[Question] Will using a different domain name reindex my website?

Hey there, for the past few weeks my website has been doing the so called Google Dance. However, it hasn't appeared in the search results at all for the last week. I'm a bit concerned since my website used to be in the top 10 results.

I did not use any blackhat methods except for when I started up my site a year ago. I mainly bought some profile backlinks for it but that's all. The site also has real backlinks. (e.g. People who are really sharing my website)

My website is about Creepypastas which are short horror stories that get copy-pasted around the web. My domain for this is creepypastaindex . com

I recently contacted a similar website owner whose website has been down for a few weeks, it's called creepypasta . co . uk. He agreed to letting me buy his domain name.

Now I have a few questions:

1. Would changing my main domain name from creepypastaindex . com to creepypasta . co . uk help reindex my website?
2. If not, which domain name would you personally use? I feel like creepypastaindex . com isn't as good as creepypasta . co . uk name-wise. But my current domain creepypastaindex . com has more backlinks and a higher PR (3) as opposed to the other domain's PR (1). The other domain is ranked pretty high in the search results though, however, I find this weird since it has been inaccessible for a while.
3. For what reason do you think my website got de-indexed? I think it might have to do with my website being inactive for a few months, but it didn't start getting de-indexed until I started posting new content on it again recently. Also, some of the stories on my website are copied from other websites. Do you think this is related? I also have Original Content on my website.

Howdy,

Firstly, both sites are ranking - yours is 4 below your the .co.uk version, both on page 2, so no worries there. It would take more time to understand why one ranks better than the other and what can be done to reach page 1 on Google.

If you are to buy the new domain however, just 301 redirect one to another and you'll effectively transfer link juice too. As there is little difference in rankings, it is down to the name you prefer, though with your PR, I'd be tempted to keep your own a 301 the competitor.

I'd personally 301 the UK domain to your .com TLD.

bplumb said:

Firstly, both sites are ranking - yours is 4 below your the .co.uk version, both on page 2, so no worries there. It would take more time to understand why one ranks better than the other and what can be done to reach page 1 on Google.

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Hey thank you for the reply. I would like to ask you where you saw this? I use Traffic Travis to keep track of my keyword rankings and it keeps bumping me out. I used to rank pretty good for my keywords too (see the image)

dinkish said:

I'd personally 301 the UK domain to your .com TLD.

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Thank you for the response. I think I will do this, however I don't like my domain name that much =__= Doesn't pagerank transfer with the 301 redirect?

301 old site to new.

12lolwut12 said:

Hey thank you for the reply. I would like to ask you where you saw this? I use Traffic Travis to keep track of my keyword rankings and it keeps bumping me out. I used to rank pretty good for my keywords too (see the image)

Click to expand...

A little place we often forget...I searched for 'scary pasta' on Google. I have several rank tracking tools, they all produce odd results every now and then!

Doesn't pagerank transfer with the 301 redirect?

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Honestly, I don't know. Rankings and backlinks thus juice transfers, so theoretically yes, though I don't know how long it would take. However, look at it this way, both sites rank similarly, neither yet on page 1. Why not make the decision now as to which you prefer then 301 the other. .co.uk does feel better, I agree.

If you do 301, let us know what happens pr wise?