Things You Must Know Before Buying Expired Domains
Every day, thousands of domains get expired, giving you the perfect opportunity to buy those expired gems.
To start with, let’s first fully understand; what an expired domain is?
Expired Domains were once registered by individuals, organizations, or businesses but aren’t renewed after the end of the contract, i.e., the 30 days of extension. These domains can be re-registered.
There are many reasons for not renewing a domain. The most known reason is the web project’s failure, or the domain portfolio went into liquidation.
An Expired Domain is very popular due to the SEO factor and its existing backlink profile. If you are looking to buy an expired domain, you must know to separate the good ones from the bad ones by doing some background checks.
1 How to use the expired domains?
There are numerous reasons for preferring to buy an expired domain name over buying a new domain name.
1. Authority
Everyone works harder with their domain to build up its authority. But if Google sees your domain as an authority site, it’s easier for you to start with, and you might get traffic on the first day itself.
It’s easier with an expired domain because you can leverage its SEO value that already exists and start your game of ranking right away.
2. Private Blog Network (PBN)
You don’t need to build an entire site; you can instead build up a mini-site and then link it to your main website.
By doing this, you are adding up a gem to your already existing site by adding this backlink.
It is usually done by the PBN method, where PBN uses the expired domain to make different mini-sites and link all of them to the main sites.
3. 301 Redirect
If you don’t want to create a mini-site and go through all the processes, you can transfer the expired domain’s link juice, and you can redirect the old domain to your main website with the help of 301 redirects.
The benefit of redirecting is if the expired domain has gained high SEO value of its own because the backlinks it has accumulated over the past years will be transferred to your main website to increase its rank.
4. Selling and earning profit
Many people make a livelihood by selling expired domains and making a considerable profit. They buy the expired domain in an auction and continue adding backlinks and increasing its SEO value, and later selling the domain at a higher price. People also create an entire blog or site using an expired domain and sell it at a very high price later.
2 Here are the Things You Must Know before Buying Expired Domains
Buying an expired domain name not just requires money; it requires a proper check on many aspects. Below given are some important points you must investigate before investing in an expired domain from any marketplace.
1. Check the DA/PA of the expired domain before buying it:
There are many sites where you can check expired domains or deleted domains. Thousands of domains expire daily, allowing you to buy the best.
But these are the best place to buy expired domains:
There are two critical factors to keep in mind to determine the quality of expired domain or live website, Page Authority (PA) and Domain Authority (DA).
Before you buy an expired domain, you can check its DP and PA using the following domain authority checker sites.
Open Site Explorer and check DA and PA using these domain authority checkers to check the stats of the domain you are planning to buy.
Always check the expired domain you are planning to buy has a DA of more than 25.
2. Always Check Domain with Google banned checker.
There is no use of a domain with high DA and PA, which Google bans from search engines. Validate your domain through Google banned checker before you purchase it.
To check if the domain is not banned by Google, search the below query on google to verify that webmaster does not block the URL.
for eg. site:example.com (in the place of example.com use the domain name)
If the domain you are planning to buy has an excellent DA And PA but is banned by Google, you can send a request to un-ban the domain via “Google reconsideration request.”
Also Read: Adsense banned checker – Comprehensive guide.
3. Check Google AdSense Ban
At least 10% of the expired domain daily are banned from Google AdSense. Most bloggers buy to build a blog to earn money via the Google display ads program. If a domain is already banned from Google AdSense, it is of no use. Therefore, it is essential to check with AdSense ban checker tools to determine whether the expired domain you want to buy is not banned by AdSense.
You can visit adsensechecker.com and check the URL which you want to buy.
If Ads are being displayed, the domain is not banned.
4. Check the Archive of the Website
This factor is generally ignored or not known by many people. When you think of buying an expired domain, it becomes essential to know what type of website was running with it before expiring.
To know that, you need to go to Way Back Machine, put the URL there, and then click on the take me back button, where you will see a timeline graph and calendar. Click on any date, and you can see the live screenshot of the website of that date.
5. Check Chinese Backlinks
Generally, an expired domain is spammed with Chinese backlinks. One needs to be very careful about it when buying a domain.
You can check it with an SEO tool like Ahrefs.
Put in the URL or the domain name and click on the backlink section.
If you see many Chinese backlinks or different language anchor texts, it’s better to avoid such domains.
6. Check Brandability
Checking Brandability depends on you and your use of the domain name. If you are thinking of creating a website around the domain name, you may want the expired domain to be brandable, but thinking of 301 redirects and PBN’s brand-ability would not matter much.
It’s essential to decide your goal before buying an expired domain name.
7. Domain Name
While buying a domain, you must consider all the aspects around the name. It may seem not very important, but forgoing a long way, this is very important.
A domain name should not be very long. Though a domain name can have up to 67 characters, it’s better to choose a short domain name for your blog.
Remember the domain name you are choosing is going to represent your site forever.
3 How to Buy Expired Domain Names
Freshdrop
Freshdrop is the marketplace for expired domains. It makes buying expired and dropped domain names very easy.
According to your preference, you can put a filter of the auction, buy it now, backorder, bargains, etc.
They also provide pro membership plans with a 7 days free trial. Pro members get additional features.
DomCop
If you want to buy inexpensive expired domains, DomCop may be the best marketplace for you.
There are no free plans on their website. The three plans provided by them are the Newbie plan, Power plan, Guru Plan.
The newbie plan is just $56 per month and shows the list of expiring domains.
You can use metrics such as Moz, Ahrefs, Majestic, SEMrush, etc., which can be used to search domain names. It helps in filtering all the domain names and shows you names that matter for you the most.
Expired Domains
An expired domain is a free tool that lets you find and buy the expired domain easily. This tool has filters to narrow down your search.
To access all the filters, you need to create a free account with them.
Moonsy
Moonsy is again an excellent marketplace for expired Domains, and it has access to SEMrush and Majestics data.
The best feature provided by Moonsy is filtering expired domains having backlinks from authority sites. It reduces your work.
NameJet
NameJet is known for auction, aftermarket domain names, and expired domains.
This platform is best for people who are into auction and aftermarket sales.
The domain names available here are brandable, making it best for people who are investing in domains rather than people looking for SEOs.
4 Conclusion
Buying an expired domain has many benefits but not checking them properly at the time of purchase might result in loss.
If you have kept all the factors in mind and bought a brandable domain name and has SEO benefits, you have hit a Jackpot.
Remember that chasing behind SEO may not lead to success, and you may later regret your decision.
But still, if you have come across a domain with a great SEO score but is not brandable, you can use it for your existing website or sell it for a higher price.