Expired Domain And Index Question

Im looking at an expired domains at godaddy closeouts. The domains blank homepage is indexed in google. The linking portfolio and everything is good.

Only issue is the most recent archive screenshot for this domain displays a page with what appears to be some kind of poorly written poem, not relevant to the topic at all and doesnt even make sense. There arent any outbound links on the page.

Question is: If the homepage is indexed and the linking portfolio is authorative, should I worry about a somewhat dodgy archive screenshot? Can a domain be penalized but still indexed?

I'm assuming the site is about something other than dodgy poems? In my expired domain service in my signature, we would not sell a domain like this. Why? Because usually domains that have a second set of content or more than one owner have often already been used for PBN's. Try using something like http://www.screenshots.com to see if you can gain more information on what the domain was used for the second time around.

At the end of the day, unless you are getting some killer deal on it, there are enough good expired domains out there to not have to worry about buying a semi dodgy one.

Research on archive.org. The results should be conclusive. If the linking portfolio has authority it should correspond with older content sets. Normally, authority and traffic will come back. Possible penalties from interim owners whould vanish as they are limited in time. Good luck. You have to try to know for sure.

do it! only way to tell and domains are cheap enough

Yes, a domain can have penalty but is still indexed. Penalty is more on rankings, and you can try to have it lifted. Deindex is more of an exclusion entirely. Probably the previous domain seller bought the domain, wanted to put up some text to get it cached before selling it, hence the dodgy archive. I wouldn't be too worried if the backlinks are all clean. It's always good to cross check with different site explorers.