• seohunters9

        See all notifications

        Skip to content
        Moz logo Menu open Menu close
        • Products
          • Moz Pro
          • Moz Pro Home
          • Moz Local
          • Moz Local Home
          • STAT
          • Moz API
          • Moz API Home
          • Compare SEO Products
          • Moz Data
        • Free SEO Tools
          • Domain Analysis
          • Keyword Explorer
          • Link Explorer
          • Competitive Research
          • MozBar
          • More Free SEO Tools
        • Learn SEO
          • Beginner's Guide to SEO
          • SEO Learning Center
          • Moz Academy
          • MozCon
          • Webinars, Whitepapers, & Guides
        • Blog
        • Why Moz
          • Digital Marketers
          • Agency Solutions
          • Enterprise Solutions
          • Small Business Solutions
          • The Moz Story
          • New Releases
        • Log in
        • Log out
        • Products
          • Moz Pro

            Your all-in-one suite of SEO essentials.

          • Moz Local

            Raise your local SEO visibility with complete local SEO management.

          • STAT

            SERP tracking and analytics for enterprise SEO experts.

          • Moz API

            Power your SEO with our index of over 44 trillion links.

          • Compare SEO Products

            See which Moz SEO solution best meets your business needs.

          • Moz Data

            Power your SEO strategy & AI models with custom data solutions.

          Let your business shine with Listings AI
          Moz Local

          Let your business shine with Listings AI

          Learn more
        • Free SEO Tools
          • Domain Analysis

            Get top competitive SEO metrics like DA, top pages and more.

          • Keyword Explorer

            Find traffic-driving keywords with our 1.25 billion+ keyword index.

          • Link Explorer

            Explore over 40 trillion links for powerful backlink data.

          • Competitive Research

            Uncover valuable insights on your organic search competitors.

          • MozBar

            See top SEO metrics for free as you browse the web.

          • More Free SEO Tools

            Explore all the free SEO tools Moz has to offer.

          NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic
          Moz Pro

          NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic

          Learn more
        • Learn SEO
          • Beginner's Guide to SEO

            The #1 most popular introduction to SEO, trusted by millions.

          • SEO Learning Center

            Broaden your knowledge with SEO resources for all skill levels.

          • On-Demand Webinars

            Learn modern SEO best practices from industry experts.

          • How-To Guides

            Step-by-step guides to search success from the authority on SEO.

          • Moz Academy

            Upskill and get certified with on-demand courses & certifications.

          • MozCon

            Save on Early Bird tickets and join us in London or New York City

          Unlock flexible pricing & new endpoints
          Moz API

          Unlock flexible pricing & new endpoints

          Find your plan
        • Blog
        • Why Moz
          • Digital Marketers

            Simplify SEO tasks to save time and grow your traffic.

          • Small Business Solutions

            Uncover insights to make smarter marketing decisions in less time.

          • Agency Solutions

            Earn & keep valuable clients with unparalleled data & insights.

          • Enterprise Solutions

            Gain a competitive edge in the ever-changing world of search.

          • The Moz Story

            Moz was the first & remains the most trusted SEO company.

          • New Releases

            Get the scoop on the latest and greatest from Moz.

          Surface actionable competitive intel
          New Feature

          Surface actionable competitive intel

          Learn More
        • Log in
          • Moz Pro
          • Moz Local
          • Moz Local Dashboard
          • Moz API
          • Moz API Dashboard
          • Moz Academy
        • Avatar
          • Moz Home
          • Notifications
          • Account & Billing
          • Manage Users
          • Community Profile
          • My Q&A
          • My Videos
          • Log Out

        The Moz Q&A Forum

        • Forum
        • Questions
        • My Q&A
        • Users
        • Ask the Community

        Welcome to the Q&A Forum

        Browse the forum for helpful insights and fresh discussions about all things SEO.

        1. Home
        2. SEO Tactics
        3. Intermediate & Advanced SEO
        4. Buying an existing domain with higher ranks for redirecting

        Moz Q&A is closed.

        After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.

        Buying an existing domain with higher ranks for redirecting

        Intermediate & Advanced SEO
        6
        6
        4737
        Loading More Posts
        • Watching

          Notify me of new replies.
          Show question in unread.

