301 Redirects

I saw a website with a lot of 301 redirects to their homepage from different websites in the same niche. The website experienced a spike in clicks but not in impressions after the redirects, and then the clicks went back to the way they were before the redirections.

WeeLoo said:

I saw a website with a lot of 301 redirects to their homepage from different websites in the same niche. The website experienced a spike in clicks but not in impressions after the redirects, and then the clicks went back to the way they were before the redirections.

Click to expand...

is that good or bad?

WeeLoo said:

I saw a website with a lot of 301 redirects to their homepage from different websites in the same niche. The website experienced a spike in clicks but not in impressions after the redirects, and then the clicks went back to the way they were before the redirections.

Click to expand...

Sounds like a temporary boost from the redirects, but Google likely adjusted rankings after re-evaluating relevance. 301s can pass link juice, but they don’t guarantee lasting SEO gains.

It sounds like the 301 redirects briefly boosted traffic, but since 301 redirects pass most of the link equity to the homepage, the spike in clicks without an increase in impressions could indicate that Google didn't view the redirects as organic traffic growth.

Wolf agency said:

is that good or bad?

Click to expand...

It looks like an anomaly, with a sudden spike followed by a return to normal, which I think is bad

There are niches and countries where redirects can actually be effective. It all depends on how important these two factors are to Google, in order for it to spend resources detecting black hat techniques.

Yeah, it’s more of a short term strategy. Without real SEO work behind it, the boost does not last, Google’s not gonna see those redirects as true match or authority in the long run.

That’s a common tactic - redirecting expired domains or niche relevant sites to funnel authority.

The spike in clicks without impressions likely means Google briefly credited the redirects with some ranking boost, but then it adjusted. It’s possible Google devalued the redirects or the site didn’t retain the link equity long-term. Could also be a temporary curiosity spike from users before settling back.

If you’re considering this, make sure the redirected domains have clean histories and real authority. Otherwise, it’s just a short-lived trick.

I've come across several websites pushing their ranking with auction domains 301s, dozens of them,
Despite the fluctuations, they do rank quite well often, despite having a garbage website overall (content, design...), and the ROI is certainly good,
And no, they're not within the BH niches as Adult, Casino, etc...

The thing is, this falls under spam, and it won't as well in majority of the cases, especially if you're spamming some new website/domain with this,
It's one of the practices that could work in several cases, and not something to rely on for the long run or/and the majority of cases,

Basically good for churn & burn, testing, etc...
And the only major advantage is that the redirecting domains won't mainly get penalized because of that, it's usually the main domain

That's normal, the website will experience initial boost and later Google will adjust it's ranking. It also depends on the power of the 301 redirect