How To: Properly Buy An Existing Domain For SEO Purposes

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It’s no secret that one of the tactics search engine optimization specialists use to increase search rankings is domain purchasing.  The idea is that you find a domain that currently ranks well within your niche, buy it and then redirect the site to your domain.  Alternatively you could purchase this domain and continue to build off of it and utilize its existing rankings and site traffic.

Below are several do’s & don’ts to keep in consideration when purchasing a domain.

DO:

• Look for existing rankings
• Research websites existing links.  Are they all pointing to the home page or do internal page links exist?
• Examine the existing content on the site; can it be leveraged for more links?
• Take into account the domain age/authority before purchasing
• Take the time to determine if the price of the domain will outweigh natural content building and link building.
• Check to see if any existing penalties or filters have been placed on the domain.
• Map out domains internal pages to the pages of your current website.
• Look for websites that are relevant to your niche.
• Examine incoming links and see if they target your specific keywords.
• Determine if the links from this domain will stay put even after a redirect placed.
• Do look for yahoo, best of the web, DMOZ, business.com directory links.
• Look to see if the backlinks come from other sites that the current site owner may own as well.  There is a good chance these links could disappear after the purchase.
• Check out the websites existing traffic and verify it if possible.
• Check the age of the domains existing links.
• Look for authority news sites linking to the domain.

DO NOT:

• Purchase a domain based off its Google Page Rank.
• Purchase a domain that only has low quality and spammy links.
• Place too much value on a keyword matching domain.  (watch out for hyphenated URLS)
• Redirect the entire website to your homepage.
• Buy a site that’s not indexed in the search engines.
• Purchase domains that are not in your niche.
• Use any other redirect outside of a 301 redirect.  The value will not pass otherwise.
• Substitute organic link building with multiple domain purchases.
• Purchase a domain that has its entire link equity coming from a small quantity of domains.
• 301 redirect several newly acquired domains at once; this could send a red flag to Google.

These “Do’s & Don’ts” of domain purchasing hopefully will guide you in the right direction when it comes to you purchasing additional domains.  There are too many scammers with the intent of selling you a low value site at a high price.  This is why it’s crucial to do your homework before you purchase any domains.   Yes there are deals to be had out their but you have to be extra careful when you think your getting a steal.  If you follow the basics tips listed above you should be just fine!

Nick LeRoy is the Search Marketing Specialist at Minneapolis Web Design firm DKS Systems.

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