        • Not Watching

          Do not notify me of new replies.
          Show question in unread if category is not ignored.

        • Ignoring

          Do not notify me of new replies.
          Do not show question in unread.

        • Oldest to Newest
        • Newest to Oldest
        • Most Votes
        Reply
        • Reply as question
        Locked
        This topic has been deleted. Only users with question management privileges can see it.
        • upick-162391
          upick-162391 last edited by

          I've recently came across one of my competitors who's looking to sell their domain. Now they currently rank higher than my primary site for a few keywords we are targeting.

          Would it be wise to buy the domain and do a name server change over to my primary domain? Would it even help boost ranks for the keywords they rank higher for? Or will the link juice be minimal?

          Any thoughts would be great!

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • mediabase
            mediabase last edited by

            Hi Upick,Fisrt of all I wan to tell you that 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!

            For more details please visit the Buying Expired Domains

            I hope that your query has been solved.

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 5
            • MattJanaway
              MattJanaway @DougRoberts last edited by

              Great advice. If there are similar pages on both sites then why not redirect them to the similar page on your site. You can then add a link on the homepage of the new domain to pass through some juice 🙂

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • DougRoberts
                DougRoberts last edited by

                If you buy the domain and re-direct then remember to think of your competitors customers - not just the potential ranking boost!

                Ideally you want their customers to become your customers, so think about how you might redirect specific pages from their domain to landing pages designed to reassure people looking for you competitors products/services and position yourself as a viable alternative.

                The last thing you want if for them to think they're in the wrong place and bounce straight away, never to return!

                Before buying the domain, can you get any supporting stats / analytics? How many direct visitors, how many via search etc.You're likely to have a small window of opportunity, but it's definitely worth thinking about how you can get some of those customers that you might not be able to replace just from search.

                MattJanaway 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 6
                • Gustav-Northclick
                  Gustav-Northclick last edited by

                  A 301 should work fine.

                  You should in theory gain some linkjuice and rankings from the domain.

                  However the effects wont be as good as regular do follow links to your site.

                  But as Marcin says it's still an efficient way... 🙂

                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
                  • marcinlejman
                    marcinlejman last edited by

                    Hi upick,

                    you can buy the domain and do a 301 redirect to your site. I've done it many times, and it is still surprisingly powerful method to quickly get the desired rankings, obviously if the domain you're 301-ing was powerful enough.

                    Hope it helps.

                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
                    • 1 / 1
                    • First post
                      Last post

                    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.

                    • See all categories

                    Related Questions

                    • Bhisshaun

                      Redirect Issue - Drop in ranking after CMS change

                      Hi Website - https://www.aasprint.com.au/ After we moved the site from wordpress to codeIgniter + angular there has been a huge drop in traffic and ranking. One of the thing we recently realized is the redirection - COULD THAT BE THE ISSUE? On the browser and sitemap the URL doesn't have "/" at the end When checked on redirection tool the URL seems to be redirecting to one with "/" at the end Attached are the screenshots.  Also moz bar shows no redirection. However, the issue seems to be flagged by the site audit tool as 301 redirection. Not sure if it's  the cause for the drop. What action to take? Any advice would be much appreciated. V7CNtqt j3dJ4TW

                      Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Bhisshaun
                      0
                    • Saba.Elahi.M.

                      When creating a sub-domain, does that sub-domain automatically start with the DA of the main domain?

                      We have a website with a high DA and we are considering sub-folder or sub-domain. One of the great benefits of a sub-folder is that we know we get to keep the high DA, is this also the case for sub-domains? Also if you could provide any sources of information that specify this, I can't see to find anything!

                      Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Saba.Elahi.M.
                      0
                    • mozentution

                      How to get back links with higher rank ?

                      Hi All , These days I am finding new ways of creating back links.  Could any one tell me how to get backlinks with higher DA ?

