How to check/rectify banned domain names

[kinley]

Hi,

I have recently purchased a domain name which was in use earlier (was dropped in 2007). But neither am I able to get result in Google SERPs or at Way Back machine about the history behind this domain name.

My concern is that: my efforts for creating a site based on this domain name will go waste if I find out later that it is banned by Google.

How do we find whether an "available" domain name is not banned by any of the search engines AND how to rectify if it is indeed banned ?

Thanks.

[HuskyPup]

Have you tried the AdSense preview tool or Google this - google adsense sandbox preview.

If ads show up on these I would have thought it's not banned...that's makes sense doesn't it?

I do know in the search forum here that people have been successful at buying formerly banned domains and gettings those bans lifted however they have usually been bought by developers already well-known to Google as trustworthy, if you are new to this you may have a problem however that's just my gut feeling.

[tim222]

There are a number of utilities that perform tests to find out if a domain name might be banned. It looks like those utilities simply check things like whether or not the name can be found in Google, and if it has any Page Rank. You can find the utilities by searching in Google.

Here's a link on information that tells how to request Google to reconsider your site:
[google.com...]

"In addition, if you recently purchased a domain that you think may have violated our guidelines before you owned it, you can use the reconsideration request form to let us know that you recently acquired the site and that it now adheres to the guidelines."

This is a very interesting topic although I think it's more of a Search Engine issue than a domain name issue :)

[kinley]

@ HuskyPup: I tried the Google Adsense Sandbox preview tool. Some of the domain name queries display "public service ads by google", does this mean that particular domain name is in the banned list?

@tim222: I am sure Google will not easily remove the ban from a domain if it is an affiliate site. Google sure hates Affiliates ;)

[callivert]

I bought a banned domain that is now nice and healthy in the SERPS with Google, Yahoo, Bing and AOL. Previously it was banned in all 4.
This is what I did.
1) bought the domain.
2) discovered that it was banned in all 4 top search engines (Google, Yahoo, Bing, AOL).
3) launched the site that I wanted to launch anyway. Waited to see if they were willing to forgive and re-index. They were not. It stayed banned.
4) here's the thing: AFTER LAUNCH, I notified the search engines that I'd bought the domain and had launched a new, clean site. The request was one paragraph long but told them all they needed to know, including the domain's history, why I bought it, and what my plans were for the site. When it came to manual review, they could see that the site was good, so they unbanned it. One month later, it's now listed in every engine.
5) note: google and bing both have explicit reinclusion requests. for yahoo, I simply did a site submit, and also claimed ownership through siteexplorer. one or both of those seemed to do the trick.

[kinley]

Thanks for the input Callivert. Creating a full/exhaustive site on a banned domain name is indeed a risky proposition.

And it would be even tougher if you are a casino/sports betting affiliate even if you follow all the guidelines.

[callivert]

Fair enough. This was a small site, so it didn't have that problem.