Redirected Domain Traffic?

[erin]

Hi,
I have scene several websites selling redirected domain traffic. Does anyone have an opinion on this type of service/traffic. Junk? Thanks, J

[DomainDog]

IMO- it's mostly junk. Unless it's very directed and targeted, or if the target site is very generic. If you are selling tennis racquets, why would you want visitors from a dog training site?

Just my opinion, though!

[Buddha]

Be very careful! Search Engines (SE) don't like it when their customers find themself some place they didn't send them. So ask where this traffic is coming from? SEs will ban your domain (Google has banned entire servers for partaking in traffic schemes) and in that case the only fix maybe to concede and beg forgiveness. Or get a new domain...

[erin]

Thanks for the replies. Much appreciated. I think avoiding this type of service is probably the smart move...J

[DomainDog]

Search Engines (SE) don't like it when their customers find themself some place they didn't send them. ......SEs will ban your domain (Google has banned entire servers for partaking in traffic schemes).......

Buddha, I have serious doubts about this being true. Can you provide some evidence or documentation to substiantiate this?

I'm sure tens of thousands of websites use redirects, and they have and continue to have very high SE placement. How many times have you clicked on the number one, two or three return at Google, only to be rediected elsewhere? In my experience- many many times. Yet, they continue to come up at the top.

[Jonathan]

Usually, DD, its to like "Default english" version of the site,
or simply some sub-folder of the site.

[DomainDog]

I'm pretty sure if there's any penalty from a Search Engine, it's for that domain which does the redirect, NOT the receiving domain!

Otherwise, an unscrupulous business could redirect tons of traffic to a competitor and ruin their business.

And I also think a lot depends of what type of redirect is used, http/meta versus 301 versus 302, etc....

[shalom_m]

I could not find real evidence either way. I found a lot of different oponions:

see:

http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum3/24025.htm

http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum23/2261.htm

http://jimworld.com/apps/webmaster.forums/action::thread/thread::1086054259/forum::google/type::active/

[Buddha]

DomainDog, I'm not digging it up on Webmasterworld - it was almost a year ago. But the particular incident, I was thinking of ... where the entire server was banned involved a web host selling a PR scheme. Google took offense at that. I admit it is very very rare that a search engine will ban an entire server.

Even so you still need to take care when getting involved in any traffic schemes. You know that old saying, "If looks to good to be true, it probably is."

I'm pretty sure if there's any penalty from a Search Engine, it's for that domain which does the redirect, NOT the receiving domain!

I'll agree that is generally how it works. I don't see TigerDirect, Overstock, etc. getting banned and just think how many cloak redirects they've recieved. However, your site should be able to stand up to your competitor's scrutiny or anyone else's.

Here's an interesting example:

http://www.benedelman.org/spyware/whenu-spam/

[DomainDog]

Well, I'm sure the Google Gods are much more sensitive to a Page Rank manipulation than to traffic redirecting, which as I said is done by many many websites.

In fact, I have heard that Google now waits several MONTHS to give a website PR credit for getting other sites to link to you. I think that stinks.

Personally, I am very glad of Yahoo's current rise to power, and look forward to the time when Google is far less dominant in the SE world.

[Buddha]

Personally, I am very glad of Yahoo's current rise to power, and look forward to the time when Google is far less dominant in the SE world.

Amen.

[Frank Hagan]

google is having some issues with their search technology. The original is under license from Stanford University for non-commercial use only, so they have to develop their own technology prior to their public offering (even then, its hard to say they are "non-commercial" right now!)

You may have noticed that search results are not as good as they were 6 - 8 months ago; I've forgotten the exact date of the testing of their new technology, but it was somewhere in that time frame. It will be interesting to see what happens once they completely unplug the Stanford technology.

[Buddha]

MSN Search is rolling out a new look in July, their search engine can't be far behind? Google, Yahoo and MSN ... oh what fun!

[DomainDog]

MSN Search is rolling out a new look in July, their search engine can't be far behind? Google, Yahoo and MSN ... oh what fun!

The wonder of CHOICE! Yay!

I think this is one reason God invented choclate, vanilla, and strawberry!
(Uhh.....Could someone pleeeze mention this to Bill Gates)?