Looking to buy expired domains? If yes, then you must know why and how to buy them!
There are thousands of domains that expire every day and here you have a good opportunity to grab these domains to benefit your business. But before going deep into the expired domain buying guide, let’s learn a little about expired domains.
When someone doesn’t renew their domain names then they expire and these types of domain names are called “expired domains”. There are many people who forget and don’t have money to renew domains but domain registrars still give 30 days extension period in which users can renew domain names.
But still, if someone fails to renew the domain in this 30 days period then the domain will be listed as an expired domain on various platforms. People then start bidding on these domains and the higher bidder gets the domain name.
Related: Best Domain Name Providers
As a blogger or webmaster, you should be aware of expired domains and their importance. Here is a complete guide on expired domains that will help you choose the perfect domain.
So, let’s start the guide.
Why You Should Buy An Expired Domain
There are several reasons why people buy and use expired domains. Here are top reasons why you should buy expired domain names instead of booking a new domain:
1- Helps To Pass Link Juice
It is one of the best and easiest ways to transfer all the link juice or authority to a brand new website. What people do is they buy an expired domain and simply 301 redirect that domain to the main website. By doing this, now all the backlinks will start pointing to the main site from the expired domain that will increase the authority and ranking of the new/main site.
Let’s understand it with an example, suppose you have purchased a domain name that has tons of backlinks from high authority websites like Forbes, TechCrunch, and Search Engine Journal. So, redirecting that domain will pass all the link juice from these websites to your website.
2- Lets You Gain Quick Organic Rankings
Building authority sites is one of the profitable uses of expired domains. In this process, people buy expired domains with quality backlinks, then build a website around them. Now, by doing this, you can get quick rankings by using the expired domain’s past authority.
Related: How To Check Google Rankings
Some people also perform it as a business like they build authority sites using these domains and then later sell them for a higher price. If you have recently bought an expired domain then the best thing you can do is create an authority or niche website.
3- Helps You Create PBN
PBN stands for a private blog network. You can create your own PBN by buying a collection of expired domains and creating different websites. You can then start accepting sponsored guest posts or advertisements in your blog to earn money. Since PBNs already have authority, you can easily generate traffic. However, do not sell links on your website as this is against the Google guidelines.
Related: Will You Use A PBN To Build Links?
4- Lets You Do Domain Flipping
People do domain investing to make money. They purchase expired domains and then sell them at a premium price, this is called “domain flipping” business. For example, let’s say you bought an expired domain at $50 and after some time, you sell it at $150. Here, you have made a profit of $100.
Things You Need To Know Before Buying Expired Domains
Now, let’s see things that you should consider before buying expired domains from any marketplace. It’s important to know because some people only show good parameters of domains and hide the bad ones.
So, it’s important to do research before choosing any expired domain name.
1- Check Domain Authority
Checking domain authority is very important before buying an expired domain. DA (Domain Authority) and PA (Page Authority) are two major metrics to find the quality of the expired domain. These metrics were developed by Moz and to find them, you can use Moz’s Open Site Explorer.
Related: How To Determine Website Authority
Simply open the tool and enter your domain then Moz will display the DA and PA of the domain as shown in the image below.
Apart from DA and PA, you can also check some other metrics like TF (Trust Flow) and CF (Citation Flow) by using Majestic.
Also, check the spam score of the expired domain that you can find on Moz’s Open Site Explorer.
Related: What is Moz Spam Score?
2- Check For Google AdSense Ban
If you are thinking of building an authority website over an expired domain then checking the Google AdSense ban is very essential because if the domain is banned by Google AdSense then you will lose one earning source. (but the fact is that majority of sites use AdSense as their primary source of income)
To check, you can use the AdSense Checker tool that can tell you whether the domain is banned from AdSense or not. You need to enter the domain name and the tool will tell you whether your domain name is banned or not.
3- Check Historical Data
Checking historical data of expired domains is important as you can know if the domain has been spammed in the past or not. Also, you can know what type of website was built on that domain name before it expired.
To check historical data, you can use Wayback Machine. Simply put your domain in the available box and click on submit button.
Now, you have the whole timeline where you can click any of the years and months to check what type of website was built on the domain name in the past.
4- Check Backlink Profile
Backlinks are the top reason why people buy expired domains because they want that “link juice”. So, checking backlinks is a must for every domain buyer.
Related: Free Backlink Checkers
Here Ahrefs comes into play, it is one of the SEO tools that provides the best backlinks analysis. Simply, use the free Ahrefs’ Backlink Checker and check the backlink profile of the expired domain.
Here the main thing you need to check is spammy links like links from low authority sites. If you find these types of backlinks then immediately drop the plan to buy that domain name.
