One question I hear often is: “What do all these domain quality metrics mean?” Whether you’re using my software Domain Hunter Gatherer or exploring expired domains elsewhere, these stats are key to evaluating domain value in 2025. Below, I’ve outlined the main metrics you’ll encounter when buying, selling, or repurposing expired domains, updated for today’s market.
Core Domain Details
- Domain: The domain name itself (e.g., example.com).
- Age: The time since the domain’s first archived content in the Wayback Machine. Older domains often carry more history and authority, but age alone isn’t enough—check other metrics.
- Chars: Length of the domain name without the TLD (e.g., “cats” in cats.com is 4 characters). Shorter is often preferred for branding.
- Hyphen: Indicates if the domain includes a dash (e.g., cat-food.com). Hyphens are less popular but not a dealbreaker in 2025.
- Numbers: Shows if numbers are present (e.g., cats123.com). Desirability varies by niche—buyers often prefer clean letter-only names.
- TLD: The top-level domain (e.g., .com, .co.uk). In 2025, .com still reigns supreme, but niche or regional TLDs (like .ai or .co) can shine depending on your market.
Search Engine Indexing
Google Indexed: A must-have for most uses—being in Google’s index signals relevance and usability. De-indexed domains may need cleanup.
Yahoo / Bing Indexed: Often mirrors Google indexing. It’s a bonus but less critical than Google in 2025.
Link and Authority Metrics
These metrics from tools like Moz, Majestic, and Ahrefs dominate expired domain analysis in 2025. They help gauge a domain’s SEO potential and spam risk.
Domain Hunter Gatherer Pro includes DomDetailer credits that can be used for getting the Moz, Majestic and Social stats of the domains you find.
Moz Metrics
- Moz Links: Total backlinks found by Moz. Higher numbers suggest popularity, but check quality to avoid spam flags.
- Domain Authority (DA, 0-100): Moz’s quality score. Above 30 is solid, but a high DA with low supporting stats might indicate spam.
- Page Authority (PA, 0-100): Page-specific metric—not as relevant for expired domains as DA.
- Moz Trust (0-10): Measures links from authoritative sources. Useful but can be manipulated.
Majestic Metrics
- Majestic Links: Total backlinks tracked by Majestic—reliable for volume and type.
- Referring Domains: Unique domains linking to the site. More valuable than raw link count.
- Citation Flow (CF, 0-100): Link quantity metric—higher means more links.
- Trust Flow (TF, 0-100): Link quality metric—higher is better.
- CF/TF Ratio: Divide CF by TF. A ratio below 1.8 often signals a quality domain with low spam risk—a top metric in 2025.
Ahrefs Metrics
- Ahrefs Links: Total backlinks—a strong indicator of link volume and quality.
- Referring Domains: Unique linking domains—crucial for authority.
- Domain Rating (DR): Ahrefs’ authority score. High DR with solid links is a winner in 2025.
Traffic and Engagement Metrics
Semrush Traffic: Estimated traffic volume. Higher is better for redirects or live sites, but it’s imprecise for expired domains.
Semrush Keywords: Number of ranking keywords. Indicates SEO potential but doesn’t specify keyword value.
Alexa Rank: Largely outdated in 2025—only useful for legacy traffic analysis.
Social Signals
Social metrics add flavor to a domain’s story but are easily gamed. Use them as a supporting factor, not a standalone measure.
- Tweets: Mentions on X (Twitter’s successor). Signals past engagement.
- Facebook Shares/Likes: Social activity on Facebook—nice bonus but often outdated.
- Pinterest Pins: Pins tied to the domain—niche-specific value.
Deprecated Metrics
PageRank (PR) and DMOZ are relics of the past. Google discontinued PR updates over a decade ago, and DMOZ shut down years back. Focus on modern tools instead.
In 2025, expired domain hunting is all about balancing authority, link quality, and spam risk. Use these metrics wisely with Domain Hunter Gatherer to snag the best domains!