Here are a few ways to filter used domains before buying them off from the general expired domain market.
Most users are cautious about buying aged domains because spam domains are rampant. They can even be found in high-level sites users pay to access. Users pay only to get disappointed when they get worthless domains. This article will give you an idea of the things to look before handing out your money.
We will answer these following questions:
- How to assess aged domains and how much an average domain costs
- How to spot spammed domains
- How to look out for spammed aged domains
- How to look for viable expired domain metrics that will stick
Metrics To Look Out For
Metrics are vital in filtering use domains. Checking popular metrics like Moz Domain Authority (DA) and Majestic SEO Trust Flow (TF) are important. Not everyone knows that the DA and TF metrics can be altered that’s the reason why, it is actually ill-advised to use any single metric.
In this section, you will be advised on what kind of metrics to be on guard for. However, I advise that you research, discard or double-check the backlink profile if you have doubts on the domain metrics that is mentioned below.
Look Out for the Age of the Domain
There’s an old saying that says “Old Wood Best To Burn, Old Wine To Drink, Old Friends To Trust…” in this case, let’s change the last part to “Old Domains To Look At.”
Like people, search engines tend to trust old domains because these kinds of domains can keep its page rank and age if it has a high ranking. To look for the age there are 2 ways, one is to look at the WHOIS information of the domain. The other method, which is more reliable, is to use the Analyse Expired Domains controls in Domain Hunter Gatherer which is considered the best expired domain crawler
When going by the whois record, you have to keep in mind that this might not be the first time the search engine has been used because if the website’s domain is non-existent, the search engine will not manifest the date as its birth date even with a registered domain.
To have an estimate of the date of registration, you can always look at the Wayback Machine. It is an archive that has been around since 1996. It looks for the older versions of the website starting from its first used. This is how Domain Hunter Gatherer determines the age of a domain as it is considered to be very accurate.
Check For Old SEOMoz Domain
If you want to look for a trusted SEO provider, you could check for Moz. It is an SEO Software Company that gives backlink details and metrics identical to page ranks. However, if you are still uncertain with your old domain, check these out:
Domain Authority (DA)
It is a tool to predict website’s SERPs viability through a metric that uses the numbers 0 to 100. This can be determined through a single logarithmic scaled score with the help of the Moz’s link metrics. In a recent poll of what Domain Stat service people consider for buying a domain it was found that Moz is not as highly regarded as it once was but it is still a reasonable gauge of quality and Moz does provide a good amount of backlink information that is invaluable when making a purchasing decision.
Backlink Data
Moz is a backlinks provider. It is a tool to look for total backlinks and updated index. Through this, you can easily evaluate domains and check for good or bad links that exist in a domain’s link profile. It is important to look for these discrepancies because there is a possibility that Moz doesn’t have the domain, or the domain might be scpmmed. If you want to research further you can check using their new Link Explorer tool.
Go to Majestic SEO
If you’re looking for another SEO provider, you should check at Majestic SEO. It is an SEO Software Company from England. It is widely known as the creator of the Link Intelligence database, a trustworthy URL database. However, if you are still looking for other means to check your SEO, try looking for this:
Citation Flow
Is another metric that uses 0 to 100 to look into the domain value of backlinks. This is a comparison tool to check the data from backlinks to a variety of domains. Does this sound familiar? This is because it is laid out similar to Moz DA and is similar in the way it is a calculation more of number of backlinks rather than quality of backlinks.
Trust Flow
Trust Flow is similar to Citation Flow except it is more concerned with the quality of the links that are pointing to the domain, as such TF is considered more trustworthy, by many, than CF or DA in terms of whether a domain is a good purchasable domain or not.
Backlinks Data
Majestic SEO checks different kinds of backlink data from the total backlinks, IP backlinks, subnet backlinks and EDU and GOV domain backlinks. Majestic’s link database is pretty good
Watch out for expired SEMrush Domains
SEMrush is a good source for checking domain keywords and estimating traffic to your website. They provide keywords list, search position, CPC and URL. However, it is important to note that not all used domains can be accessed in SEMrush since you will be checking unused domains that don’t generate traffic.
If you are looking for other means for SERP checking, you can check the following:
Keywords – It is vital to have viable keywords to increase domain ranks.
Monthly Organic Traffic – It is important to have an estimate of the monthly traffic that you are using before getting the domain.
Traffic Cost – You must be aware of the traffic cost that your domain gets. It is advised to look at this before getting the domain. To increase your traffic cost, you must look at commonly used keywords that can be easily searched.
