How long a domain's bad reputation last?
-
I catched a dropped domain with a nice keyword, but poor reputation. It used to have some malware on the site and WOT (site review tool available at Chrome among others) has very negative reviews tied to the site. I guess that Google has to have records about that as well, because Chrome used to prompt a warning when I entered the site. My question is: how long will the bad reputation last if I build a legitimate website there?
-
Just post on google's forums stating the new date of purchase, you checked and removed all the bad stuff, etc etc.
-
What kind of documentation I can keep? Is it not enough that the date of registration is after the wrongdoings of the site?
-
It's a tough one to answer with any certainty - I have done reconsideration requests that have been granted in a few weeks - other times it has taken twice as long.
If Google clear it, it is, for all intents and purposes, cleared of any wrongdoing in Google's eyes, but I can't tell you if they keep an eye on it or not.
As Russ said, have some documentation at hand so that you can show them you are the new owner to help fight your corner.
And yes, look at all possible angles, including the one where the good name has a black mark next to it.
-
How long such consideration might take? Does it clear the name entirely or does something stick to it anyway? Should I take into account a scneario where it doesn't get it's good name back (taking that I run a legitimate website)?
-
Have some documentation available to prove that the domain dropped and that you are a different owner. People regularly tell google that they "just bought this website and had no idea that it had problems blah blah blah". They are going to want some evidence.
-
it is down to Google as to how long they would consider it a problem, but the thing to do here is to request a reconsideration of your site.
This is done through your webmaster tools and gives you a chance to tell Google what you have done.
Bad reputation caused by the site in the past can only be rectified by doing some reputation management
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
-
Domain Change for a well positioned website... I'm a-scared
Hello, A few years ago I have "inherited" a website about a particular touristic area in Italy (the Langhe region) called langhe.net. The website is very well positioned, the domain has been registered in '97 and the overall SEO performance is pretty good (it ranks in the top #3 positions for all the main search queries in our niche). We are currently redesigning the whole thing, and one of the idea was to change the domain (and the name) of the website from langhe.net to lovelanghe.com (which we already registered). The reasons behind this decision are the following (most important first): Google prefer brands over keywords and "Langhe" is just a keyword LoveLanghe looks more memorable and "marketable" than just Langhe.net All our social presence is branded already as LoveLanghe (they were created years back under this name - I don't know why) We will do our due diligence work (301 everything, domain change in Search Console etc. etc.) but I'm still kind of worried that we will lose some ranking. So my question(s) are: do you think it's a good idea to change the domain when ranking is good and original domain is so old? how much ranking (approximately) are we going to lose? Thanks in advance 🙂 Best
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Enrico_Cassinelli0 -
Canonical URL's searchable in Google?
Hi - we have a newly built site using Drupal, and Drupal likes to create canonical tags on pretty much everything, from their /node/ url's to the URL Alias we've indicated. Now, when I pull a moz crawl report, I get a huge list of all the /node/ plus other URL's. That's beside the point though... Question: when I directly enter one of the /node/ url's into a google search, a result is found. Clicking on it redirects to the new URL, but should Google even be finding these non-canonical URL's?? I don't feel like I've seen this before.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Jenny10 -
When rebranding, what's the best thing to do with the new domain before rebranding?
A. Do nothing
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Maxaro.nl
B. Redirect to legacy site (current domain)
C. Create a placeholder with information about the rebranding
D. Other... What do you think is best?0 -
Legal Client Wants to Change Domain Name... What's the best way to pass authority from old domain?
Hey Mozzers,
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | WhiteboardCreations
I received a call on Friday from a 6 attorney law office who have been my client for a long time. They have an established brand/domain in their market which isn't very big, but has a lot of competition. 2 of the attorneys are leaving to start their own firm and they want to remove a letter from their name abbreviation, thus their domain name as well. So, the other partners want to change the domain to reflect this. They want to buy a EMD [city]lawyers.com for about $1,600 along with some others to protect their new brand and name. I have a good idea as to what I need to do, BUT would love to hear advice from the community for this type of drastic change. 301 redirects? New Google Analytics code or same just different profile? Webmasters verifications? Content from old site? Old domain forwarding or keep active for a little bit? Is not the time to get them an SSL? Also, what should I prepare them for in terms of website traffic expectations and Google authority drops or remains the same? I know their Moz DA/PA will drop to 1/1, but anything else to look out for? Thank you in advance!
Fellow Pro Member - Patrick1 -
Privacy Policy & T&C's SEO related question
With Adwords they request a Privacy Policy and T&C's sometimes for an Ad to be approved. Silly question I know but do you think Google looks out for pages like this to identity websites which are more genuine for organic? Thanks
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | activitysuper0 -
What would your Seo tactic's be for this
Hiya guys... Just a quicken, So my forum, talknightlife.co.uk is currently 10th on google for "nightlife forum" I have about 15 back links, 26 page autority. Now what i'm trying to do, which everyone else is doing, is trying to move it up a couple of spots maybe to 5th or something. What would your tactics be, I'm disregarding all the crap I read in the forums etc, you guys on here tend to have the best explanation. Let it rip 🙂 Cheers guys Luke.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Lukescotty0 -
Could the top SEO's such as Rand enter any arena?
This is just a post for fun really. Do you think the top 3 SEO's in the world could be in the top 3 results of any industry in 6 months? I would love to see this in action really, a couple of guys against industry giants in insurance or something.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | activitysuper0 -
Is it worth submitting a blog's RSS feed...
to as many RSS feed directories as possible? Or would this have a similar negative impact that you'd get from submitting a site to loads to "potentially spammy" site directories?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | PeterAlexLeigh0