Back link from site with DA of 72 to a website domain. Clicking on the link redirects to our website not the attended one.

[JIMBO16]

Hi,
I've ran a back link check and discovered a good back link to a site which then gets redirected back to my company's website.

I have a feeling that an old SEO agency has purchased a small website which has a decent link back from a relevant organisation with a high Domain authority and then redirects the domain to our website to get the link juice.

What are your thought on this? Is this really bad practise and possibly damaging?

Thanks,

Jim

[seanginnaw]

Is the linking domain (not the link that links to that domain) relevant to your business?

i.e. is it an old domain that used to be active or is it just a dummy domain that was set up for the practice of link building?

[dohertyjf]

Hey there -

Great question. If that's what's happening, then someone definitely bought the old domain with links to it and redirected it. I've also seen this done TO people in order to pass an algorithmic penalty onto a competitor. Nasty stuff.

That said, while this isn't strictly whitehat, it can be super effective to buy old dead domains with links and redirect them into your own site. It actually works very well for SEO purposes! But, it comes with its risks as you have to do a lot of due diligence on the domain you want to redirect as there could have been some dodgy things going on and you don't want to risk passing along a penalty to your own site.

That said, I wouldn't undo the redirect unless you think it's hurting you. Move on and focus on other things to build new links.

The better thing to do, IMO, is to find these dead sites and pull their backlink profiles, then go and do outreach offering your site as a replacement for that site that is now dead. It's called broken link building and it works really well!

Hope that helps.

John

[Christy-Correll]

This post is deleted!

[Christy-Correll]

+1 for broken link building!

[JIMBO16]

Hi Sean, it's an old domain that used to be active - an artist's graduate portfolio site. We're an education based business....it's loosely relevant. The Royal College of Art links to it.

Thanks for your response.

[JIMBO16]

Thanks John,
I don't think it will hurt us but it just seems greyhat bordering on blackhat to me - kinda manipulative. I'll definitely put broken link building on the to-do list.

Jim.

[seanginnaw]

I'm sure it would probably be valuable and pass on some SEO benefit but if it's likely that someone has purchased this domain purely for transferring the link equity of inbound links to your website, then there's always a chance that this is going to be picked up on.

A small chance, but a chance nonetheless.