Site penalized, worth buying?

[dcuthbert]

I've been offered a site for a pretty good price, but the problem is that big G has almost certainly penalized it. The site ranks top of Yahoo and Bing for all the main keywords, but in G they're nowhere to be found, although the site has not been completely de-indexed, it still appears when I enter site:domain.com, so I'm thinking it's been penalized.

I'm just wondering how difficult it is to get the penalty removed? The site would easily be worth 10x what the guy is willing to sell for, if only it wasn't penalized.

Any thoughts? If I started adding unique, quality content and building quality backlinks would big G take notice, or would it be a waste of my time and money?

EDIT: thought I would say - the domain is 10 years old, but has no backlinks (not sure how!), but it's basically an Amazon affiliate store probably using WP robot, so the content will all be duplicate stuff.

 

[Dan Da Man]

Thats one gamble. A risk indeed. Sorry can't help you out

 

[TheRealRazzy]

This is tricky.

If you know you can bring the site back in good graces with Google then definitely jump on it. But the only thing I'd really be worried about is the duplicate content slap.


And if it's worth 10 times what he's selling it for be sure to figure out why he's selling it so cheap. Maybe he is just trying to get rid of it or maybe the niche is over saturated and/or dead.

 

[contentcouch]

Good point,

Buy only if it's worth more than 10 times.

But keep in mind, only if it's in 100 or 1000's not in 10's.

This is tricky.

If you know you can bring the site back in good graces with Google then definitely jump on it. But the only thing I'd really be worried about is the duplicate content slap.


And if it's worth 10 times what he's selling it for be sure to figure out why he's selling it so cheap. Maybe he is just trying to get rid of it or maybe the niche is over saturated and/or dead.

 

[kokoloko75]

I had penalized websites.
Around 6 months to go up slowly.

Beny

 

[mattas]

To be honest, it's not worth it. You *MAY* be able to get the site re-ranked, but if it isn't certain I wouldn't put a penny on it.

 

[DamageX]

Buy it based on the revenue alone. Yahoo and Bing traffic isn't likely to go away the same way Google traffic would, since the Bing algo is much less fickle.

So based on revenue and Yahoo/Bing traffic it could be worth the purchase. Then if you can get it to rank in Google too, in time, consider it a bonus. After all, search engine rankings don't pay the mortgage, money does.

 

[Hagit]

Buy it, then do 301 on another domain

 

[bulldogzg]

I've been offered a site for a pretty good price

If it's a pretty good price, I'd go for it. You can always flipp it if it doesn't work out for you.

Also try to find out more about the penalty - check both on site and off site to see what the issue is. For instance if it's an on-site penalty like bad on-site seo or duplicated meta it can take you only a few hours to fix and a few days for the big G to change it rankings.

On the other hand if it's a link building aka off site penalty it can take longer or it may never recover.

If it was me, I'd take the bait :batman:

 

[johnsonm90]

If the price is affordable then go for it..I liked the the idea of redirecting it although it may have its pitfalls as well. Once purchased you can work on it and dig out why its been penalized..

 

[mistodin]

Most likely it's an algo penalty, so it's worth trying. You can change the content of the home page, pick a few easy keywords and add quality links. At one point of time, you'll get out of the filter automatically.

However, no backlinks at all is more than suspicous. That's the biggest concern I would have.

 

[timshady]

Whatever you do, report back and let us know how it worked out. Curious to see what happens.

 

[dcuthbert]

Whatever you do, report back and let us know how it worked out. Curious to see what happens.

I decided not to buy the site - it wasn't even ranking in the top 1000 of google for any keywords, so I figured it must have been a hell of a penalty. The domain age and EMD keyword were good, but it was going to be too much effort to turn the site around so that it ranked.

 

[monsterguts]

A tanked website is not that much difference from a sinking business. As other have mentioned, try to determine what caused the penalty. Google is pretty good about bringing sites back in especially if you can demonstrate that ownership has changed and that you have an understanding of what the cause might be.

With that said, I'm one to not shy away from a good deal. I've yet to buy one that I couldn't bring back on my own.

(added)
Wanted to clarify the tone of my last sentence. It was not intended to imply that I have some killer skills but instead meant that with some work and diligence, most sites can be brought back with a little hard work. Hate it when I post something and it might be interpreted as 'dickish'

 

[ppcmaster]

IMO it's a wise call. You could focus that effort on putting up a few new sites that would not take as much effort to climb up the ranks.

I decided not to buy the site - it wasn't even ranking in the top 1000 of google for any keywords, so I figured it must have been a hell of a penalty. The domain age and EMD keyword were good, but it was going to be too much effort to turn the site around so that it ranked.

 

[kl2000]

Research the site and find out why it's being penalized. Address and fix those issues. Then you can submit a Policy Violation appeal:

I can't post the link, because I'm a new member. Just Google this:
Google Policy Violation Appeal


Things to check on the site:

• Cloaking
• Duplicate content
• redirects
• bad linking
• sexual material
• Adwords
• incorrect robots.txt

It's really a matter of finding out why the site is being penalized and/or banned. Then addressing those issues.

 

[jamunkala]

In 1 hour you can create such site with 20 year old EMD or other good domain
If you want me to do it i can do it also but the traffic will always be 1 visitor per 10 post even if it is penalized or not penalized

The guy may be playing trick saying it is penalized as such sites always remain penalized lifetime if you dont remove all the old duplicate stuff

 

[kl2000]

Research the site and find out why it's being penalized. Address and fix those issues. Then you can submit a Policy Violation appeal:

I can't post the link, because I'm a new member. Just Google this:
Google Policy Violation Appeal


Things to check on the site:

• Cloaking
• Duplicate content
• redirects
• bad linking
• sexual material
• Adwords
• incorrect robots.txt

It's really a matter of finding out why the site is being penalized and/or banned. Then addressing those issues.

Oh BTW. Ask the seller if he ever got an policy violation email from Google. Very important!

 

[DamageX]

In 1 hour you can create such site with 20 year old EMD

20 years old EMD?!? Really?!?

 

[jamunkala]

20 years old EMD?!? Really?!?

are you the seller ?