Google penalties can severely damage the visibility of a website, significantly reducing its traffic and making it difficult to rank in search engine results. Thus, it is essential to check whether a domain has been penalized by Google before purchasing it. In this article, we will discuss how to use Ahref’s Site Explorer and the Wayback Machine to determine if an expired domain has been penalized by Google.
Using Ahref’s Site Explorer
Ahref’s Site Explorer is a powerful tool for exploring a website’s backlink profile and diagnosing potential issues. To use Site Explorer to check for a Google penalty, first enter the domain name in the search bar and click “Explore”.
Once the domain is loaded, click on the “Backlinks” tab. Here you will see a list of all the backlinks pointing to the website. Look for any links that appear to be unnatural or suspicious. For example, suppose the domain has many backlinks from low-quality websites or websites that appear to be unrelated to the domain’s content. In that case, these links may indicate a Google penalty.
Using the Wayback Machine
The Wayback Machine is a web archive that allows you to view old versions of websites. To use the Wayback Machine to check for a Google penalty, enter the domain name in the search bar and click “Browse history”.
You will then be presented with a timeline of archived versions of the website. Select an archived version of the website and look for any links that appear to be unnatural or suspicious. As with Site Explorer, if the domain has many backlinks from low-quality websites or websites that appear unrelated to the domain’s content, these links may indicate a Google penalty.
Using Ahref’s Site Explorer and the Wayback Machine effectively checks if an expired domain has been penalized by Google. By examining the backlink profile and looking for any unnatural or suspicious links, you can determine if a domain has been penalized and avoid purchasing a domain with a Google penalty.
Using Google Search
When it comes to checking if an expired domain is suffering from a Google penalty, the Google site:domain.com search query is a useful tool. By using this simple browser search query, you can get an approximate number of pages indexed by Google. In order to do this, you would type “site:www.my-domain.com” into the Google search field or the Chrome search bar.
When you execute the search, you should see a list of all the pages that Google has indexed from your domain. If you see a significant decrease in the number of pages indexed compared to the last time you checked, it could be a sign of a penalty. It’s important to note that a decrease in indexation could also be caused by a number of other factors, including changes to your site’s structure, content, or code.
If you suspect your domain is suffering from a penalty, there are a few steps you can take to investigate further. Firstly, you should check the Google Search Console for any messages from Google. These messages will provide more information about any penalties that may have been applied to your domain.
You should also check the cached version of your pages in the Google index to see if any of them have been removed. You can do this by searching for your domain name in Google, then clicking the down arrow next to the URL and selecting “Cached”. This will show you the version of the page that Google has saved. If the page has been removed, it could be a sign of a penalty.
If you’re still unsure whether or not your domain is suffering from a penalty, you can use a tool like Moz’s link analysis tool, Open Site Explorer, to check for any unnatural link patterns. Unnatural link patterns can be a sign of a manual or algorithmic penalty.
In short, the Google site:domain.com search query is useful for checking if an expired domain is suffering from a Google penalty. By using this search query, you can get an approximate number of pages indexed by Google. Additionally, you should also check the Google Search Console, cached pages, and unnatural link patterns to investigate any potential penalties further.