Related: Ahrefs vs SEMrush vs Ubersuggest
5- Check Trademarks
Before buying an expired domain, you must check the trademarks because maybe you are buying any business domain name that was mistakenly dropped or expired. Trademark infringement is very crucial.
Tip: Never choose a domain name that contains any business or company name. For example, Google, Amazon, and Facebook.
You can use the US Trademark Database to find trademarks.
6- Check Number Drops
Check the number of times a domain name expires or drops before being available for buying again. You can use Whois DomainTools to check drops.
The recommendation is to pick a domain name that has been dropped very less but still if you want to buy a domain with more number drops then you need to do a lot of research like checking historical data.
Top Marketplaces To Buy Expired Domains
Now, when you know what expired domains and why to use them to benefit our business, it’s time to know from where you can buy them. Here are some of the popular sites to purchase high quality expired domains:
1- Expired Domains
Expired Domains offer thousands of new expired domains every day. It is one of the largest marketplaces of expired domains that provides domains at various prices. Also, it offers domains from various sources like GoDaddy, Namecheap, and Dynadot.
It also offers various filters like including words, lengths, and choosing TLD. You can buy almost any type of TLD (Top Level Domain) including .com, .net, and also county extensions such as .ac, and .ae.
Related: How To Choose An SEO Friendly Business Name
Apart from that, you can also check domain data like the number of characters, backlinks, domain age, number of crawls, Alexa rank, and dropped data.
2- DomCop
DomCom is a great marketplace to buy expired domains that is also integrated with various platforms like SEMrush, Ahrefs, SimilarWeb, Majestic SEO, Moz, and Estibot. Also, DomCom offers over 90 metrics like DA, PA, DR, PR, Alexa Rank, TF, CF, and estibot domain.
You can explore over 14 million deleted domains with 46 extensions support including .com, .asia, and .in. You can also export 10,000 domains in an Excel file.
3- DynaDot
DynaDot is a good platform to buy both new and expired domains at the best prices. It provides thousands of deleted domains with various information like a number of backlinks and estibot value.
To buy any expired domain from DynaDot, you need to place higher bids to win the bidding race.
Related: Proven SaaS Link Building Strategies
4- SEO.Domains
SEO.Domains is one of the biggest marketplaces for expired domains with SEO value. The company offers over 20,000 names in over 150 gTLDs and ccTLDs, covering a variety of niches and languages. All domains have been manually checked to guarantee high quality and a good backlink profile.
5- SEODN
SEODN is a marketplace to buy premium vetted expired domains. It is worth mentioning this brand. On SEODN, you will find the most extensive inventory of high-quality SEO domains on the web. Each domain is meticulously vetted for quality and power to ensure that only the finest domains are on offer.
There are plenty of metrics that are measured using different tools like Ahrefs, Moz, and Majestic SEO, including DR, RD, DA, PA, TF, CF, Backlinks, etc.
All domains are checked for backlink profiles, anchor text profiles, spammy backlinks, and Wayback checks before they end up on their marketplace so all the hard yards are already done for you. Ravi offers a personalized experience where he can be contacted directly for any questions or queries regarding any of the domains they are selling.
6- NameJet
NameJet is a very popular expired domains marketplace that offers various domain categories including hot picks (latest), last chance (going for auction very soon), and open auctions (all domains that will close soon).
7- Flippa
Flippa is the largest marketplace to buy and sell domains, websites, and apps. Here, you can find active domains, ending soon domains, and also editor’s choice domains. Flippa offers various information of domain such as age, registrar, SEMrush data, and also traffic.
You can also use different filters such as adding keywords, domain length, extensions, monthly profit, sale type (auction or classified), and also seller location.
Related: Link Building Outreach Tools
8- Snap Names
Snap Names is yet another good marketplace to buy and sell domain names. You can explore more than 30 million domain names at various prices. For every domain, you can bid or directly buy domains.
You also get various domain details like Whois details, source, estibot value, and category.
9- GoDaddy
GoDaddy doesn’t need any introduction as the majority of people have used it once in their life. It is one of the popular and largest marketplace to buy expired domains. They offer a dedicated platform for expired domains called “GoDaddy Auctions”.
Here, you can have various features like great customer support, a fast buying process, best deals, and affordable prices. Also, for ease of use, GoDaddy offers Android and iOS app that you can use to buy domains.
Conclusion
There are various ways to make use of expired domains and the above guide helps you find the best use of them. Also, if you consider the above points before buying expired domains then it will be easy for you to find good and profitable domain names. Still, if you face any difficulties in buying expired domains then feel free to ask in the comment section below.
