Buy a Banned Domain? Should You Ask Google for Forgiveness?

A WebmasterWorld thread has one webmaster who allegedly purchased a domain name that was banned by Google. He basically asked, how does he get this domain to be clean and start over.

In the past, I would have said, just submit a reconsideration request and hope that Google trusts that you are starting new. And that is the advice given in the thread.

But after sitting in a site clinic with Matt Cutts at PubCon. At about 10:51 PST, Matt said that when it comes to domains that were banned or severely penalized, it is just easier to start with a fresh new domain. I am not quoting Matt exactly, but he basically said that it is easier to start from ground zero then starting from 100 feet under ground. Yes, a penalized site seems to just have to work its way up from a negative state to get to level starting ground and often, it might not be worth the effort.

At the same time, if Google can press a button to wipe the history of the domain - then maybe you are in luck. I am just not too sure how easy it is to get Google to do that.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

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posted rustybrick in Google Optimization at November 24, 2009 8:11 AM Comments (5)

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People who buy burned domains for link value are just looking for trouble anyway. But sometimes a company needs to buy a burned domain to establish a new brand. In such cases I think the SEO needs to advise patience. Branding campaigns should create visibility well beyond search and that should help alleviate some of the pain of owning a previously banned domain.

I would wait until the brand was established before submitting a reconsideration request. At least that way you could point to new stories and other vindicating criteria to show things are different.

Posted by Michael Martinez at November 24, 2009 11:26

I think it's sad that Google does this. If someone wants a domain name for the branding value, why should they even have to check to see if it's banned? Why should Google have problems with "resetting" domain history once it has a new owner? If they cause trouble again - ban them again.

Posted by Anne at November 24, 2009 15:00

"Why should Google have problems with "resetting" domain history once it has a new owner?"

If the spammy backlinks still exist, Google can't reset anything, unless they can ignore links gained from 2000-2009 (for example).

Posted by anon at November 25, 2009 01:34

Google has a "Site Reconsideration" form in webmaster tools you can use: https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/reconsideration. You must verify the site with Google webmaster tools first, including creating a Google-compliant sitemap. I've done it before, and it took a month or two for google to re-list the domain.

Another option for those with a large AdWords account is to have your AdWords account rep fast-track the processing.

Posted by Adam Fairbanks at November 25, 2009 01:43

Just my 2 cents and do not have any real life examples to back it up, but I would have to assume that if a banned domain is so important to you that you would be willing to go through the reconsideration process, then Google will work with you to "reset" it.

Posted by Arnie K at November 25, 2009 11:07

Buy a Banned Domain? Should You Ask Google for Forgiveness?

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