Case Study: Does redirects still pass link-juice in Google? 23 aged domains 301 Redirected to one website

jefis · Sep 7, 2020

Together with @Jeepy we made an interesting case study.

Main goal:
To rank a gambling website purely with redirects.

What we did:
We found and bought 23 aged domains related to gambling, which had a huge amount of gambling-related backlinks. We checked all of them in Google Search Console. None of the sites we're penalized or banned.
Then we built websites on all these 23 domains and aged them for 5 months.

At the same time, we created the main website. We aged it for 5 months as well. During that time we didn't build any backlinks.

In July, we started redirecting ~5 sites each week to the main domain. It's been a month now since all 23 domains are redirected to the main site.

Results:
Ahrefs is picking up the backlinks, but the site doesn't rank any keywords.

Google Search Console shows almost no traffic:

Conclusion:
It seems like Google doesn't pass any link-juice with 301 redirects anymore.

I'll keep on updating the thread if something changes.

Ranking Expert · Sep 7, 2020

Interesting, will watch it.

good luck @jefis

Mr Positive · Sep 7, 2020

I’m not a fan of 301 but something funny happened, my client site is banned on Reddit so we did a 301 for him and hit Reddit with it, now after a day or two that keyword started dancing and is ranking higher, some notes we did get traffi, keyword is tough and was ranking, but was stable since many days. The 301 was a random new dominain. Maybe it’s pure luck maybe that 301 did the trick don’t really know so will follow this thread to get some clues about 301

Xdfffninja · Sep 7, 2020

301 Redirection is a hit or miss really. It might work and it might not work.

I think you went a little bit high with the redirect thing. 1 or 2 HQ expired domains should be the max.

jefis · Sep 7, 2020

Xdfffninja said:
301 Redirection is a hit or miss really. It might work and it might not work.

I think you went a little bit high with the redirect thing. 1 or 2 HQ expired domains should be the max.

We wanted to see what happens, even if our site gets banned. Mostly we wanted to see if 301 redirects can be exploited or not.

lifehero · Sep 7, 2020

jefis said:
all 23 domains are redirected to the main site

this was your first and most likely only problem here. 23 domains 301 to 1 site.... man oh man. maybe 22 too many?

Topiano · Sep 7, 2020

jefis said:
if 301 redirects can be exploited or not.

Are the domains redirected earlier checking through their history over the years ? Since that might impact the effectiveness of the strategy. Moreover, gambling is a real competitiveness niche and might require going harder.

SeedPhrase · Sep 7, 2020

even I had tested 25 high DA PA Tumblr domains 301 to a new site, the result is sucks...
after 2month 4-5 keywords went up not so exiting tho...
I think google doesn't consider 301 nowadays potentially...

Zshan · Sep 7, 2020

I suggest add some content to expired domain and wait 1 or 2 month before redirecting it to your money site.

jefis · Sep 7, 2020

Zshan said:
I suggest add some content to expired domain and wait 1 or 2 month before redirecting it to your money site.

We did that.

RealDaddy · Sep 7, 2020

That's a shit ton!
You may have gone with 2-3 max and then wait and see [at least 1 month].
But, nice try.

Edit - It would have been amazing if, you would have redirected 23 aged domains to - 23 new domains [money site].

darkpsycho · Sep 7, 2020

You have to wait more than 1-2 months..

Redirects pass on signals quickly if they exist (authority, traffic, rankings etc)

If these doesn't exist and you do it just For link juice though, you have to wait longer.

Myst3ry · Sep 7, 2020

Isn't too early for seeing results?

jefis · Sep 7, 2020

Myst3ry said:
Isn't too early for seeing results?

Time will tell.

nakamura · Sep 7, 2020

It is a hit and miss. Just 301 redirected one website a few days ago and the new website jumped to #10-15 for several keywords.
On the other hand: I tried it with a different domain and no link juice was passed, no rankings.

I made several experiences like this. Some times the new website would jump straight to the Top 5 and a few days later disappear from the serps. Like an algorithm/mechanism recognized this 301 redirect tactic and punished my new website after ranking it well.

Mechy · Sep 7, 2020

All sites were redirected to the homepage?

I have seen related redirects to inner pages/category pages work much better nowadays

jefis · Sep 7, 2020

Mechy said:
All sites were redirected to the homepage?

I have seen related redirects to inner pages/category pages work much better nowadays

5 to homepage, and the rest 18 to inner pages in batches of ~5

Raoul_Duke · Sep 7, 2020

interesting case study, will watch.

alexseo12 · Sep 7, 2020

Following this case study

dandan594594 · Sep 7, 2020

I'd give it a few more months, if not test using twitter "short" URL's as a buffer. Homepage 301's with link in profile description and for inner pages ones from status updates. Something I've been playing around with.

Case Study: Does redirects still pass link-juice in Google? 23 aged domains 301 Redirected to one website

Elite Member

Elite Member

Elite Member

Senior Member

Elite Member

Supreme Member

Elite Member

Elite Member

Supreme Member

Elite Member

Repeatedly violating rules

Registered Member

Elite Member

Elite Member

Elite Member

Junior Member

Elite Member

Junior Member

Junior Member

Elite Member

Main Menu

Marketplace

Making Money

BlackHatWorld

Other