Why do expired domains still pass on PR?

[SEOPTI]

People still register expired domains and get fantastic results with Google. They spread PR over thousands of sites.

Example:

Someone registers 4 expired domains, each of them with PR 6.
He can easily spread these PR and get at least 1000+ PR 5 sites. This way Google is spammed big time.

[steveb]

I believe the "why" is because Google is falling down disaterously on the job here. Expired domains are instant spam, false results without merit. Hopefully they will solve this issue soon because it has gotten way beyond out of control.

[Jenstar]

I have seen a domain that was bought after the previous owner let it expire, and that has since lost its backlinks when doing a backlink search in Google. Those links still exist on the internet, but they no longer appear in the backlink list (PR is high enough for those links to show)

It did take several months for this to happen, though, it wasn't immediate. I noticed the change only since the last PR update.

[cabbie]

Expired domains do work but usually for no longer than a month or two.It works for short term gain but the site becomes useless after that as no amount of good SEO can help it unless they ask Google for a reinclusion.

[brummie]

I saw an expired IP address being used to supply a site with PR. Multiple backward links were to a Sci-Fi site which obviously changed it's IP, don't even know if it had a domain.

Now the IP address gets meta-refreshed into an SEO/web design site. Lots of instant PR. :(

And by the way, this has been in operation and attaining good Google results for 12 months +

Reported to Googleguy :)

[percentages]

The issue is a fundental flaw in how Google uses PR. Expired domains are a nitemare to catch, and Google must know this.

They need to re-evaluate the use of PR and get much smarter in their thinking to overcome it. Until then buying expired domains with a high PR will be a good business.....one I should probably get into!

If you can't beat 'em.....join 'em ;)

[ciml]

steveb, I searched Google for some things yesterday and I can't say that the results were disaterous. Many people who register domains haven't heard of PageRank and just want a memorable address for their site. If the domain happened to have been used previously, then their site is without merit?

I think that Google have been pretty clever with this. They don't ban or penalise domains that were registered previously, but when a domain has expired then the links it had previously may not count. IMO this is much better than decrying expired domains as instant spam.

SEOPTI:
> Why do expired domains still pass on PR?

Either because the links to those domains came after they were reinstated, or because Google doesn't have information about whether the domains got their links before or after expiration.

brummie:
> expired IP address]

Inspired!

[killroy]

Well, brute force algorythmics will solve it, and it'S what google lvoes the most anyways. If the take relevance into account when calculating link value as well as recalculatin MUCH faster and frequent, the new content on athe expired domain will be rated, the links devalued (because off topic) and all is well. In some way that's happening now, just that it takes many months.

If the new site is on topic, then no harm done, visitors get what they expect.

I believe this is what google is aiming at, and all we can do is wish tehm best of luck and speedy success.

SN

[brummie]

Yeah, but how can an IP address get a listing like that?

Maybe because DMOZ listed it as an IP, which is stupid IMO. No site remains on the same IP forever.

[steveb]

"I searched Google for some things yesterday and I can't say that the results were disaterous."

Cool, who said they were?

"Many people who register domains haven't heard of PageRank and just want a memorable address for their site."

How does this apply? Answer is it obviously doesn't.

"If the domain happened to have been used previously, then their site is without merit?"

Non-sequitur #3. Who said their site has no merit? It doesn't have anything to do with the topic or comments.

It's simply ludicrous to think the PR of something dead should be passed on to something completely unrelated. When domains expire their PR should be zero. They are dead. No one is being penalized. It's like penalizing Richard Nixon. The dude is dead.

If someone wants to buy a previously used domain, then they need to earn their own PR and ranking. This inherited from the dead concept is laughable, and yes the results in competitive areas (patricular low-ish PR industries) are littered with expired domains -- both in the rankings themselves, and even more insidious, being used as PR hubs for unrelated topics (often/usually with hidden text linking to the unrelated stuff).

Any PR for a page/domain should expire with the expired domain. I can't even imagine how someone could not agree. If someone wants to start a fresh domain, they can start with a fresh PR. (Notice this has no impact on domains that merely change hands.)

[ciml]

Sorry Steve, it seems I misinterpreted "Google is falling down disaterously on the job here" and "expired domains are instant spam, false results without merit".

I'll try to re-word. Instead of banning or penalising domains that were previously registered, Google might not count the links those domains had previously. I think that's in line with your view, that "If someone wants to buy a previously used domain, then they need to earn their own PR and ranking".

[Net_Wizard]

I can't say that the results were disaterous.

:D I have posted on another thread of the case of a parked domain which is a similar scenario with expired domains where the content is no longer the same with the previous content. Yet, it continous to rank very well on its old keywords. I just checked its backlinks and behold, 2 important sites with the old anchor are still being counted as backlink to this parked domain. And, this been going on for months, regardless of updates.

If user searches for a mechanical widget and ends up on a cooking recipe site, won't you consider that disastrous? Nope, it's not disastrous, it's ridiculous :D

[killroy]

I have a similar problem in my industry. I ahve teh largest site of it'S kidn for it's market segment. The locallity though, is behind the rest of the world in terms of technology, about 5 years perhaps. Problem is, a hobby site doign something similar was established sometime in 1995. It is a directory listign jsut 100 entities, while my directory lists over 10000. This is a business where quantity counts, even though my directory has the better quality too.

Problem was that for many years, at a time when the net was much smaller, that site was the only one available for this market, and has recieved many links from hobby and academia sites. Such sites, beeing established for so long represent solid links to google.

Now, this hobby site has been off the net for almost 3 years. First the domain simply brought up the flash add of the registrar, now it simply points to a flash site of some webdesign company from a different coutnry who bought the name in speculation.

Lo and behold, for the main name of this industry it still ranks VERY highly, above the official distributer for this industry (who holds the trademark on the name) and us, who have been operating sicne 1999 with a muc hmore complete directory.

SN

[benc007]

killroy and friends,

Any suggestions on how to find high PR sites with relevant content that are about to expire? =)