4 Benefits Of Buying Expired Domains And Things To Consider

Many people have heard or read of the practice of buying expired domains, but not many fully understand what the benefits of doing so are and how to go about it. 

People purchase expired domains for several purposes, which will be explained in this article.
Although it has many benefits, you must do the necessary research before you purchase an expired domain, as there are many things to consider.

Let’s start with the potential benefits of purchasing expired domains.

Why Purchase Expired Domains?

An expired domain is one that the owner has failed to renew.

This can be for several reasons. Perhaps they forgot to renew it, perhaps their payment method or credit card didn’t go through, perhaps they went out of business and forgot about small details like domains, or perhaps they simply don’t care about it anymore.

After a domain reaches its expiration date and is not renewed within 30 days, it will go up for auction for seven days. The one who bids the highest will get the domain.

The reasoning behind purchasing an expired domain is that it will still have all of its previous ranking power and SEO value, which can be used in several ways.

For example, a domain that has been around for a decade and has many backlinks will usually have a lot of link juice that can be utilized. Following are several ways you may be able to use expired domains:

1. Build an Authority Site

If you are thinking about building a new site or blog, consider purchasing an expired domain rather than a new one.

With a new domain, you’ll have to work harder to build up its authority. You’ll have to build new content and backlinks, and domain age authority will only come with time.

With an expired domain, you can leverage its existing SEO value to start ranking quicker right away.

2. Use It For Backlinking Purposes

Instead of building an entire site, you can also build a small mini-site for the sole purpose of linking to your main website or blog.

The goal here is to transfer the “link juice” that the old domain already has to your main site through this backlink.

You’ll have to add some content, such as a few articles or blog posts, in order for the site to look natural.

This is commonly done with what is known as the PBN method. Private Blog Networks utilize expired domains to set up several different mini-sites which all link to one main website. You want more than one or two sites, as domain diversity is important for backlinks.

If the relationship between the mini-sites is properly concealed, which includes making sure they don’t have similar IP addresses and are not hosted on the same server, it can look as if several unrelated sites organically linked to your main site.

This is a faster way of building backlinks than trying to write guest posts for blogs that may not even accept your submissions.

3. Redirect the Site

If you want to transfer the link juice of an expired domain to your main website without going through the process of setting up a mini-site, you can skip ahead by simply redirecting the old domain to your main website. This can be done via a 301 redirect.

For example, if the expired domain is 1234.com, you can have it automatically redirected to your main site, abcd.com.

Again, the reasoning here is that if the expired domain has a high SEO value because of the backlinks that it has accrued over the years, all that ranking value will be transferred to your main website.

Keep in mind that for the above three purposes, the domain name must be in a similar industry as your main site

4. Sell It For Profit

Another reason people purchase expired domains is simply to sell them. This is also known as domain flipping, and some people earn their livelihood from it.

You’ll first purchase an expired domain through an auction. Then, you’ll continue to increase its SEO value.

This can be done by continuing to build backlinks to it. It will also increase in value through the simple passage of time (the age of a domain matters too). Later, you can resell the domain for a higher price.

Another option is building an entire blog or ecommerce site on the expired domain and then selling it for many times more than what you purchased it for. Obviously, this will require a lot more work.

Things to Consider When Purchasing Expired Domains

Never buy an expired domain just because it seems like you got a good deal. Not all expired domains are equal; some will make for a terrible purchasing decision.

Before you buy an expired domain, do some research into it. Following are some of the top things to look for.

Note that all of these things can be checked with free tools, which you can find through a simple Google search.

Many of the expired domain auction sites listed at the end of this article, such as Moonsy and ExpiredDomains.net, also have tools to check these metrics or list them directly in their marketplace.

Age of Domain

One of the main reasons for purchasing an expired domain is the authority it has as an established site. You don’t want a domain that is expiring after just one year.

Backlinks Quality

Another main reason to buy an expired domain is the value it has due to other sites linking to it. Use a backlink checker to check the quality of an expired domain’s backlinks.

If you see that its backlinks all look spammy and are of low-quality, skip that domain.

Site Quality

Use Wayback Machine to see how the site used to look. Again, you don’t want to purchase a site that was used for spam purposes. For example, if you can tell that the site was used as a link farm, don’t buy it.

Check Moz Rankings

Moz has two metrics for determining the quality of a site: Page Authority and Domain Authority. These are based on a site’s history and backlinks. Make sure the site doesn’t have a low PA and DA score.

Traffic

Check the monthly traffic too. Don’t go for it if only a handful of visitors visit. Ask any marketer today, he will tell you what it takes to be able to get footprints.

To get quality references, traffic matters a lot. If you plan to keep it open for guest content in future, then it becomes even more significant. You will see more inquiries coming in for guest post if you have a good number each month.

Check Google Bans

Use a Google Ban Checker to make sure that a site wasn’t banned from Google, in which case it will have no value to you.

Go Purchase Your Site!

Now that you know what to look for and how to use an expired site, it’s time to go domain shopping. Here are some sites you can use:

● Flippa
● GoDaddy Auctions
● Epik
● Moonsy
● ExpiredDomains.net
● FreshDrop

Always do your research before purchasing a domain, and good luck.

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