Got Expired Domain - Should I 1) 301 to another of my site or 2) Build that site up

[JeffreyC]

I have an expired domain with good backlinks to the main www.domain.com (and other pages on the main www domain) and some to a blog subdomain (blog.domain.com)

The domain was not indexed for a few years but I purchased it and it's indexed but just with a few wordpress pages - because I was thinking of using this expired domain for a new website.

I'm wondering what to do with it if I want to use it for SEO purposes. The niche of the expired domain is very closely related to my own niche.

I'm wondering if I should:

1) 301 the expired domain to one of my main websites in the same niche.

2) Use the expired domain to build a new website. This is not a problem for me because I'm also building a few websites in this niche. If I choose this route, what do I do? Do I have to find all the incoming links and use a wordpress 301 redirect all those URLs back to the main domain?

Which is the best route in this day since I'm sure Google knows about all this. Thanks

 

[Corey]

Clint speaks about this in this week's Digitaleer episode.

 

[GeoffM]

I've not done it myself but I believe the best thing is to see if the site will rank on its own first before doing anything. That way at least you know your working with an asset not a liability before you (potentially) waste time doing anything else.

 

[testitall]

Like all SEO questions . . . it depends.

But GeoffM is correct. First you check if the site is toxic. Point it at a page on a site you don't care about and see if the page moves or disappears.

Assuming it's not toxic, then you need to determine what to do based on things like:
- Did the site have authority that would be good to have back?
- Does the link profile go to many pages on the domain or just the home page?
- How much effort would it take to develop it? (Do you have the time?)

The answer partly depends on the capabilities of the domain and the resources/needs that you have.