You’ve heard about the importance of backlinks. But what if I told you that you could steal a march on your competition by acquiring powerful backlinks from domains that your competitors themselves have links from?
In this guide, I’m going to show you how to use Domain Hunter Gatherer Pro to find expired domains that are not only within your niche but also carry backlinks from competitors’ websites—giving you a major boost in search engine rankings.
The power of these expired domains lies not just in their keywords or branding potential, but in their backlink profiles. When you find a domain with backlinks from high-authority sites in your niche—or even better, from your competitors—you’re essentially grabbing SEO juice that’s already been recognized by Google. These are not just any old backlinks, they are backlinks from trusted sources within your niche, making them some of the most powerful links you can acquire.
Ready to get started? Let’s dive into how you can find these hidden gems with Domain Hunter Gatherer Pro and use them to outrank your competitors.
Why Expired Domains with Competitor Backlinks Are SEO Gold
Let’s get one thing straight: not all expired domains are created equal. A domain’s real value doesn’t just come from the keywords in its name but from its backlink profile—especially when those backlinks come from relevant, authoritative sites in your niche.
Think about it: if you’re trying to rank a site about fitness, wouldn’t you want to leverage a domain that has backlinks from the top fitness blogs or even direct competitors? These backlinks are already trusted signals in your niche, and by owning the domain, you inherit that authority.
By crawling competitor websites and authority sites in your niche for expired domains, you’re uncovering domains that:
- Have backlinks from trusted sources within your industry.
- Were once highly relevant, with targeted traffic and content.
- Carry SEO power that can immediately benefit your site or even form the basis for a new project.
In short, expired domains with backlinks from competitors offer a shortcut to improving your SEO and boosting your rankings in a much smarter, faster way.
Step-by-Step Guide: Finding Expired Domains with Competitor Backlinks Using Domain Hunter Gatherer Pro
Here’s how you can start hunting down these valuable expired domains using Domain Hunter Gatherer Pro:
- Gather Your Competitor List
First, make a list of around 10 competitors or authority sites in your niche. These are the websites we’ll be targeting to find expired domains with valuable backlinks.
- Document Your List
Save these websites in a file, with each domain on a separate line. You can use a simple text editor like Notepad for this.
- Open Domain Hunter Gatherer Pro
Fire up Domain Hunter Gatherer Pro and get ready to start crawling.
- Go to the Expired Domains Tool
Navigate to the Expired Domains section of Domain Hunter Gatherer Pro.
- Set Filters (Optional)
Depending on your needs, you may want to filter domains by TLD. For example, if you’re only interested in .com, .org, .net, .biz or .info set these filters now. Similarly, if you want country-specific domains (e.g., .uk or .co.uk), you can set that filter here. For this guide, we’ll stick with common TLDs. Just go ahead and perform these steps:
- Use the “Hunt from Websites” Tool
Now, select the Hunt From Websites tool. This is where the magic happens. By crawling your competitors’ websites, you’ll discover any expired domains that still hold valuable backlinks.
- Set Crawl Levels to 50
Set the Crawl Levels to 50—this will ensure you capture as many expired domains as possible, even from the deepest pages of your competitors’ websites.
- Crawl Your Competitor List
Click Crawl Page List, and then select Crawl Page List from File. Choose the file where you saved your competitor list and open it.
- Select to use your Filters
If you have chosen to filter based on domains you will want to select to use them here. If you have not set any filters, you won’t be seeing this message
- Select Off-Site Crawling Option
When prompted, select No for “Do Off-Site Crawling.” This ensures that the crawl focuses only on the domains you’ve listed, so you’re targeting the right websites.
- Let Domain Hunter Gatherer Pro Work Its Magic
Domain Hunter Gatherer Pro will now crawl all of the websites on your list, searching for expired domains. Once it’s done, you’ll have a list of available domains that previously had backlinks from your competitors.
Next Steps: Filtering and Evaluating the Domains
Now that you’ve gathered your list of expired domains, it’s time to filter them and find the ones that are most relevant to your needs.
- Filter for High-Quality TLDs
In the Filter Domains tab, you can filter the list to show only the TLDs you’re interested in (e.g., .com, .net, .org). This helps narrow down the results to the domains that are most likely to provide a boost to your SEO. - Add Additional Filters
If you want to go further, you can add other filters based on Moz Domain Authority (DA), Majestic Trust Flow, or any other metric you’re interested in. The goal here is to focus on domains with strong backlink profiles. - Evaluate the Domain’s History
Once you’ve identified some promising domains, you’ll want to verify that they haven’t been used for spam or blackhat purposes. Right-click on any domain and select More Stats followed by Wayback Machine. Look through the historical snapshots of the website to ensure the content was consistent and legit.
Final Thoughts: Why Competitor Backlinks Matter
When you acquire an expired domain with backlinks from your competitors, you’re not just getting a random link—you’re acquiring a powerful asset that is recognized by search engines as relevant and authoritative within your niche. These kinds of links can give your SEO a serious boost, helping you outrank competitors who haven’t yet tapped into this strategy.
By combining Domain Hunter Gatherer Pro’s ability to crawl websites and uncover hidden expired domains, you’re gaining access to some of the most powerful links available in your niche. And the best part? You’re not just relying on high stats; you’re acquiring domains with direct connections to trusted websites in your industry.
So, what are you waiting for? Start using Domain Hunter Gatherer Pro today and discover those hidden gems that will propel your website to the top of the rankings!
