Improve SEO: Expired Domain Strategy
What is expired domains?
A domain expires when the owner doesn't renew it. Typically, domains are active for one year after being bought, so you need to renew them annually. If not renewed, the domain will expire and become available for others to register.
Benefits of using expired domains for SEO
- History and trust from Google. Expired domains often already have a good reputation with Google, which can improve your SEO.
- Existing backlinks. Many expired domains come with valuable backlinks, boosting your site’s ranking.
- Potential web traffic. These domains might still attract visitors from old links or search results.
- Cost-effective: It’s often cheaper to buy an expired domain with backlinks than paying for backlinks on some platforms.
- Investment opportunity: Expired domains can grow in value over time, making them a smart investment.
- Safer than buying from shady websites: Buying expired domains is more trustworthy than purchasing backlinks from unreliable sources. If your site has too many backlinks from suspicious websites, Google may penalize it.
- Easy to manage: Managing expired domains is simple and hassle-free. You can remove the redirect from the expired domain anytime you want or adjust the settings as needed.
How to find high-quality expired domains
Gone.Domains has thousands of high-quality expired domains. But before you start looking for expired domains, you need to follow these tips.
Search for expired domains in your niche.
In other words, they should be related to your main domain for which you plan to buy them. If your main domain is about streaming, the expired domains you find should be related to streaming as well.
Check the Domain Rating
If you want to know how well a website ranks, you can check its domain rating. This rating helps you understand the site's authority and trustworthiness. To find the domain rating, you can use online tools that analyze the website's backlinks and overall performance. Domain Rating should be at least 5 points. The highest possible Domain Rating is 100.
Let’s take a look at the first expired domain from the table. It has a Domain Rating of 32, which is a great value. It also has a good number of backlinks and websites that link to them.
Check the quality of backlinks for expired domains
Some expired domains may have low-quality or spammy backlinks, so it's important to check their quality using the same tool. Simply click on 'Top 100 Backlinks.’
The anchor links should go to the root directory, for example, to chunkbytes.com. If you buy this domain and link to a page like https://chunkbytes.com/2019/05/how-to-create-a-plugin-for-kibana, it will show a 404 error because that page doesn’t exist. So, it's fine if backlinks link to the root directory.
A domain name includes keywords
Ideally, an expired domain name should contain keywords related to your niche.
Pick cheap expired domains
Look for cheap expired domains with common extensions like .com, .co, .xyz, .me, .pro, .online, .store, and more. They usually cost between $1 and $10. For just a few hundred dollars, you can create a strong collection of expired domains and improve your SEO.
Buy expired domains and set up a 301 redirect
The last step is to buy an expired domain and set up a 301 redirect to your main domain.
Make sure the redirect is done correctly, pointing everything to your main domain. If the expired domain has subdomains, you can also set up a 301 redirect for those. All registrars have settings for domain forwarding.
Repeat these steps for other domains, and in a few months, your SEO will improve.