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[Caleb Donnelly]

Hi everybody, newbie here,
I would like to buy a domain name for selling services.
As I am new to this, I have a few questions:
1) I've found 2 domain names that look interesting (to me, at least). I cannot find any information about them on waybackmachine. For one of them (domain A) I cannot find any information on whois websites either. For the other one (domain B), I can see on whois that it was last registered back in 2020. All else being equal, I would prefer to buy domain B, but I can't find any information about its "past". Lets say that domain B was involved in spam or other bad actions. Would it still be penalized after 4 years?
2) When I buy a domain, should I buy it as a private person (name, personal payment), or as a company (my newly created company)?
3) Lets say I would buy 2 or 3 domains for websites in the same category/niche, would it be ok to let google know that I own all of them? I understand that maybe linking from one to another would not increate their ranking, but would google penalize them? So basically having a few websites (same niche but for different audiences) linking to main website for traffic, not for ranking.
4) Is it ok to use gmail to register to namecheap or hostinger to buy domains? I am thinking that maybe if later I would decide to buy a few domains for a PBN, google could see that I own the domains by "reading" my gmail emails?
5) If I am not in a hurry to buy my "main" domain, should I wait and try to find one at an auction or to use a drop catch domain service? So should I spend a little more for a domain that would help me rank better than a new domain?
Thank you.

 

[Dolores Luettgen]

Lets say that domain B was involved in spam or other bad actions. Would it still be penalized after 4 years?

I'm no expert on this, but I think that it depends on the type of penalty. For example, manual penalties are usually permanent, while algo penalties can (and oftentimes do) get lifted after future updates. So, it depends...

When I buy a domain, should I buy it as a private person (name, personal payment), or as a company (my newly created company)?

SEO-wise it makes no difference. It's up to you...

Lets say I would buy 2 or 3 domains for websites in the same category/niche, would it be ok to let google know that I own all of them?

of course! They're your sites / businesses, you can do with them whatever you want.

I understand that maybe linking from one to another would not increate their ranking, but would google penalize them?

interlinking them to game the system (ie. get ranked) is definitely bad and it will penalize ALL of your sites IF google finds out that you've done this to game the system.

Now, how google can figure out whether or not you're interlinking them to game the system I don't know, so don't ask! But they're a pretty big tech company, I'm sure they have their methods.

If you're unsure and / or if you rely on google either don't do it, or do it in plain sight and hope for the best! As the saying goes, if you get yourself smeared with crap at least do it fully

So basically having a few websites (same niche but for different audiences) linking to main website for traffic, not for ranking.

you say "for traffic", but if the traffic comes from google then google will interpret this as gaming the system and they're going to penalize all of your sites most likely.

If you don't care about / rely on google for your traffic then link them all together and even say loud and clear that you're building links to your sites, who cares? Google should have no business telling you what to do with your sites.

4) Is it ok to use gmail to register to namecheap or hostinger to buy domains? I am thinking that maybe if later I would decide to buy a few domains for a PBN, google could see that I own the domains by "reading" my gmail emails?

it's ok to use gmail, but yes, google also reads, tracks and records everything. And you've mentioned PBN, so you do intent to play foul on google, which can screw you over if you don't do it properly.

5) If I am not in a hurry to buy my "main" domain, should I wait and try to find one at an auction or to use a drop catch domain service? So should I spend a little more for a domain that would help me rank better than a new domain?

if you have the money, expired domains are definitely worth more than fresh ones when it comes to ranking. Maybe @Nargil has something you're interested in so you can avoid buying bad domain, give his BST a look (or simply contact him and ask whether he's got any good domains in your preferred niche):