godspeed007
BANNED
- Jan 10, 2013
- 768
- 285
Lately, I have been scraping & playing with expired domains and I found some interesting facts about them which I would love to share with this amazing community. Basically, I will list out common criterion and authenticity in special cases for each of them followed by my own criterion that I have found to be most effective after endless experiments.
Marketers usually have their own criteria to use for expired domains. But there can be a list of all possible criterion used by different people. Let me list out some that I have in my mind right now.
Common criterion used by people
- Page Rank
- Domain Authority
- Page Authority
- Trust Flow
- Google Indexed
- Good Past Record in Way Back Machine
- Ahrefs Data
Please post below if I have missed out any other metrics.
Okay, Now let me explain what each of them really contribute to the quality of an expired domain.
- Page Rank
As we all know, it has not been updated since around last one and half years and hence, there is no use of any talk about it. But there are still people who are using it to be one of the main factors to choose their expired domain. So, if you're one of them, stop doing that. You will find a lots of good domains with n/a or ZERO PR.
- Domain Authority
Now, this metric plays an important role. With this metric, you can have a guess about the authority that the current domain have. But know this - it can always be altered with traffic boost and number of backlinks. One method which is found to be effective to alter DA is creating many sub-domains, installing WordPress and use all of them as a part of your site. As they will start receiving traffic, social signals and backlinks, you will see increase in DA of the root domain. But I have never considered it when I look for expired domain to be used for 301 redirects. Instead, I look at the quality of backlinks which are going to be the tier 1 of that domain after redirection. But it means a lot if you're going to start your own PBN or authority money site.
- Page Authority
PA is another amazing metrics but, usually, old dropped domains won't have a good PA as they do not exist any more just like DA. But some people still use it along with DA to measure the quality of an expired domain. But I personally do not give a shit about it as well as it can be increased the same way as that of DA.
- Trust Flow
TF is the most reliable metric that I have found to be most useful. It cannot be altered easily and expired domains with good TF works like charm for 301s, PBNs and new money sites. But think of very old domains which still have good backlinks but TF is not good. It might happen sometime due to less number of backlinks but it does not necessarily need to be good for 301 redirects. Some of you will oppose it, I know, but trust me I know what I'm talking about. But it also means a lot when it comes to PBNs and new sites.
- Citation Flow
It can be simple altered by increasing number of backlinks and citations. So, I always ignore it out. But some people believe it to be useful.
- Google Indexed
Now, this is another criteria where most of the people usually get stuck. Many people are found to believe that an expired domain must be indexed in Google to be a good expired domain. So, let me make it clear. Think of a domain name which dropped in the year 2001 but still retains backlinks from many authority sites. It's been a long time and hence, there is no use for Google to keep it indexed in their vault. So, Google will definitely deindex it but it does not mean that the domain name has lost its power. If the domain still being linked back from authority sites, it must have power and hence, once you index it in Google again, it starts showing up its power. It usually takes 1 to 3 weeks to get it indexed in Google depending upon your technique used. But never use Google Web Masters Tool if you're doing 301 redirects or PBNs.
- Past Record in Way Back Machine
It actually determines the quality of the domain. Have a look at the past screenshots of the domain name. Does it redirect to any other domain? Does it look spammy? Is it niche relevant? How many times the site appearance have been changed over time? All these questions can help you to look for the quality of expired domain.
- Ahrefs Data
Ahrefs is the place you might want to visit as the last filtering process. Make sure there is no 301, 302 & 303 redirects to the domain. You can view it in Referring Domains >> Redirect Tab. Have a look at the Anchor Phrases, Anchor terms and anchor cloud. Make sure it has niche relevant anchors and there is no spam looking Chinese Anchor texts (Sorry, Chinesse Guys
) Make sure the ratio of Total number of backlinks to total number of referring domains is appropriate. Say, you found an expired domain with 30 referring domains and 55k backlinks, there must be something wrong. In such cases mostly, it is some sitewide links that increase the overall backlinks count. Such domains are good to go for 301s but for PBNs and new money sites, I personally would never prefer them.
So, My personal criteria for expired domains:
- For 301 redirects, it is Maximum backlinks possible but good quality.
- For PBNs, it is good Trust flow and Domain Authority.
- For new money site also, it is good Trust flow and Domain Authority.
