Pros & Cons of Switching Your Main Domain to Mask Links & Combat EMDs

[Leadhub]

Hello Mozzers,

I'd love to receive some advice for a client of mine and insights you may have regarding pros and cons on changing your main domain to mask links. Within a competitive niche there are about 4 different sites that routinely rank 1-4. Our site crushes all three on just about all metrics except we have a high volume of nofollow links and our site remains at #4. Our site is much older so we have significantly more links than these smaller sites, including pre-penguin penalty spammy links (like blog comments that make up 50+ nofollow links from 1 comment per domain).

Obviously we are attempting to remove any toxic links and disavow, however the blog comment nofollow links skew our anchor text ratio pretty intensely and we are worried that we aren't going to make a dent in removing this type of links. Just disavowing them hasn't worked alone, so if we are unable to remove the bulk of these poor quality links (nofollow, off-topic anchor text, etc..) we are considering 301 redirecting the current domain to a new one. We've seen success with this in a couple of scenarios, but wanted to see other insights as to if masking links with a 301 could send fresh signals and positively effect rankings.

Also wanted to mention, 2 of the 3 competitors that outrank us have EMD's for the primary keywords.

Appreciate your time, insights, and advice on this matter.

[MonicaOConnor]

I understand why you would think disavowing links would be time better spent, but any professional would tell you that anytime you add a disavow file to your site, you are essentially raising a red flag and giving Google the in to really inspect your profile. That can be extremely detrimental in most cases.

Links have age, just like domains. Fresh, new links will carry more weight than older spam links, especially if they are driving traffic to your site. I would spend my time building new links and not disavowing any links unless I am trying to remove a penalty. As I understand it, you have already been cleared of a Penguin penalty, so I don't think your time is best spent on disavow actions. However, there might be people in the community who disagree with that theory.

As far as the EMD goes, there are over 200 ranking factors. Although it might be easy to point to their domain and say that is why they out rank you, you can't really do that. As far as evening the field, you will want to get ahead of them, not just get on their level. I wouldn't go through the redirect process unless it was my last option or hope. Just because the other domain has been registered for the same amount of time, doesn't give it the same value of the domain you are using. There has been no traffic to that domain, nor has it been crawled in that time, unless you have two operating sites. The domain that has been registered and in use is the more valuable domain. Is it worth building up your domain authority from scratch?

The URL structure is not doubt important, but the focus should be on what follows the .com. Some other factors you should consider before you decide to 301 or disavow is general site structure and user generated content. Do you have a responsive design? How about any uniquely valuable content like customer reviews or comments? These are the easiest things to work on in order to build your domain authority and your trust signals.

By no means do I want to discredit your theory, however, I would encourage you to seek further research to really understand the cons of all of the disavow files and starting with a new domain.

[Leadhub]

Hey Monica,

Thanks so much for your response. Couple of things...

Building Quality Links vs. Removing Bad Links

We are definitely aren't moving away from building quality links. I'm just wondering if focusing more efforts on removing is going to be a better use of time as it seems like links are all about percentages. If I remove one bad blog comment link that results into 100+ links then it will build up the percentage of quality link our profile consists of.

EMDs

I mentioned EMDs earlier and in reality it's more of a PMD as they have a branded word + keyword within the domain, and this seems to work extremely well for them. We've considered 301ing to a domain that has the keyword within it, still branded but at least compares to the only thing they really have on us besides a cleaner link profile. When I say cleaner, I mean a lot smaller so the percentage of quality is there even though it is only like 10 links (which we also have).

301 to a new domain

I'm aware of 301 redirects juice etc.., however our "new" domain we've owned and registered just as long as our current domain so it has the age. It's just a little longer to include brand + keyword instead of just brand. Also, in this competitive niche (we're talking, $50+ a click on AdWords) the organic #1 has, literally, 0 links... They redirected their old domain to a new one which makes me believe "masking" old link profiles could be possible?

Food for thought, again thanks for your reply!

[MonicaOConnor]

This is a tough situation to be in.

First, I would suggest adding some quality follow links before you disavow anymore of the no follow links. While these links are plentiful, they are no follow and serve only one purpose because of that, to bring traffic to your site. If these links are bringing traffic, it isn't worth getting rid if them. Often times there are negative consequences of having several disavow files with Google. I understand the initial appeal of disavowing those links, but in the long run, you won't have the outcome you are looking for. If at all possible, reach out to webmasters first, and ask them to remove links before you go through the disavow process.

The best thing you can do is get some quality, authoritative links to sites that have high DA. Youtube, Pinterest, Google Plus... Those are all reputable sites. You have to be careful with YouTube now though, make sure you embed videos with Http, not Https.

You also want to diversify your link profile to include links in related content. It is the harder way to build links, but it is worth it in the end. What you are suffering from now is the "easy come, easy go" link building strategy that flourished 5-6 years ago and has left many sites in limbo. The best way to even out your link profile is to build better links. Getting rid of all of the no follow links will not be as helpful as building fresh, quality links.

301 redirecting  your site to a new domain will not help you because you will be redirecting all of your link juice, spammy links included. EMDs do not have the value they used to, your brand is far more important than your key terms nowadays. Plus, there is value in the age of your domain. Older domains carry higher authority. There is more value in the age of your domain than an EMD. I would put money on that

Whatever you decide to do, make sure that your next step is earning some fresh, quality links and start sending some social signals. Good luck!