                      Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | mozentution
                      2
                    • murraycustomhomescom

                      Cleaning up a Spammy Domain VS Starting Fresh with a New Domain

                      Hi- Can you give me your opinion please... if you look at murrayroofing.com and see the high SPAM score- and the fact that our domain has been put on some spammy sites over the years- Is it better and faster to place higher in google SERP if we create a fresh new domain? My theory is we will spin our wheels trying to get unlisted from alot of those spammy linking sites. And that it would be faster to see results using a fresh new domain rather than trying to clean up the current spammy doamin. Thanks in advance - You guys have been awesome!!

                      Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | murraycustomhomescom
                      0
                    • sofla_seo

                      Domain Redirect and SSL Cert

                      Hi, When redirecting an entire site to another domain, do you have to maintain the SSL certificate? The SSL expires 3 days before the planned redirect. Thanks in advance.

                      Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | sofla_seo
                      0
                    • kevinliao

                      What happens to a domain in SERPs when it's set to redirect to another?

                      We have just acquired a competing website and are wondering whether to leave it running as is for now, or set the domain to redirect to our own site. If we set up this redirect, what would happen to the old site in Google SERPs? Would the site drop off from results? If so, would we capture this new search traffic or is it a free for all and all sites compete for the search traffic as normal? Thanks in advance. Paul

                      Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | kevinliao
                      0
                    • Townpages

                      .htaccess 301 Redirect Help! Specific Redirects and Blanket Rule

                      Hi there, I have the following domains: OLD DOMAIN: domain1.co.uk NEW DOMAIN: domain2.co.uk I need to create a .htaccess file that 301 redirects specific, individual pages on domain1.co.uk to domain2.co.uk I've searched for hours to try and find a solution, but I can't find anything that will do what I need. The pages on domain1.co.uk are all kinds of filenames and extensions, but they will be redirected to a Wordpress website that has a clean folder structure. Some example URL's to be redirected from the old website: http://www.domain1.co.uk/charitypage.php?charity=357 http://www.domain1.co.uk/adopt.php http://www.domain1.co.uk/register/?type=2 These will need to be redirected to the following URL types on the new domain: http://www.domain2.co.uk/charities/ http://www.domain2.co.uk/adopt/ http://www.domain2.co.uk/register/ I would also like a blanket/catch-all redirect from anything else on www.domain1.co.uk to the homepage of www.domain2.co.uk if there isn't a specific individual redirect in place. I'm literally tearing my hair out with this, so any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks

                      Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Townpages
                      0
                    • peterwhitewebdesign

                      New Site: Use Aged Domain Name or Buy New Domain Name?

                      Hi,
                      I have the opportunity to build a new website and use a domain name that is older than 5 years or buy a new domain name. The aged domain name is a .net and includes a keyword.
                      The new domain would include the same keyword as well as the U.S. state abbreviation. Which one would you use and why? Thanks for your help!

                      Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | peterwhitewebdesign
                      0

                    Get started with Moz Pro!

                    Unlock the power of advanced SEO tools and data-driven insights.

                    Start my free trial
                    Products
                    • Moz Pro
                    • Moz Local
                    • Moz API
                    • Moz Data
                    • STAT
                    • Product Updates
                    Moz Solutions
                    • SMB Solutions
                    • Agency Solutions
                    • Enterprise Solutions
                    • Digital Marketers
                    Free SEO Tools
                    • Domain Authority Checker
                    • Link Explorer
                    • Keyword Explorer
                    • Competitive Research
                    • Brand Authority Checker
                    • Local Citation Checker
                    • MozBar Extension
                    • MozCast
                    Resources
                    • Blog
                    • SEO Learning Center
                    • Help Hub
                    • Beginner's Guide to SEO
                    • How-to Guides
                    • Moz Academy
                    • API Docs
                    About Moz
                    • About
                    • Team
                    • Careers
                    • Contact
                    Why Moz
                    • Case Studies
                    • Testimonials
                    Get Involved
                    • Become an Affiliate
                    • MozCon
                    • Webinars
                    • Practical Marketer Series
                    • MozPod
                    Connect with us

                    Contact the Help team

                    Join our newsletter
                    Moz logo
                    © 2021 - 2025 SEOMoz, Inc., a Ziff Davis company. All rights reserved. Moz is a registered trademark of SEOMoz, Inc.
                    • Accessibility
                    • Terms of Use
                    • Privacy

                    Looks like your connection to Moz was lost, please wait while we try to reconnect.