[{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BlogPosting","@id":"https:\/\/www.adamriemer.me\/seo\/how-to-help-repair-a-damaged-url-for-seo\/#BlogPosting","mainEntityOfPage":"https:\/\/www.adamriemer.me\/seo\/how-to-help-repair-a-damaged-url-for-seo\/","headline":"How to Help Repair a Damaged URL for SEO","name":"How to Help Repair a Damaged URL for SEO","description":"When you’re buying domain names and come across an awesome one, you sometimes forget to research it and see what the link structures are, what the site used to look like, what copy was on it and everything else that could have caused someone to let it go.\u00a0 When you buy a domain that was […]","datePublished":"2013-04-12","dateModified":"2013-04-12","author":{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.adamriemer.me\/author\/adamriemer\/#Person","name":"Adam Riemer","url":"https:\/\/www.adamriemer.me\/author\/adamriemer\/","identifier":2,"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fda62f751f2a6c2ec2b079fedff69720852e4a65633212ffb11832454c29160a?s=96&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fda62f751f2a6c2ec2b079fedff69720852e4a65633212ffb11832454c29160a?s=96&r=g","height":96,"width":96}},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Adam Riemer Marketing, LLC.","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.adamriemer.me\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/arm-logo-2.jpg","url":"https:\/\/www.adamriemer.me\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/arm-logo-2.jpg","width":600,"height":60}},"url":"https:\/\/www.adamriemer.me\/seo\/how-to-help-repair-a-damaged-url-for-seo\/","about":["SEO"],"wordCount":976,"keywords":["getting a damaged domain name to rank again","repairing a damaged url","SEO"],"articleBody":"When you’re buying domain names and come across an awesome one, you sometimes forget to research it and see what the link structures are, what the site used to look like, what copy was on it and everything else that could have caused someone to let it go.\u00a0 When you buy a domain that was previously owned, you need to check out what was on it before and why the person let it go or decided to sell it.\u00a0 If it was a black hat SEO or someone who just ran a spambot and built thousands of crappy links to it, the domain could be in really bad shape.\u00a0 If you still like the url and want to keep it, here are some of the things you need to do from an SEO perspective to help repair it and get it to start ranking again.1.\u00a0 Create a document with an outline of what you did to repair the domain.Most of us hate having to create plans,but this is very important for later on in this post.\u00a0 You need to have a table of contents, an outline and also a ton of screen shots.\u00a0 You need to document everything you do that I go over below, and anything else that you can think of or do to repair the url.\u00a0 (I don’t actually list everything I do to repair domain names that I buy that have a history of crappy links here which is why I said anything else you do.)\u00a0 Make sure that you include every thing in detail as well as a summary and when you can, take screen shots and include them as well.\u00a0 Here is what you should put in your document to help repair a damaged domain name or url from black hat or bad SEO practices.2.\u00a0 Get as many of the designs and as much of the copy as possible from when it was damaged.The first thing I do is go to the way back machine and previous owners and get as much of the design and copy that was on the site as possible.\u00a0 I take screen shots of it, try to restore it and also document every page from the title tags, ulrs of the pages and meta data to the images, colors and layout.\u00a0 Then I place the site’s architecture into a graph.\u00a0 Once I have finished this, I then create new urls (sometimes I’ll keep the old ones because they were good) and then refresh all of the code, copy and designs.\u00a0 This section will be labeled new and old.\u00a0 In the document I’ll point out everything I changed, why I changed it and then how it not fits within the Search Engine’s guidelines for proper SEO.\u00a0 Everything from HTML updates to CSS and style sheets.3.\u00a0 Now I begin to Disavow bad links.This is a more recent thing that I have begun doing since the tool wasn’t always available.\u00a0 If I don’t have time to do it, I have a couple of people I trust that know basic to mid level SEO and I have them go in and remove almost everything that is spammy pointing to the domain.\u00a0 I document all of the root domains that were pointing in and give a brief explanation of why.\u00a0 These links helped to damage the site and I’d prefer to start without them, rather than to have to try and build the new site with them still causing the issues that got the url banned from the search engines.4.\u00a0 Ask Google for Reconsideration of the domain name.Because you created a document with all of the changes and because you aren’t the person or company that destroyed it, there is a chance that Google will erase the history of the domain name and begin to reconsider it.\u00a0 Although they are unlikely to do it if the url was really hit hard with bad links and crappy content, they will sometimes so it is worth it.\u00a0 What I send them is the url, the reason why I think it should be reconsidered including everything I did with a business plan for the future and all of the documentation that I created while fixing and repairing the site.\u00a0 By showing you have made a solid effort, what the plan is for the site and why they should reconsider the url, you may have a better shot at getting it cleaned in the algorithm and getting to rank easier.5.\u00a0 Begin white hat SEO for the domain name.Even if it is still banned or barely ranking, you can always repair the url.\u00a0 It just might take a ton of work.\u00a0 Because you can remove bad links with the Disavow tool, your job as an SEO is much easier; but you still need a strong content plan, an internal linking structure and an amazing and clean backlink strategy.\u00a0 Here is a post I did the other week about outdated link building strategies you want to avoid.\u00a0 By building the url from scratch after disavowing the links that caused a lot of damage, you can begin repairing the url and get it ranking again.Although there are no guarantees that a url that has been damaged from black hat or bad SEO will recover, I haven’t actually found one yet that I couldn’t get going.\u00a0 If you absolutely have to have the url or really love it, then buy it, but also know that it is going to take a lot of extra work to rank since it has already been damaged and black listed from the search engines.\u00a0 You’ll need to put a lot more work, time and effort into it, but if the URL is good enough then it is probably worth the extra work."},{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Seo","item":"https:\/\/www.adamriemer.me\/seo\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"How to Help Repair a Damaged URL for SEO","item":"https:\/\/www.adamriemer.me\/seo\/how-to-help-repair-a-damaged-url-for-seo\/#breadcrumbitem"}]}]