Changing domain names... Bad idea?
-
We are re-doing a clients e-commerce website. Before I had entered them on SEO moz we had decided to change their domain name to one with a keyword inside. I had not known that they had an online marketing company previous working for them. They have a domain authority of 42 right now.
It would be a horrible idea to switch their domain right? I looked at some of the links, they all have a variety of good anchor text. But alot of the links are coming from sites or directory categories that are not relative.
We are also planning on doing 301 re-directs for the links. But this will not transfer the domain authority to the new domain right?
Any thoughts?
-
Janice: Curious how your changing the domain name went a few years ago. Did you experience any negatives to doing so? What about positives? -- Thanks. (yes, i know this was over a year ago)
-
Thanks guys. This was helpful, we decided to just go ahead with the original plan and change the domain.
-
Irving, I understand where you are coming from, but I think it is easy for us to get a little too worried about Pandas, Penguins, and the other animals. If you look at GWM Guidelines they are fairly clear on what the link schemes are:
- Links intended to manipulate PageRank (This is the only grey area I see)
- Links to web spammers or bad neighborhoods on the web
- Excessive reciprocal links or excessive link exchanging ("Link to me and I'll link to you.")
- Buying or selling links that pass PageRank
So, unless they are adding to the manipulation or purchase of links I don't see a problem. This site is currently up and I have to believe if it was not hit by Penguin 1.1 on the 25th of May, I don't see a redirect causing it to happen.
Good thought though.
-
"But a lot of the links are coming from sites or directory categories that are not relative."
sounds like a penguin smack down waiting to happen, I would look at what these links are and what pages they are pointing to. If someone has been buying links and pointing them to specific internal pages you might want to exclude them from the list of URLs that get 301'd and let them 404.
-
Anderson,
With a 301 you are redirecting page to page. So www.olddomain.com/page1 to www.newdomain.com/page1. This is done in the .htacess file and it is important as it will transfer the link juice 90 to 99% (my experience is that it is always closer to 99%). We are doing that with a 1,000 page ecommerce site now and do not foresee an issue.
If you follow the protocol, you will not have an immediate increase in domain authority, but will gain it gradually within two to three months based on my experience. MAKE SURE YOU EXPLAIN IT TO THE CLIENT BEFOREHAND. I meant this for emphasis, I am not yelling.
Most of us keep believing at some point the value of an exact match domain will go away and I still see value in them. I also believe having the keyword in the domain is important if you can do that. Here is a link to a handy 301 guide (Courtesy of Sha Menz): http://www.webconfs.com/how-to-redirect-a-webpage.php
Hope this helps,
-
I think you have the right idea and are on the right track. I believe with 301 redirects to new site you will transfer most if not all link juice and page authority to new domain name. And you should see a boost in rankings having the keyword in there as well. So I think its a win win all the way around for you.
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
-
How to recover from the bad links?
Hello, I am the administrator of abarkavanco.com. My site DA drop down 16 to 13. How can I recover the Bad links for increasing DA? Thanks all
Link Building | | BillySeal0 -
Why personal change coach not ranking for his own name, exact match
The term is tim hallbom The new website is TimHallbom.com I was under the impression that someone could take over rank for their own name. Let me know what we're doing wrong. Thanks.
Link Building | | BobGW0 -
I have domains that have a / on the end and no / what is correct
Hi have a number of links going to 2 different pages https://www.caffeienmarketing.co.uk/bristol and https://www.caffeienmarketing.co.uk/bristol/ (with a / on the end). they both have different PA and links are being reported separately to both (this issue goes right through my website. What should teh default be, how do I fix it and how do I get the benefit of both sets of links for one of the pages? thanks
Link Building | | Caffeine_Marketing0 -
Does google really care if anchor text is the "brand name"?
I have read a lot about how it is a good idea to build links with your "brand name" as the anchor text. I am somewhat skeptical about all this. I suspect that the only thing that you need to do is have a wide variety of anchor text, some no follow links, and some links without any anchor text at all or just your URL. IDoes anyone have an opinion on this? Also I am somewhat confused about what a "brand name" is anyway. Obviolusly it applies to words like "Apple Computers" or seomoz but can I "make" my own name, i.e. Paul W. Matthews, into a "brand Name" aulby putting it in the title of my home page and just using it a lot as anchor text? If yes, is this a good idea? thanks, Paul
Link Building | | diogenes0 -
Setting up Web 2.0 sites in your own name or business name?
I'm interested in starting a link wheel strategy. However, when it comes to setting up the web 2.0 sites I'm unsure as to whether to set them up in my own name or in my business name. My initial thoughts were that it would appear more natural in my own name but if I have many sites linking to the same page, isn't that bad for SEO? Does anyone have any advice?
Link Building | | AAttias0 -
Can bad backlinks harm your website?
Hi, This has been discussed to death over the web on many forums, some discussions are even very heated arguing both sides. So... from what I have read on seomoz the answer to this question is... YES. And if one was so inclined to build bad backlinks to a competitor it would have a negative effect. Agree?
Link Building | | activitysuper0 -
Domain Authority has a value of 1, why is this?
I am having trouble understanding why my Domain Authority has a value of 1. I have already made more than a hundred links to/from my website, though nothing seems to showing in this Link Analysis. I have attached an image. Also if it helps here is the domain name - http://davincidrivers.com/ Thanks in advanced for any help. Grazie, Maria Screen%20Shot%202012-02-14%20at%2010.03.34%20AM.png
Link Building | | MariaPerrone0 -
Inproving my Domain Authority
Hello everyone, Is there any other way to earn domain authority if not by link building ? Or just SEO OFF PAGE can make it happend? thanks fellows.
Link Building | | augustos0