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
-
Ran a backlink competitor analysis and found that the competitor has their links coming from various linkedin and youtube posts but my client does the same thing and im not seeing any links coming from those sources for them?
Ran a backlink competitor analysis and found that the competitor has their links coming from various linkedin and youtube posts but my client does the same thing and im not seeing any links coming from those sources for them?
Link Building | | Stongex0 -
Disavowing Links
I need some advice... I've noticed our link profile has increased with many comments links --- something I certainly have not pursued manually. I'm new to disavowing links. However, before I go ahead and disavow them, I'd like to ask how harmful these links are and would you recommend this is something I can do myself (relatively novice SEO) or if you'd recommend someone who could do this for a reasonable cost. In one instance, the link from this comment thread is with the anchor text, "porn"... Certainly not something we want to rank for, haha! I look forward to your advice
Link Building | | LukeBTDT0 -
Link Audit
Reviewing a list of links from webmaster console for a client and there are links to their website which render a page but there' s no mention of the clients website on that page. Why does this happen? Why is Google thinking that there is a link to the clients website yet on the page there is no mention of that clients website. There's no comments etc. I don't understand this and if anyone can shed a light??
Link Building | | AL123al0 -
Link building during link removal
We were advised by out outsourced link removal vendor not to build any links while they are removing links pointing to our site. I am worried that our site will lose significant traffic if we dont build any new links while waiting for them to remove links that caused our site to be penalized. What are your thoughts?
Link Building | | WizardOfMoz0 -
External Followed Links in the Competitive Domain Analysis Report
In the Competitive Domain Analysis report, why does the number of my external followed links vary over time. Some weeks its high some weeks it's low. Doesn't seem to be a pattern.
Link Building | | PGD20110 -
Back linking: Relevance or Domain Authority?
For back linking, what is more important for increasing rank for organic searches on Google? I've noticed that linking on sites with high domain authority that have some or no relevance boost my keyword ranking. However, does back linking on relevant sites help if their domain authority is not so high?
Link Building | | Modbargains0 -
NEW LINKS
Hi If you plan to add new links to a site which currently has very few inbound links what is the maximum amount you could add in any one day before it is deemed by Google to be suspicious and unatural. I am referring ot manually added links, not robotic. Thank you 🙂
Link Building | | PH2920 -
Does linking to a subdomain give link juice to the main domain?
I have a few domains that I'm going to use for link building, will the link juice from the sub domains transfer to the main domain?
Link Building | | Vsky0