redirecting websites for traffic

[figment88]

One of my clients go approached by a SEO firm to purchase redirected from a website. The website curerently ranks number one in Yahoo for an expensive terms that relates to their business. The title and snippet Yahoo shows are not up-to-date and are off-topic as is the domain.

Looking at the backlinks, it appears that this SEO firm got control of a well-ranked domain in another topic area and then linked some sites they control with themes and anchor text on the expensive term.

I'm trying to figure out all of the implications if my client were to purchase this redirected traffic.

1) obviously they do not want a longtemr contract since this is dodgy at best and the seo firm could easily stop supporting the site with the expensive term

2) it seems that if they do a 301, a 302, or a client side redirect there are different implications for whether Yahoo (and other search engines) will pick-up the right titles and snippets. I do not know enough in this area though to tell what all the fine points are.

3) There might also be some concern if they really have authorized control to the domain that was once a legitimate site in another topic area

I am probably missing out on a bunch of other issues - this goes fairly far afield of my normal search marketing activities.

[caveman]

figment88, getting control of an expired or abandoned domain and continuing to run (or re-establishing) the pre-existing site is nothing new. As you might imagine the SE's don't entirely approve, but it's a fine line, since often keeping an old abandoned site running is a service, despite what you might think of the motivation.

I would need to know a lot more about the terms of the deal, but it makes me uneasy. Worst case is that their domain gets toasted and 301 redirects to your site and your site somehow suffers as a result.

In this particular case, I might opt for them redirecting via a 302, which keeps the domain authority with their site, but passes traffic to you. If they get burnt, it is their domain.

All that said, there are lots of ways to get traffic, and I personally wouldn't choose this way.