websites have some value/authority in the eyes of Google, you may want run all the websites separately, if not you can simply 301 the other domains to your main website.
IMO, there is no point in maintaining multiple domains for single purpose, as it needs lot of efforts and investment to maintain and market websites. Rather you should concentrate on single website and put all your efforts and investment in one website only. it will give you more benefit.
-
Matt - Thanks for the response. The sites no longer serve a purpose as they were acquired by the main site. The old sites would no longer be promoted, but I was thinking that letting them with live with a single link may be more beneficial in terms of SEO than a 301.
-
Do the sites have value in their own right? If they are serving a purpose then why would you effectively close the site? If not then why keep it?
If a site had no purpose in it's own right (and no future to have one) wouldn't bother keeping it myself. I'd go with the 301 and focus on a website with a purpose. Otherwise you are maintaining/promoting a whole site just for the benefit of 1 link. I can't see that bringing much return.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Page links, header links, footer links
HI I have been hearing about links, you should keep to 100 Just look at this url http://www.powerwale.com/store/acdelco-sealed-vrla-iacdv5l--b-5ah-bike-battery/77031 and go for Recommend section, where you same product applies to different vehicles 1. im confused, should keep it or not?
Link Building | | Rahim119
2. Header links are less, Footer links are less, and in the future, we are planning to add more, will this affect SEO more than 100
i see many ecommerce sites, has menu showing many categories, more 100 categories links
3. Wht about link equity? If I have more links in header and footer page(all this will follow in the rest of pages).
4. More links in the header and footer shows that you are big ecommerce site.. Pls suggest, which is right way and go gain SEO value1 -
Linking root domains to your own site
I have been using the moz open site explorer tool and glancing at my competition. I noticed most sites if not all in the linking domains section have a link to there own site. How do i do this? On my site i have no established links and my score is only 1/1. Even with lower ranking sites that have there own site linking to there self have a 16/16. Any help would be appreciated I am pretty new to all of this. thanks
Link Building | | unlimitedairbrush0 -
Google Link Disavow and sites with extremely heavy but poor link metrics
Need help/opinions from the SEO's out there. I am working with a site that in the past hired an SEO company out of India. Over the course of their time together, this company submitted the clients url to tens of thousands of link exchanges and directories. Around the time of Penguin, the owners told me their inquiries dried up. Literally that same week they had a new website launched (designed by a local competitor) that really butchered the site. They were convinced the reduction in traffic/inquiries was due to the new site but I am convinced otherwise (suspect Penguin). Not only does the site need to be re-structured but their link portfolio needs to be diversified. Now on the plus side, the company caters and sponsors a number of events that earns them organic, relevant links. These are overshadowed by the tons of poor, irrelevant ones though. I read a few posts recently on the Google Link Disavow tool and to proceed slowly due to the unknown nature surrounding it. I have a good idea of what links are problematic and which ones are well served. However, the number of problematic links in my estimation is quite high (thousands). I am very hesitant to dive into Google Disavow and submit such a large number of requests. What are your thoughts? How would you proceed?
Link Building | | mattylac1 -
Do sub-domains help overall domain ranking?
If I have a blog at (for example) blog.mywebsite.co.uk (hosted on Wordpress), does this confer rankings to the top level domain (e.g. www.mywebsite.co.uk which we host ourselves)? Contained within the blog are many links to the main website (which is an eCommerce website) for all our key phrases, but it seemed like a good idea to keep the blog and the store separate. Alternatively, would it be better to use something like www.mywebsite.co.uk/news? Thanks! Alex
Link Building | | reddogmusic0 -
Text Link vs image link?
Which passes most link juice a text link or an image with the correct 'alt' attribute? Do the pass the same amount or is one more valuable than the other?
Link Building | | SamCUK0 -
301 redirect and how linking domains are counted
I have a domain with several great links to it and I decided to change it to a new domain. I did a 301 redirect to the new domain. My question: Let's say youtube.com is linking to the old domain that is being redirected. Do I want to get a new link from youtube to the new domain as well, or is that pointless since there is already one to the old domain? Thanks,
Link Building | | DavidCurrier
Dave0 -
Question about forwarding domains and link juice
We currently have a domain that has a small amount of inbound links: http://www.opensiteexplorer.org/www.1800wecoach.com/a!links We decided to switch over to a different domain name, which currently has 0 inbound links. What we were wondering is which would be better: link to the new domain from the old domain in a prominent location on all pages. or forward the old domain to the new domain? does forwarding a domain pass linkjuice?
Link Building | | adriandg0 -
Porn link ...
I just ran https://www.majesticseo.com report for back links and showed me that I have one link at porn site ... not sure if it will be appropriate to post it here. The link was discovered on 03.05.11 and when I visited today link is not there... I dont know who put that link there. Can I get penalty for that from google? Can it be a mistake?
Link Building | | DiamondJewelryEmpire1