In this day and age, having the right domain is an absolute must for getting traffic to your website. There are potentially thousands upon thousands of other websites competing for the same audience as you, making it absolutely vital to have some sort of strategy for attracting visitors. There are many viable strategies which can be used such as e-mail marketing or writing SEO content; however, one often overlooked, but still effective approach, is to buy expired domains. 

How Domains Work

When people are creating a website, they first have to purchase a domain name from a registrar. Popular registrar companies include: 

• GoDaddy
• Domain.com
• Bluehost
• HostGator
• Name.com

When domains are purchased, ownership is only considered to be valid for a limited period of time. Although this period of ownership is theoretically unlimited, most registrars only offer plans which last a maximum of ten years. Owners of a domain have the option of renewing their registration while they are still in possession of it, if they so wish. In the event they don’t, registrars usually offer a grace period (usually 30 days) following expiration where owners can have it renewed. 

In the event a domain isn’t renewed at all, the rights to its use are automatically granted to the registrar. The reason for this is that domains are actually the property of registrars and domain names are essentially leased to clients. As such, domains that aren’t renewed can be used however the registrar wishes. Sometimes this means the domain simply becomes free to use for new clients through traditional channels. Other times though, if the domain is valuable, it will be sold through an auction. For example:

(Image Credit: Domain Name Wire)

Alternatively, owners of domains themselves can auction off the rights to their domain names before the date of expiration; these for-sale website rights are commonly referred to as pre-release domains.

How You Can Purchase an Expired Domain

The expired domains marketplace is huge and can offer a tremendous number of opportunities. Many domains, once their period of ownership has expired, will end up on an auction site. The best place to buy expired domains is likely to be one where there are a lot of names up for sale. Good places to start include namecheap.com and NameJet. That being said, when people buy expired domains Godaddy is usually a very popular option due to its sizable volume and good reputation. Take a look at namecheap.com below:

(Image Credit: Two Scots Abroad)

On an auction site, bidding usually lasts for about a week. During this period, the purchasing price can stay stagnant or increase dramatically depending on its perceived value by those looking to buy. It’s not uncommon for extremely popular domain names to go for tens of thousands of dollars by the end of an auction period. 

Depending on the auction site, there will also be a lot of information available to help you make a decision. Bidding sites often display the estimated or projected value of a domain along with statistical information like the number of daily visitors to a website or the number of people who have made an offer already. The age of a domain is also information that is commonly shown. 

But, before you go on the hunt for domains on random auction sites, it’s a good idea to first look at domain authority checkers such expireddomains.net or Moonsy. Each of these free expired domains tools has an expired domains list of hundreds of millions of websites across the internet that are up for grabs. They also allow access to important information such as website history, the language a website is written in, and the auction site a domain is currently being sold on. This is what expireddomains.net looks like:

Also, while people actively look for free expired domains when they are currently in the process of being auctioned, it’s not the only way. If you really have your heart set on acquiring a particular domain, it still might be possible with the use of a domain backorder service. When you have a domain backorder, you will be alerted when a particular domain becomes available. Depending on which service you use, there can be additional benefits such as auction credits and private registration. 

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How Buying Expired Domains Can Be Useful

Depending on your needs, it can be an excellent decision to buy expired domains. The use of certain domains can enhance SEO considerably, although having a specific plan in mind is absolutely critical. 

To begin with, it’s important to purchase expired domains with traffic that rival the traffic of similar websites, but keep in mind that other factors are equally as important. Thinking strategically is going to be essential for whatever you decide to do. While a good amount of traffic is beneficial, the specific demographic of people which historically visit a site might not be as receptive to whatever your plans are. This doesn’t necessarily mean purchasing an already well-known domain would be a bad idea, just that it might not be as effective as expected. 

There are also details such as page authority (PA) and domain authority (DA) which are necessary considerations. Generally speaking, the more visitors there are to a site, the higher that site will be on search engine rankings. However, different parts of a website rank differently. PA measures how likely a specific page is to show up as a top search result, while DA measures how likely a website as a whole is to be referenced by a search engine. Both are important, but determining whether a set of pages or a domain as a whole is what generates the most traffic is going to be a key part of any SEO strategy.

As to how expired domains can be used effectively, there are more than a few possible avenues: 

1. Private Blog Networks: Also known as PBNs, private blog networks are when an individual or group has ownership of multiple websites which are designed to all link back to a central website. Through the collective traffic generated by these peripheral websites, the central website will receive dramatically more visitors than it normally would. If the central website is properly monetized (through ads, for instance), the revenue generated can be quite substantial. Revenue is often further increased as the boost in traffic to the central website is more likely to make it show up at the top of search results. 

However, like a lot of SEO strategies, PBNs are recognized and penalized by search engines. PBNs by their very nature are not organically developed and often lack the informative power of other heavily interlinked websites. As search engines are designed to get people the most accurate, most relevant, and most educational results possible, PBNs pose a problem as they are designed for making money rather than producing quality content. Over the years, search engine algorithms have developed ways to lower PBN websites in search rankings if they have been detected. That being said, algorithm changes made to eliminate PBN results aren’t foolproof and if you decide to create a PBN it’s very likely it won’t be penalized.

1. 301 Redirects: This method is similar to creating PBNs, but carries much less risk. While PBNs are specifically designed to mimic traffic that indicates desirable search results, redirects act a little bit differently. Redirects indicate to search engines and their users that the content from one website have been moved to a different one. While there are multiple types of redirects, the most commonly used and most recommended one is the 301 redirect. 301 redirects indicate that the move in content from one site to another is permanent. 

