Domain Name: How Important is Domain Name History?

<br> <!-- Begin Moneybookers logo code --> <a href="www.moneybookers.com/" target="_blank"><img style="border-width: 1px; border-color: #8B8583;" src="https://www.moneybookers.com/images/banners/sendmoneyaroundtheworld_signup.gif" border=0></a> <!-- End of Moneybookers logo code --> <br>As you know a domain name with good keyword can bring you a lot of traffic and more traffic translates into more money.  A domain that went through a multiple owners may have a bad history.   You might have gotten a domain name with bad history from auction.  And bad history affect your domain in the future.

If you buy a domain with objectionable or questionable history for some affiliate marketing programs — notably eBay through their eBay Partners Network — you could endanger your affiliate account. I know for a fact if a domain has been associated with an Ebay Partnership Network (EPN) account that was terminated or banned, you’ll probably have your EPN account at risk buying and using the domain. So in that one case in particular, it would be good to consider the domain’s history.

How bad can it be?

Well, it can cause huge bookmarking sites like Digg, Reddit & Mixx tagged the site as being “invalid”.  It affects your ability to promote your site.  You also have to spend your countless hours and energy to revive it.

So if you know that your domain name had one time was used for a domain name that used for a “bad neighborhood” type of site.  Here are my suggestions.

Rehabilitating: First go to Google Webmaster Tools and on the left column is a place to ask for “Site reconsideration”.  You will be asked about why this site should be reincluded in the index and tell them that you are the new owner of the site and know that it came from a previous owner that used it for spamming or non-legit content. Ask them to reinclude it in the index and that you are interested in developing it into a great site as a resource, etc. for what ever your domain/use is for.  Also just make sure you don’t have any contextual ads, such as Google Adsense or Amazon ads, on it because they will see that.

Patience: You have to be patience because it may take 48 hours or a week to get your domain shown up in the index because of their workload.

How to avoid getting the domain with bad history in the first place

Do your due diligence before buying your domain from auction sites.  To see if the domain is registered,  use a WHOIS tool.  And use a service like the Wayback Machine to check its history. If that domain has been banned by major search engines due to whatever reasons, don’t bother to buy it. Do not waste your time to building up its reputation.