SEO GYAN: HOW TO USE EXPIRED DOMAINS

What are expired domains?

Well, if someone else has owned the domain name before you and didn’t renew it, it’s called an expired domain.

The reasoning behind 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.

A checklist before buying an expired domain

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. 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.

6. 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.

If the expired domain ticks all these boxes, buy it.

How to use expired domains for SEO

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

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 to build links than trying to write guest posts for blogs that may not even accept your submissions.

Also, 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.

Where to find expired domains

These are some sites that can help.

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

Hope you found this article helpful.