Will putting a 'This url is for sale" on a website affect Google rankings?

[terradale]

Greetings folks!
I am really a newbie at selling domain names. Altho about 4yrs ago I sold one for $4k simply by adding "this url is for sale" on the home page and it maintained its google rankings within the 10 first results returned for about 2yrs

Now I have a domain name for sale that also returns within the top 10 for google, bing (actually within the top 5), and is the top return for duckduckgo (who knew) for its keyword (hope that's the right word).

Well anyway, with all the changes that google is putting in place, I'm afraid that by adding "This url is for sale' on the home page & meta name that google may reposition it -or- worse drop it.

Would you happen to know or be able to direct me to some resources to determine if I'm doing damage to the google/bing rankings?

BTW... the reason the google rankings are so high is due to age and not really activity.

Thank you in advance for your advice.

 

[namenetwork]

I don't know the technical answer, O hope some SEO guru's chime in ... but I try and avoid it by putting it in graphics, not text, throughout the landing / sales page

 

[terradale]

Namenetwork... great idea! Thanks. BTW... I noticed that google hasn't updated the meta name description for search results, but bing & duckduckgo has. Neither bing nor duckduckgo has changed their rankings. But, we all have to worry about google ultimately. Also noticed that at times google returns my keyword url in first place, but than it'll drop down to 7th when I do another search on another day.

There are so many nuances to consider and monitor - it makes me crazy.

 

[namenetwork]

I believe that's why there's a lot if truth to the saying "just build a good site that offers unique value" and let the SE's sort it out don't let em drive u crazy

 

[equity78]

Matt Cutts from Google has come out and said that age is not a reason for high rankings in Google.

Secondly you have a top rating for what kind of keyword ? Is there a lot of competition for the key word ? What is the exact search numbers for the keyword ?

Putting that on your site should not affect the ranking and namenetwork had a good suggestion so that should help too.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1_1NQWQJ2Q"]How much does a domain's age affect its ranking? - YouTube[/ame]

 

[Vincentas]

I think that shouldn't affect anything. Just make sure your domain is not blacklisted.

 

[terradale]

Thanks Equity. Not sure what to say. The site hasn't been touched in over four years. I know because I'd did the last update except when I added the sale notice. So I guess the only thing keeping it in the top 10 rankings is clicks. It's value is tourism to a SE regional area, as well as, the word is also a spanish word. Estibot (again I'm new so not sure what resources to trust) values it as $38k - I doubt we'll ever get that tho.

Thanks for the insight.

---------- Post added at 03:40 AM ---------- Previous post was at 03:35 AM ----------

Vincentas why would it be blacklisted - if it's in the top ten rankings for numerous search engines? Because I added 'This url is for sale'?

 

[terradale]

Ok, I restored the original index page and added a graphic indicating it is for sale. (Thanks namenetwork - great idea) and added more links and content. Hopefully that'll help keep in it the top ten.

Now for the next question I got when I sold my former website - will changing the dns/servers affect the rankings? I told them I didn't know and they should probably speak with their web person. Then it took them over the 2yrs to revise the site and after checking the url today - the site is no longer available (AtlantaCondosForSale.com) and has no rankings even with a direct url search.

 

[enlytend]

will changing the dns/servers affect the rankings?

No. Unless you host it on a known "bad neighborhood" or accidently do something wonky.

FYI, that "not available" page IS indexed (do a site:domainname search to see indexed pages) - if it was ranked for anything that would be really lame on Google's part because it's nothing but that placeholder page.

Google doesn't care if your site is for sale or not, but putting it in an image avoids messing with the relevancy of your page content.