When buying a website…. Google the Domain Name

This may surprise a few people, so bear with me.

To do this you simply go to Google.com and type the url into the search box. e.g midascode.co.uk

As you can see, Midascode.co.uk shows as number 1 in Google, and so it should.

However, certain sites have been very naughty, and Google has given them a slap on their little digital wrists. A high profile example of this is with the blog JohnChow.com – a hugely powerful blog with tons of links, yet up until very recently it wasn’t number one for it’s own name.

You can still see some of the effects of this here: John Chow Google

This shows us quite clearly that the site has been hit hard by a Google penalty.

Generally it is best to avoid such sites, as all future work may be virtually worthless in terms of increasing your rankings… and remember, search engines drive over 70% of traffic to most websites.

So next time you consider buying a website… Google the Domain Name.