301 redirects are a pretty smart SEO approach for a couple reasons. The first reason being that when an expired domain name is purchased, all the traffic that would normally go there can be redirected to whatever website you wish. How effective this will be in the long-run will be determined a lot by how easy it is to come across the domain in search results. The second reason is that the new purchased domain will still retain the vast majority of its search engine ranking. Even though in practical terms if an entire website is subject to a 301 redirect it doesn’t really exist at that domain anymore, it’s still treated by search engines as if it does (for the most part). This means that the website that had content redirected to it will, at the very least, receive near-identical traffic as the expired domain. The only real issue with this is that it often takes time for search engines to recognize the redirect and transfer the new ranking accordingly.

(Image Credit: Ahrefs)

1. Using It to Jump-Start a New Website: Search engine rankings are based on a lot of different criteria, but the most important considerations are time and frequency of visitation. Search engines attempt to eliminate untrustworthy websites from the top of their search rankings by determining whether it seems like the people running the site are acting as legitimate entities. Scam sites will typically have limited traffic and only exist for limited periods of time as the domain’s upkeep is unimportant, or even detrimental, to the site’s operators. 

Conversely, trustworthy sites are usually indicated by a decent-sized viewership and a consistent attempt to renew a domain’s registration for years on end. If you’re interested in launching a new website with SEO in mind, purchasing an expired domain that’s been around for a while and has decent traffic will be a great way to acquire an instant rankings boost. Even if you somehow managed to get a lot of traffic to a new website, through backlinks or some other means, it would take months or even potentially years before rankings would increase to any significant degree. 

1. Using an Expired Domain’s Backlinks: Often considered to be a more acceptable version of creating a PBN, expired domains can be purchased for the purpose of gaining access to their backlinks. Once enough information is acquired, websites that are linked to the expired domain can be contacted to tell them the website they linked to is no longer active. From there, you can suggest to these website owners that they can link to a website of your choosing, garnering you increased traffic if they agree. The downside to this approach is that it’s time consuming and isn’t guaranteed to work. Contacting the owners of countless backlinks isn’t always the easiest task and there’s nothing indicating that they will agree to link to the website you want them to.

Things to Watch Out For

It can be tempting when looking at the expired domains marketplace to simply buy expired domains with traffic good enough for an SEO strategy and call it a day, but the reality is there are a ton of additional factors to keep track of. 

When looking at an expired domains list, there are probably going to be a lot of obvious indicators of whether or not a domain is going to be a good acquisition like number of daily visitors or length of time a domain has been in service. However, one less obvious consideration is what a domain has traditionally been used for. 

Understanding the history of a domain is going to determine how useful it is for SEO purposes. If a domain has historically been used to host explicitly violent or pornographic content, search engines will by default rank it lower on a results page. 

Many websites have also been used purely for sending out spam. This problem is really important to look out for. Spam websites might appear to have a decent amount of traffic, but their affiliation with other websites can severely hamper SEO. Search engines are always on the hunt for spam sites and related domains, deranking them accordingly. 

We hope that you found this article useful.

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Websites that are littered with spam-related material don’t have to exclusively be used for spamming purposes to be penalized. If a domain has a multitude of backlinks which lead to spam sites, this is still taken into consideration by search engines when ranking. This is especially true if there are a multitude of Russian or Chinese backlinks associated with a domain. If a website is coded in English, but there are a bunch of non-english backlinks, it’s likely spam-related. 

To see whether backlinks on a domain are spam-related, understanding a website’s trust flow is important. Trust flow is the likelihood a website is legitimate due to its level of association with other trusted sites. Low trust flow is usually the hallmark of a spam site. Tools such as Majestic allow you to see what kind of links are associated with an expired domain. For instance:

(Image Credit: Majestic Blog)

Trademarks are also an important thing to consider. If an expired domain is currently being auctioned, it’s always possible the reason why is there are copyright obligations which require the owner to sell it. If something related to the domain is copyrighted, it could be a real issue. 

Other commonly overlooked, but still important details are whether a website’s traffic is organic and how fast a website loads. Just because website traffic is high, that doesn’t mean it receives legitimate visitation. Bots are frequently employed by domain owners to trick people into thinking a website is more popular than it actually is. However, bot activity is pretty easy to detect as usually it’s very predictable. Often, Google Analytics is used to figure out if bots frequently visit websites. 

Search rankings, especially from Google, take into account how fast web pages load as quicker load times mean interactions and transactions occur at a faster speed. If there’s an excessive amount of material on a domain that slows loading times, it could very much limit an SEO strategy. 

A domain’s history is also going to directly impact a website’s marketability. Past decisions made by domain owners could possibly have resulted in their websites being blacklisted from advertising agencies. The most common example is when a domain violates the terms and conditions of Google AdSense and can no longer display advertisements through Google. This can be a huge blow to a website’s revenue stream. It’s not impossible to get around if you explain to advertisers there was a change in ownership, but whether they advertise on your site is still entirely up to them.

While there are plenty of sites which will claim to be the best place to buy expired domains, it’s a good idea to find ones that have tools which detail a website’s history. When you buy expired domains Godaddy and other companies such as networksolutions.com should probably be your first stop as they will give you a lot of insight into the potential pitfalls of using a particular domain for SEO. 

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Part of the Diib comprehensive user dashboard includes domain monitoring and objectives for repair. Whether you’re looking at purchasing additional domains or simply monitoring the one you already have, we can help. Here are some of the features of our dashboard we know you’ll love:

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