Hope that this post of mine will help some of you. Please feel free to post anything you would like to ask below. It would be my pleasure to reply back to every single of them.
Thank you!
Marketers usually have their own criteria to use for expired domains. But there can be a list of all possible criterion used by different people. Let me list out some that I have in my mind right now.
Common criterion used by people
- Page Rank
- Domain Authority
- Page Authority
- Trust Flow
- Google Indexed
- Good Past Record in Way Back Machine
- Ahrefs Data
Please post below if I have missed out any other metrics.
Okay, Now let me explain what each of them really contribute to the quality of an expired domain.
- Page Rank
As we all know, it has not been updated since around last one and half years and hence, there is no use of any talk about it. But there are still people who are using it to be one of the main factors to choose their expired domain. So, if you're one of them, stop doing that. You will find a lots of good domains with n/a or ZERO PR.
- Domain Authority
Now, this metric plays an important role. With this metric, you can have a guess about the authority that the current domain have. But know this - it can always be altered with traffic boost and number of backlinks. One method which is found to be effective to alter DA is creating many sub-domains, installing WordPress and use all of them as a part of your site. As they will start receiving traffic, social signals and backlinks, you will see increase in DA of the root domain. But I have never considered it when I look for expired domain to be used for 301 redirects. Instead, I look at the quality of backlinks which are going to be the tier 1 of that domain after redirection. But it means a lot if you're going to start your own PBN or authority money site.
- Page Authority
PA is another amazing metrics but, usually, old dropped domains won't have a good PA as they do not exist any more just like DA. But some people still use it along with DA to measure the quality of an expired domain. But I personally do not give a shit about it as well as it can be increased the same way as that of DA.
- Trust Flow
TF is the most reliable metric that I have found to be most useful. It cannot be altered easily and expired domains with good TF works like charm for 301s, PBNs and new money sites. But think of very old domains which still have good backlinks but TF is not good. It might happen sometime due to less number of backlinks but it does not necessarily need to be good for 301 redirects. Some of you will oppose it, I know, but trust me I know what I'm talking about. But it also means a lot when it comes to PBNs and new sites.
- Citation Flow
It can be simple altered by increasing number of backlinks and citations. So, I always ignore it out. But some people believe it to be useful.
- Google Indexed
Now, this is another criteria where most of the people usually get stuck. Many people are found to believe that an expired domain must be indexed in Google to be a good expired domain. So, let me make it clear. Think of a domain name which dropped in the year 2001 but still retains backlinks from many authority sites. It's been a long time and hence, there is no use for Google to keep it indexed in their vault. So, Google will definitely deindex it but it does not mean that the domain name has lost its power. If the domain still being linked back from authority sites, it must have power and hence, once you index it in Google again, it starts showing up its power. It usually takes 1 to 3 weeks to get it indexed in Google depending upon your technique used. But never use Google Web Masters Tool if you're doing 301 redirects or PBNs.
- Past Record in Way Back Machine
It actually determines the quality of the domain. Have a look at the past screenshots of the domain name. Does it redirect to any other domain? Does it look spammy? Is it niche relevant? How many times the site appearance have been changed over time? All these questions can help you to look for the quality of expired domain.
- Ahrefs Data
Ahrefs is the place you might want to visit as the last filtering process. Make sure there is no 301, 302 & 303 redirects to the domain. You can view it in Referring Domains >> Redirect Tab. Have a look at the Anchor Phrases, Anchor terms and anchor cloud. Make sure it has niche relevant anchors and there is no spam looking Chinese Anchor texts (Sorry, Chinesse Guys
) Make sure the ratio of Total number of backlinks to total number of referring domains is appropriate. Say, you found an expired domain with 30 referring domains and 55k backlinks, there must be something wrong. In such cases mostly, it is some sitewide links that increase the overall backlinks count. Such domains are good to go for 301s but for PBNs and new money sites, I personally would never prefer them.So, My personal criteria for expired domains:
- For 301 redirects, it is Maximum backlinks possible but good quality.
- For PBNs, it is good Trust flow and Domain Authority.
- For new money site also, it is good Trust flow and Domain Authority.
Hope that this post of mine will help some of you. Please feel free to post anything you would like to ask below. It would be my pleasure to reply back to every single of them.
Thank you!
