I think I bought a toxic domain

[ron15]

It looks like I'm in a similar boat as being mentioned here [webmasterworld.com ]. I'm starting a new thread so that I don't hijack the other one. It was this linked thread that made me aware of a potential problem and got my research underway.

A week ago I bought a domain, and I just learned that it might be quite toxic. It was parked at a company that builds out mini sites. Looking at domain history I see it was there for a year or so. I bought it only days after it expired.

Looking around at what people are saying, it appears these domains are getting dropped from Google index. This one is not indexed, even though I see Googlebot coming by. I have no reason to believe my new domain is an exception, and I'm concerned it has been penalized. I have the domain on my server with only a shell of a site, as I'm creating content and have not published it yet.

The name of the domain is good, actually great. But I don't want to start out with an uphill battle. Should I abandon the domain? Looking at threads on Googles forum, it does not appear people are getting their sites indexed. From what I can see its in never never land for the time being. Any insight?

[errorsamac]

If the domain expired and then you purchased it, you have a pretty strong argument that you are a new owner and have no idea what the previous owner did with the domain name. I would file a reinclusion request saying exactly that and show the whois records proving that the domain name was recently registered.

[ron15]

I'm a bit paranoid of Google, for good reason or not. Maybe its an irrational fear, but I'm worried that if I identify the domain within webmaster tools as mine, I could be somehow penalized by Google for being associated with a deindexed domain. Crazy or cautious?

Alternatively, I found that the .org is free. I could build out my site on it and after I build up trust, I could take the .com and redirect it to the .org for type in traffic, or just abandon it altogether. I have the .com for 5 years. I'm just not sure the .org would be viewed as favorably by a typical internet browsing, non-technical person.

[mhansen]

I'm a bit paranoid of Google, for good reason or not. Maybe its an irrational fear, but I'm worried that if I identify the domain within webmaster tools as mine, I could be somehow penalized by Google for being associated with a deindexed domain. Crazy or cautious?

Personally, I think your concern is real, but only you know the value of your other WMT domains. If you DO file a reinclusion request, all other sites you have in WMT are likely to get a quick once-over of scrutinization so the reviewer can make a choice about the perceived value of your site(s) quality.

IMO, you should build off the site or at least get it started. Work on it like you would ANY other website and see what happens. If it gets indexed... great, if not, I too would be wary about mixing it into others, so just create a new account and put it there! :-/

[mrguy]

I actually bought a domain over a year ago and made the mistake and didn't check it's history. It was available so I grabbed it.

To this day, Google refuses to index it even though I've done the reinclusion request and explained that I was the new owner.

Doing a wayback shows the old site and my site is totally different but Google don't want nothing to do with it.

Whatever the previous owners did, they sure pis*ed Google off.

When ever I buy a domain now, I make sure there is no history for the domain.

[ron15]

I decided to run, not walk, away from this domain. From what I'm hearing here and elsewhere, its just not worth it. The nature of the site and how time consuming it is to create quality content is just too valuable to risk. As much as I like the domain, its time to start brain storming new ideas. At least it only cost me 60 bucks, and I caught it before putting my content on the site. I'm abandoning the domain and dropped the IP I had it on.

As an aside, it would be nice if there was an effective communication channel with Google. A webmaster should have a means of getting reliable feedback concerning penalties and whatnot from them, IMO.

[tedster]

IMO, you should build off the site or at least get it started. Work on it like you would ANY other website and see what happens.

That's the way I see it, too. You can't let fear of the Gorg ruin your fun.

[leadegroot]

Ignoring the fact that you've already made your decision :) ...
Why not just create a new WMT account, using an email on the new domain so that it is unassociated with your existing account?
I'm not aware of any G rules that you can have only one WMT account?