In the digital landscape, domain names are the addresses of the online world. But what happens when these addresses expire?
In this article, we will explain the meaning, benefits, and impact of the expired domains.
Whether you’re new to SEO, website building, digital marketing, or an experienced player, understanding expired domains can offer fresh insights and strategies.
Let’s dive into the world of expired domains and discover what they have to offer.
What are Expired Domains?
Expired domains are domain names that were registered but have not been renewed, allowing them to be re-registered by a new owner.
The domain owner pays a fee to a domain registrar for each domain he uses. When this fee is not paid on time, the domain expires and is free for anyone to register.
The expiration can be intentional when the owner chooses not to renew them or accidental when he misses the renewal price or overlooks the domain’s expiration date.
If the expired domain had a live website, which someone was optimizing, publishing content, and building links to, they gain authority and are well-known web properties to the search engines.
What Makes Expired Domains So Valuable?
The value of expired domains lies in their SEO potential, especially the links they already have.
If you’re thinking about buying expired domains, you can see how good they are by checking the links that they have.
Also, when evaluating an expired domain, we advise you to pay attention to whether the name contains keywords related to a particular product, service, or brand, their previous history, and whether they had traffic or not.
Domain Backlinks
When we talk about an expired domain’s backlink profile, we’re referring to the links pointing to the domain when there was a live website. Sometimes, expired domains have been around for a long time. Even though the old content of the domain might not be visible anymore, the links usually stay unless the other websites that were linking to the domains remove them.
The backlink profile of a recently available domain has both good and bad sides. Some expired domains have great links from reputable websites, thanks to their previous owners. But some have questionable links. The worst case is when a domain was only used to create links and has been penalized by search engines.
The number and quality of links to a domain affect its rankings with search engines. There are three important things to consider:
Domain Traffic
If a domain gets direct traffic from people directly typing it into browsers, it can benefit your new project if it’s related to the domain’s previous use. You might see more visitors and better user signals. But this only works if the domain was used for something similar before. If it was used for something different, it might hurt your project instead.
Honestly, expired domains rarely have traffic, but it’s a good sign if they do.
Domain History
If a domain was once linked to spam or fraud, it’s not a good idea to use it. But if it had a trustworthy history and was about the same topic as your new site, there can be benefits, like relevance and reputation boost.
You can check a site’s past with the Wayback Machine. It stores old website snapshots and history.
Keyword in the domain name
Using a keyword in your expired domain name has long been seen as helpful for search engine ranking, and this has stood the test of time. Keyword domains are still popular because they seem more relevant and serious to visitors. Memorable URLs with strong keywords are often followed by potential customers.
Buying an expired domain makes sense if its name matches what you’ll offer in the future. Be careful about trademarks. Search the World Intellectual Property Organization database before purchasing an expired domain.
What You Can Do With Expired Domain?
The idea of getting an expired domain is to tap into its existing ranking power and SEO value, which can be very useful in different ways. For instance, if a domain has a long history and many backlinks, it has valuable “link juice” that you can benefit from. Here are a few ways you could use an expired domain:
Build a new money site
When planning a new website or blog, think about buying an expired domain instead of a new one.
New domains need more effort to become trustworthy. You have to make new content and get new backlinks, and it takes time for the domain to gain authority.
With an expired domain, you can use its current SEO strength to start ranking faster.
Create a Site for Backlinking
Instead of creating a whole new site, you can create a small mini-site just to link to your main website or blog.
The idea is to pass on the “link juice” from the old domain to your main site through this link.
You’ll need some content, like a few articles or posts, so the site looks natural.
This is often done using a method called PBN building, where expired domains set up mini-sites that all link to one main site.
Linking from the PBNs homepage is a common tactic because a website homepage usually has the most links, can pass the most link juice, and, in general, is considered a stronger link than one from an internal page.
If the connection between the mini-sites is hidden well – like different IP addresses and servers, Whois data, and a few more – it can seem like unrelated sites naturally linked to your main one.
This method is faster for getting backlinks than writing guest posts for blogs that might not even publish them.
301 redirect the expired domain to your main site
To get the link strength from an expired domain to your main site without creating a mini-site, you can directly redirect the expired domain to your site using a 301 redirect.
This way, the strong SEO value of the expired domain’s backlinks will go to your main website.
Remember, the old domain should be in the same industry as your main site for these strategies to work well.
Build a Website on Expired Domain and Sell It
People also buy expired domains to build a website and sell it later for profit. This is called domain flipping, and some people make a living from it.
Here’s how:
- Buy an expired domain at a domain marketplace or an auction.
- Improve its SEO value by adding backlinks. Its value also increases over time (domain age matters).
- Sell it for more money.
Buy an Expired Domain and Resell It
Of course, you can always buy an expired domain and then resell it at a better price.
How to Choose Expired Domains
When choosing expired domains, there are some essential factors you should consider:
- Backlink Profile: Don’t choose a domain with many “spammy” or unnatural links, like too many links in blog comments or low-quality web 2.0 sites.
- Strong links: Check if the domain has powerful links from authoritative sites in your niche – Wikipedia, media, edu, or gov. A few links like this are more valuable than dozens of low-quality ones.
- Natural anchor text profile: The anchors should “look” natural – they should be less than 50% exact match anchors such as “buy iPhone,” “best casinos online,” etc. They should be a mix of URL anchors, miscellaneous (read more, check here), brand anchors, and exact matches.
- Archive spam: Check if the domain has been used in a completely different niche from its original one, for example – from selling clothes to selling medicine. The truth is that there is no proof that this practice is harmful, but we recommend using domains with a clean archive.
- Past traffic: If the domain had strong traffic before its expiration, this is a sign that the site is “healthy.” You can’t go wrong with a site like this because Google already likes it.
How to Find Expired Domains
- Check domain marketplaces like SEO.Domains and Domain Coasters.
- Look at domain auctions like GoDaddy, Sedo, or Namecheap.
- Scrape websites for broken outgoing links to discover valuable expired domains among these links.
- Get expired domains through drop-catching or backorders.
If you want more details on the subject, we have a great article for you: https://quirk.biz/how-to-find-domains-for-pbns/.
Pros and Cons of Expired Domains
Pros of Expired Domains
- It saves time in your SEO strategy.
- Transmits collected SEO strength from its active time.
- Assist in launching new projects with existing SEO authority.
- It can be used to rank multiple websites at once.
- It can be further monetized by display ads, affiliate links, or links selling.
- Can acquire strong homepage links, which are nearly impossible to get other ways
- Many webmasters are unwilling to link to websites in “sensitive” niches such as Gambling, Forex, Health, CBD, and more. If you own the domain and, respectively, the website, you bypass this restriction.
- You can link to many of your websites from
Cons of Expired Domains
- Requires advanced SEO knowledge for optimal use.
- It requires some work to set up properly (if building PBNs)
- Finding a free authoritative domain is very difficult.
- Risk of expired domains having penalties.
- Possibility of expired domains having prior rights or restrictions, like domains with trademarks or place names.
- Potential brand image damage due to cybersquatting if misused.
Conclusion
As we wrap up our discussion on expired domains, it’s clear that these often-forgotten digital assets have significant potential. They can help new projects and boost existing websites, bridging digital history and future opportunities.
Whether reviving an expired domain for something new or using its strength for an existing site, careful evaluation and fitting with your goals is key.
In the fast-moving online world, where advantages matter, understanding expired domains helps you make smart choices that affect your digital journey.
