Help with Expired Domain Redirect

I hope someone can clarify redirecting expired domains.

I'm looking to buy expired domains for use in a private network.

1. Am I correct that you should check whether the www or non-www has more backlinks & better metrics, then redirect it to whichever (www or non-www) has the better backlinks & metrics (to get the most link juice)?

2. if #1 is correct, is my understanding correct that wordpress does the redirecting automatically so all you have to do is set it to www. or non-www in the General Settings? If I'm wrong here, how should it be done?

Appreciate the help. Thanks.

yes to 1. Thats what I do. I also install a 404 redirect to the homepage plugin to ensure that link juice flows from the other pages that don't exist anymore.


As for 2. Thats also what I do and I believe it is correct but I too would be interested in anyone else's opinion on this.

1. Correct - most of the time it's fairly straightforward to see which of the versions has the majority of the backlinks pointing to it but every so often you will come across a domain that has good backlinks to both www and non-www versions and if this is the case then I normally choose the www version as the main one and redirect the non-www one but that's just my personal preference.

2. I'm not 100% sure on this - I seem to remember a Wordpress site I run didn't automatically redirect non-www visitors until I changed my .htaccess to make this happen. Maybe new versions of Wordpress do it automatically though...?

2. it will do it automatically if you install a plugin such as "link juicer keeper" which is free in wordpress

Check the links for www and non www url, see which has more backlinks and then use that.

Both are correct. WordPress automatically redirects www to non-www or non-www to www depending on your settings.