5 Benefits Of Owning Recently Expired Domains

I am writing this article to ensure that when someone is searching for a domain name for their web site that they get the best possible domain for their buck. In this case I would highly recommend a previously owned domain or otherwise known as a deleted/expired domain. A lot of times these were just niche sites that existed before and are just ready to be activated again. I would consider these types of names to be of value but at the same time one would have to dig a little deeper to verify that this is true.

“A WORD OF CAUTION: By taking action on the following steps in this article, be prepared to possibly have higher rankings, have the opportunity to start your own premium blog network and make money by selling expired domains.”

Also a brief WARNING: Google might frown on the following tactics. Is this considered Black hat or White hat? I would consider this somewhere in between, Gray hat anyone? I will leave that for you to decide. The big G especially doesn’t like any type of manipulation of trying to rank, so do so with your own diligence. So if you’re OK with that then let us precede, here are the 5 reasons on how you can benefit:

1. They are sometimes aged. – Since they were previously owned, they have already been seen by Google as aged and that sometimes carries weight in the eyes of the search engines.
2. Some have Page Rank. – Currently this helps as far as a ranking factor and could very well push your keyword(s) or site to the top of the serps. (You would need to verify this by using tools such as SEO Quake in order to rank check the domain). At the same time you could also sell these high PR domains for profit (see #4 below).
3. A lot of times some of the expired domain names will have backlinks pointing to them. – Depending on the quality of the backlinks pointing to the expired domains this would also help as far as ranking.
4. You could resell them for profit. (Also know as domain flipping) – All it takes is a little research and you can usually buy the expired domain for a hand registration price (around $10) and resell them for a profit. It’s not to uncommon to sell PR 5 domains in the neighborhood of $200 and more.
5. You can start your own private blog network. – You can make residual income by building up your own PBN and rent out links to others or even pump up your own sites.

Checking the quality and history of your previously expired dropped domain.

Tools to use:
OpenSiteExplorer.org – From SEO Moz
WaybackMachine via archive.org

• Go to www.opensiteexplorer.org and type in the domain.
  And check for the following factors:
  Page Authority – over 30 is good
  Total Links – more is always good
  Number of Linking Root Domains – Anything above 50 is good and over 100 is Excellent – Look for “high value links”
  Domain Moztrust – over 3.5 is good.

Also very important! Take a look at the top links (pointing to this domain) and make sure they are not spammy. For example; casino sites, porn sites, Viagra sites, etc. If they are then don’t buy this expired domain. At the same time if it meets the above criteria and you can find a PR3 and above then you know you have a great domain on your hands.

• You may also want to check the history of the domain by going to archive.org. Go to archive.org and enter in the domain in the “Wayback machine” input box. You should now see how far back the site existed along with if it was ever registered to other owners. The main thing to check for is if the site was ever used as a spam site and to also cross check the deletion dates.

What types of domains should I buy?

I usually buy expired domain names from the following extensions:
Deleted .com domains, deleted .UK domains, and deleted .Co, along with other popular domain extensions. Finding expired domains is a bit easier when they are long tail keywords.

How much are these expired domains and what domain registrars would you recommend?

Now that these domains are available for registration you are now ready to buy your domain (usually you can get them for about $10.99 / 1 yr). Another thing to check for is the current status of the domain. Is the domain available right now or is it in the status of “pending delete”, if it is then you will need to wait a little bit longer before you can buy this domain. Selecting the right domain registrar is also important, I often go with Namecheap, just like the name say’s they are very reasonable priced and I am very happy to use them for most of my domains. If you look around you might find a coupon and bring the price down a little as every little bit helps. Next question, is there a place or site that allows you to check for huge lists of expired domains in “all in one swoop”? Read on and you will soon find out.

Is there a site that has pending and expired domain lists?

There is a huge database of expired domains that are in the millions. The checker tool is free and is updated with fresh new domains everyday. You will find that this list is a great place to do a domain name search. You also are able to register with either Godaddy expired domains or Namecheap, it’s your choice.  ->>Go here to search for recently deleted and quality domains.

Hopefully the above tips will help you select a great expired domain. Upcoming articles will include “on how to select a great host”, “competitive research” along with using research tools such as “using Scrapebox and Xenu Link Sleuth”, “types of link building” strategies and much more. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me here.