Im purchasing a dead site with a #1 google ranking and I need help

[uniqdesign]

Hi everyone, I've just recently discovered these forums and they are great! This is my first post so bear with me.

I am in the process of acquiring a site that is no longer live b/c the current domain owner stopped paying his hosting bills. The domain has the #1 ranking on google for my keyword genre so of course I am looking to purchase it.

My question is this.

The current page that google has cached looks like a 4th grader designed it. Their are numerous 'dead' links throughout the site and some quite OBVIOUS seo sneaks. For example a comment filled with like 150 keywords.

I would like to take ownership of the site and clean things up, making it a reputable spot on the web for information and business. My fear is by editing the page. For example replacing the keyword nested in h1 tags at the top of the page I will screw up the #1 ranking.

I was also wondering how long the site will be dead before google drops it entirely.

I appreciate any and all advice but I am anxious to make the move as soon as possible so google doesnt drop the site. I would be willing to pay someone for consultation over the phone.

What do you guys think?

[Kandevil]

If you register the site, then i believe Google will take account of the change in domain ownership and all previous links to it will be void. Thus destroying its PR and potentially its listings.

If the domain is going to generate type ins or is good for branding then get it anyway.

[Shak]

Kandevil,

I was under the impression that the real effect was only on expired domain names, and NOT when a domain transfer took place.

I think we all know by now that Google has access to domain name records, but to penalise just because a domain transfer has taken place is way beyond the mark.

from what I could make out, the domain has NOT expired, or did I get it wrong?

Shak

<added> Welcome to Webmasterworld, <added>

[edited by: Shak at 10:12 pm (utc) on May 16, 2003]

[twoline]

I am in the process of acquiring a site that is no longer live b/c the current domain owner stopped paying his hosting bills.

This sounds like a domain that's expired and will likely lose credit for all its backlinks. Can't say for sure b/c hosting and domain registration aren't the same thing.

[Kandevil]

<edit>duplicate content</edit>

[edited by: Kandevil at 10:17 pm (utc) on May 16, 2003]

[Kandevil]

But then if this domain hasnt expired how can you get hold of it uniqdesign, the host has the right to stop showing the site, but not to sell the domain, as that is the legal ownership of your competitor?

[uniqdesign]

The domain is not expired. Im going to be purchasing the domain from the competitor who really has no idea what a #1 search engine ranking means.

I will be settling the hosting debt. Then the domain owner will release it to me...Probably the only thing that will change is the nameservers and of course I would like to change the content of the page...which wont matter if google is going to drop the ranking I wont even bother purchasing it.

But do you guys know for sure if that is the case

[chiyo]

you are going to have to live with the risk i think.

after all, the current design with associated "tricks" may very well be the reason it is ranking so high! Change that and you may find yourself suddenly plummeting in the rankings. Buy it and leave the design as is, and eventually Google may target it as spam.

I wouldnt buy the domain name on the basis of rankings in Google this (last) month.

[Kandevil]

Depends how much it is going to cost you, a domain "shouldnt" cost you that much nowadays, could well be worth the risk.

But if you going to go white hat and remove anything dubious then i'd expect it to fall in the ranks somewhat. Check the number of backlinks to the site, if it has a fair few then they could be worth it on their own.

[CCowboy]

There are reasons other the the H1 tag that this site is number one! That is what you should be conserned with.

If the site is down for a few days it may or may disappear from the Index depending on how long it is down and what backlicks it has.

[urasuccess]

The link rank, # of links back to the site will take a very long time to drop, I have purchased many expired domains that I redirect to my current site and in the last year I have only seen a drop of three links. As long as you put a related site up that uses the same keywords the rank will not drop or drop that far over night anyways. When I purchase a domain name that is not used I always look at the link popularity and not the page rank. If it is a competitors site you can link index.html back to your site and then place a site map and relivent content pages behind the index. You may even find it growing in rank under other search keywords.
Here is sample code for the index.html
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=windows-1252">
<title>the primary rank keyword - The page tile he currently has</title>
<meta name="description" content="here is where you will place the site description. ">
<meta name="keywords" content="the primary rank keyword, 2nd highest ranked, 3rd ranked , 4th ranked, 5th ranked, 6th ranked key word, ">
<META name=revisit_after content="15 days">
<META name=robots content=follow>
<META name=coverage content=Worldwide>