It is vital to remember that the domain value is justified by the traffic cost. It is also important to double check by running keyword searches on Google to check for the domain age and algorithm change.
Visit SimilarWeb
Similar to SEMRush SimilarWeb is a tool for discovering insights on website traffic, making it easier for web analytics. With this tool, you can easily analyze traffic and look for website opportunities. Through the SERP data, you can analyze current domain keyword ranks and estimate its traffic.
If you are on the lookout for website traffic in the US, you can look at Compete Traffic Data for better traffic analysis.
Watch Out For Alexa
Alexa is now a subsidiary of Amazon.com that ranks website data all over the globe. Through the Alexa Toolbar, they rank three months of traffic from users who has the toolbar. They conduct data from a sample population and use this data to get their ranking.
It is important the ranking tends to be biased because only the users of the toolbar get to be part of the data research. It can also be altered just by visiting a domain a lot of times, but it can still be used as a secondary metric to compare on different metrics.
In Alexa, lower ranks amounting to 100,000 are supposed to be the best among 30 million websites who use the toolbar. Alexa has Rank Delta for comparison of previous and current ranks. It’s a determinant of the increase and decrease of traffic in a span of three months.
Alexa also has a specific ranking method per country. They mention if a domain gets a high ranking in a particular country which is helpful for traffic data research. They also provide a competitor report to know the industry domain that you’re about to embark.
It is vital to keep in mind that ranking and traffic is not the “be all and end-all” of domain checking. As much as it is important to look at this seriously, remember that this is not the sole basis for looking at used domains.
Check Your Backlinks
Throughout this report, I’ve been mentioning the importance of backlinks, and this is for a good reason, the backlink history is one of the most important aspects to consider when purchasing an expired domain. You can get the value for the domain through a backlink check. However, it is important to know that domain backlinks are not the only thing to consider because they tend to disappear after it’s bought. It is vital to find out the back links that will stay after purchase.
To check for backlinks you can look at Google, Moz and Majestic SEO. If Google is your first choice, you have to be aware that Google doesn’t give accurate backlink data. There’s also the possibility that it will not show any links. If you really want to check backlinks using Google, you should put a high priority on your Google link operator. Just for good measure, also try Moz and Majestic SEO for your backlink check.
If you can’t search your backlink, here’s how to do it:
1. The first step is to visit your web page that links back to your domain. Look for the HTML source code by clicking View Source or View Page Source then find the HTML code.
2. Check if the link passes through the domain by looking if the link is not set to rel= “no follow” attribute.
3. Look if the link has a lot of links to other sites because if it is it could be a spam blog to increase ranks of different domains. To spot a genuine link, the link must be part of a text or article. If you find this kind of link, then it will probably exist in the next six months after purchasing it.
4. Look out for the quality of the page and links attached to it.
5. Check for any similarity / relevancy with the website and the domain. To check for spam, all you have to do is check for the validity of the links found within the domain.
Remember, that this is the most gruelling step of all. It is advised to have this as your last step after trying all the steps.
Check for Penalties
It is important to check for Google’s penalties, whether it’s a domain page index. It is vital to look at the zero page index caused by manual and algorithm penalty from spam backlinks or dodgy content on the website in the past. This is important to check if you are going to use old domains for PBN SEO
Most dropped domains will be deindexed as Google will not maintain a website in it’s index if it has not live content on it. This in itself is not something to be concerned about but a domain that has been deindexed due to a penalty is not something to be valued highly as the penalty may carry through to the new owner (you).
Look At the Domain Industry
To make things easier, users tend to buy used domains for a specific industry. Knowing similar websites to your own website will make it simpler for you to look for a used domain. You can use WayBack Machine (http://wayback.archive.org/) to check what kind of domain you’re buying beforehand.
It is important to know that Google prioritizes contextual links. So if it happens that you’re looking for a domain to link to your personal account, it is highly suggested to look for a domain coming from similar industries.
What Are The Social Stats Of The Domain?
Social networks are one of the things that should be considered when checking for a viable domain. Social shares can affect the rankings of SEO and the domain itself. It is crucial to remember that Social Networking sites like Facebook, Linked In, Twitter, Google Plus and the likes can be faked but better stats (higher numbers) are generally a good sign as social networks are becoming used more and more often as time passes.
It is critical to remember to pick out the vital social networking sites to be included on your website. Not every site is important.