In our domaining guides, we usually focus on topics around how to find expired domains, or more specifically expired domains with authority links, but we will often be asked the question “why buy expired domains” in the first place.
When you’re looking for the right website domain, you have the choice of buying a new one or purchasing an older, existing domain (aged domains). Expired domains are one type of aged domain that can have a lot of value. Buying expired domains has multiple benefits, ranging from great branding to a mature domain age.
If you’re not sure whether you should purchase an expired domain or what the advantages are, read on to find out why they are worth your time.
What Is an Expired Domain?
An expired domain is simply a domain that was previously registered but hasn’t been renewed by its owner. A good way to look at it is to view domains as things that you don’t own but rent. To continue using a domain, you have to keep paying the fees. Once you stop paying them, the domain is re-listed for registration so other people can rent it instead. A domain might expire for a few reasons, including the owner deciding to let it go or forgetting to pay the fees.
This is good news for you if you’re looking for the right domain. Once a domain has expired and can be re-registered, that’s when you can swoop in.
Expired domains are different to other types of aged domains in that they can be registered for a much smaller fee. Other types of aged domains that may be purchasable by webmasters and bloggers are auction domains, purchased via a bidding period, and premium domains which can be purchased outright by anyone willing to pay for it.
What Are the Benefits of Buying Expired Domains?
So why would you want to buy expired domains, instead of looking for one that no one has used before? There are several key reasons to do this, including for SEO purposes or to grab a domain that fits your brand.
Let’s take a look at some of the top benefits of buying an expired domain.
Existing SEO Authority
One of the benefits of an expired domain, and aged domains in general, is that it’s older. A domain that has been in use for longer will have already built a certain amount of authority and recognition with search engines such as Google.
An existing domain might have excellent backlinks, pointing back to the site from other sites with a good reputation. It can also have a long domain history and good authority, which both benefit you if you want to use the domain for your business or any other purpose. If you’re not going to use the domain directly, you could redirect to another site you own and you’ll benefit from the quality backlinks that get passed on.
Previous quality content on the domain might help to give it more authority too. You can use tools like the Wayback Machine (archive.org) to check for content that was previously hosted on a domain. There might already be high monthly traffic, which you could retain when you buy the domain.
Good for Branding
Buying an expired domain can be great for branding too. Maybe there’s a perfect domain that makes sense for your brand, but it’s been taken by someone else until now. You could snap it up once it expires, helping more people find your brand. Whether you use it for a new website or just to direct to your existing site, having a domain with a recognizable name or professional branding that works for your business is a strong benefit.
Searching for the brandable keyword domains in Domain Hunter Gatherer will have you finding hundreds of available keyword domains in mere minutes. Unlike similarly aged auction domains, expired domains are far cheaper and allow for saving lots of money over spending big on auction and premium domains.
I’m sure once you see how brandable a good keyword domain is you can see why so many will buy expired domains they find with Domain Hunter Gatherer’s Keyword Domain Search.
Save Money
Compared to other aged domains, such as auction domains, you may be able to save money by purchasing an expired domain. Many aged domains are auctioned off, raising the prices and coming with auction fees too, plus a registration cost. With expired domains, you only ever need to pay the normal registration fee to register one. This method of buying a domain can save you a lot of money even when you compare them to cheap auction domains.
The price difference between auction and expired domains is not just in the cost for the winning bid, an auction win can see you have to pay auction fees, transfer fees to your registrar and registration fees on top.
A cheap auction domain ~$50 may then cost a further $30-50 on top to cover these auction, transfer and registration fees. An expired domain, in contrast, could cost as little as around $10. This is why Domain Hunter Gatherer Pro is so incredibly powerful, it allows you to find an unlimited amount of expired domains in any niche.
Great Investment Opportunity
Aged domains, in general, are very big business in 2024 and likely will be for the foreseeable future. This will be true for as long as people are still using search engines as the SEs love links from these established websites.
As these domains are so desirable, there is an ever-growing trade in buying and selling domains. If you find a valuable domain it could be flipped for a multiple of what is spent on registering.
Registering an available expired domain is a relatively quick and painless process. Once you know what domain you want, you only need to visit a domain registrar and pay your dollars and it’s yours. The simplicity in this process make it easy to invest in many domains a day. Auctions and premium domain purchases tend to drag on much longer and then are subject to transfer delays which add to complexity and costs.
Multi-million dollar companies have been built off the back of buying up domains and simply sitting on them till a buyer finds them. This is literally, a huge business and it can have an unusually low price for entry.
How Can You Buy Expired Domains?
Now you know that expired domains come with a number of benefits. However, you still need to be able to find and buy the domains that can bring you these advantages.
Domain Hunter Gatherer gives you the tools to do this, making finding the right expired domains a breeze. Using Domain Hunter Gatherer, you can search for and crawl domains to find the best options and discover information about them. All you need to do is start with a keyword and you can crawl search results and check the availability of domains. You can also use a website to find domains, crawling the site to identify links to domains that have expired.
Find Expired Domains with Domain Hunter Gatherer
Start discovering the best expired domains that meet your goals with the help of Domain Hunter Gatherer. Quickly and easily identify the best domains to purchase with a suite of speedy tools.
