What is an aged domain?
Aged domains are domains that have been registered in the past and used. If a website was ever placed onto a domain, it is likely that it has some history in the search engines.
As aged domains have content history they may also have some existing backlinks and social signals. If a domain has some good backlinks it could make it much easier to rank a new website on.
Aged domains can be found in every niche with many websites offering domain auctions, domain sellers selling them outright and even already expired that can be registered for the same fee as a new domain that wouldn’t have any history. Expired domains are also known as dropped domains.
We will cover some tools and place to find aged domains later in this piece, but first lets establish what types of aged domains exist.
Types and differences of aged domains
There are a two main types of aged domains, those currently in use and available domains. If a domain is in use it will need to be purchased from a domain owner/broker but an available domain will be available for just the registration cost and available right away without the need for transferring.
The two types of domain can be split into 4 main groups:
- In use domains
- Auction domains
- Expiring domains
- Expired domains
There are a lot of uses for aged domains but before looking or purchasing a domain it is important to know what you are going to use one for as that could determine the better type for your needs.
In Use Domains
In use domains are domains that currently have an owner and are being used. These domains will often be worth more as they have a current website and likely already have visitors going to the website.
As the history of these domains is entirely intact (not expired) it does mean that when you take over the domain you should receive all the same search engine rankings and traffic that the domain has before purchase.
An issue with these types of domains is that they are already in use and as such you may struggle to convince the existing owner to sell. Domain brokers at Godaddy can contact a website owner and attempt to negotiate on your behalf or you could attempt this yourself. Negotiating for an existing business can be stressful and it is always advised that you do your due diligence before purchase and ensure you are consulting legal professionals to ensure the purchase goes smoothly.
Unfortunately these types of domains will generally cost significant sums to purchase
Auction Domains
Auction domains are usually either in-use or parked. As such these will often have an intact history ensuring and backlinks but less likely to have much traffic, unless specifically stated.
There are a lot domain auctions and as such there is great choice for domains in any niche. As with in-use domains, these tend to be more expensive but can be very powerful with some very high quality backlinks.
While the cost of a domain at auction, or direct from a trader, can be quite high they don’t have the high labour cost associated with negotiating for in use domains.
Expiring Domains
Before a domain expires and becomes available for anyone to register they will go through a process of expiration. These domains aren’t quite yet available for registration and contacting the owner to purchase it may be a waste of time as they are generally unwanted domains.
Sometimes an expiring domain will be renewed at the last minute but generally they will progress to become expired domains at some point.
If you see a domain expiring and you want to purchase it, you will have a couple of options: wait for expiration and register, or try and drop catch it.
There are a few drop catching services online, also known as back ordering, that can be used to register the domain for you before anyone else. If multiple services are vying for a domain you may still not be the lucky winner of it, unfortunately there is no way to ensure you are the first to register a domain.
Expired Domains
These domains are my favourite; you can get very authoritative domains for the cost of registration and not have to deal with any other parties trying to make a profit from the domains. Bang for the buck, these domains deliver.
An expired domain is a domain that was not renewed by the owner. When an owner of a domain does not renew the domain with then expire and become available for anyone to register.
A domain expiring can cause it to lose some of the strength from it’s backlinks profile or history but, while Google claims this to be a profound difference, in practice most expired domains retain most, if not all, of their power from their backlink profile. Expired Domains have been the cornerstone of Private Blog Networks for many years for their inbuilt history and backlinks.
While finding the best expired domains can involve a fairly steep learning curve it is not impossible and there are literally tens of millions to choose from. Services such as Easy Expired Domains in Domain Hunter Gatherer Pro uses a database of over 40m domains that can be searched in seconds.
Wrap it up!
In conclusion, aged domains are domain names that have been previously registered and are now available for purchase. These domains can be valuable for a number of reasons, including their history of high traffic, links from other websites, and strong brand identity. While it can be tempting to purchase an aged domain, it’s important to be careful and do your research before making a purchase. This can help you avoid domains with issues like spammy histories or negative reputations, and ensure that you get the most value out of your domain.
A future article will go into more depth on how to find the different types of aged domains and what to look for in a good aged domain.