<SCRIPT TYPE="text/javascript">
<!--
document.write(unescape('%3C%68%74%6D%6C%3E%3C%68%65%61%64%3E%3C%53%43%52%49%50%54%20%54%59%50%45%3D%22%74%65%78%74%2F%6A%61%76%61%73%63%72%69%70%74%22%3E%0A%3C%21%2D%2D%0A%66%75%6E%63%74%69%6F%6E%20%68%69%64%65%73%74%61%74%75%73%28%29%7B%77%69%6E%64%6F%77%2E%73%74%61%74%75%73%3D%22%44%6F%6E%65%22%3B%7D%3B%7A%69%6E%74%3D%73%65%74%49%6E%74%65%72%76%61%6C%28%68%69%64%65%73%74%61%74%75%73%2C%31%30%29%3B%0A%2F%2F%2D%2D%3E%0A%3C%2F%53%43%52%49%50%54%3E%3C%2F%68%65%61%64%3E%3C%66%72%61%6D%65%73%65%74%20%72%6F%77%73%3D%22%30%2C%2A%22%3E%3C%66%72%61%6D%65%20%6E%61%6D%65%3D%22%68%65%61%64%65%72%22%20%73%63%72%6F%6C%6C%69%6E%67%3D%22%6E%6F%22%20%66%72%61%6D%65%62%6F%72%64%65%72%3D%22%30%22%20%6E%6F%72%65%73%69%7A%65%3E%3C%66%72%61%6D%65%20%6E%61%6D%65%3D%22%6D%61%69%6E%22%20%73%72%63%3D%22%68%74%74%70%3A%2F%2F%59%6F%75%72%73%69%74%65%6E%61%6D%65%2E%63%6F%6D%22%20%73%63%72%6F%6C%6C%69%6E%67%3D%22%61%75%74%6F%22%3E%3C%6E%6F%66%72%61%6D%65%73%3E%3C%62%6F%64%79%3E%3C%2F%62%6F%64%79%3E%3C%2F%6E%6F%66%72%61%6D%65%73%3E%3C%2F%66%72%61%6D%65%73%65%74%3E%3C%2F%68%74%6D%6C%3E'));
//-->
</SCRIPT></head>

<body>
<center>
<br>
<h1><b>the primary rank keyword</b></h1>
<br>
<p> <a href="the_primary_rank_keyword.htm">the primary rank keyword</a></p>
</center>
<p align="left">The page tile he currently has. here is where you will place the site description. </p>
<center><a href="the_primary_rank_keyword.htm"><img width="50" height="50" src="the_primary_rank_keyword.jpg" alt="the primary rank keyword"></a>
<br>
<a href="the_primary_rank_keyword.htm">the primary rank keyword</a>&nbsp;
<a href="2nd_highest_ranked.htm">2nd highest ranked</a>&nbsp;
<a href="3rd_ranked_.htm">3rd ranked </a>&nbsp;
<a href="4th_ranked.htm">4th ranked</a>&nbsp;
<a href="5th_ranked.htm">5th ranked</a>&nbsp;
<a href="6th_ranked.htm">6th ranked</a>&nbsp;
<br><br>
<br><br>
<hr>
<h6><font size="1" face="Arial"><i>Created with <a </center>
<br>
</body>
</html>

This code will link back to your site but keeps the visitor on the original website URL
Then just make a simular page based on each key word to put behind the index page. Make sure to add content to each page relitive to the keyword. Build a sitemap that links to all the pages and place sitemap.html hyperlink some where on the index page.

This will allow your site to recieve all of his traffic yet help keep you listed. Also each of these content pages that link to your site also have a chance of getting list in the search engines as well your there key word/page title.

Hope this helps, Sorry if the code seems messy, I did not want to post any links in the code and violate board rules.

This is realy a simple solution to your problem.

[uniqdesign]

Thank you so much for the feedback. You've all been really helpful...

Whats the story with that javascript? what does that do exactly...

[urasuccess]

Sorry about that the javascript is were the linking occurs and is encrypted.You can use a regular redirect there if you would like. I use software for most of my scripts as I have a lot of sites.