How To Check Expired Domains: Pay Attention To These Details

Choosing a suitable website domain may be challenging because many great names are already taken by someone. However, there is a chance that you can purchase a desired domain name because ownership has already expired. How to check that? This guide will help you find out whether a domain is free, and what details should be considered when you are doing your research. 

How to check domain expiration step-by-step?

To check if a domain has expired, you need to perform the following steps:

  1. Go to a domain registrar service or use a third-party expired domains checker.
  2. Enter the domain name that you want to check in the search box. If you need to check domains in bulk, opt for the domain checker by Rush Analytics – it will save you hours of manual work.
  3. If the domain has expired, the service will display that it is available for purchase. If it is still registered, it will provide you with the information about the current owner.
  4. Check the domain’s history and backlinks: this will help you determine if the domain has any existing content or backlinks that could be valuable to your website.
  5. Evaluate the domain’s authority, trustworthiness, and relevance to your niche using tools such as Moz’s Domain Authority and Majestic’s Trust Flow.

Keep in mind that purchasing expired domains can be a complex process and requires careful evaluation to avoid potential legal or SEO issues. It’s recommended to seek the advice of a domain expert or SEO professional before proceeding with purchasing an expired domain. Yet, you can try making a purchase on your own – here is what you need to take into account.

What to consider?

Checking whether a domain is available for purchase is only half of the deal – you need to make sure that it does not have a negative reputation in Google’s score. Otherwise, you risk facing difficulties with SEO promotion and other issues. Pay particular attention to the following aspects.

Domain history

To check a domain’s history, you can use a variety of services available online. These tools provide information such as the domain’s registration date, alterations in ownership, DNS records, and any past instances of the domain being used for spam or malicious activities. One such tool is the Wayback Machine, which allows you to see snapshots of a website at different points in time. Other tools include Whois Lookup, DomainTools, and Internet Archive.

Backlinks

Evaluate the quality and quantity of the domain’s backlinks using tools such as Ahrefs, SEMrush or Majestic. High-quality backlinks from reputable sources can boost your website’s SEO even if you create it from scratch. Note that the quantity of backlinks alone doesn’t necessarily indicate the quality of the domain’s backlink profile.

To assess the quality of backlinks, you can look at metrics such as domain authority (DA), page authority (PA), and Trust Flow/Citation Flow. These metrics are provided by tools like Moz and Majestic and can give you an idea of the overall authority and trustworthiness of the domain and the individual pages linking to it.

It’s also important to look at the relevance of the linking pages and the anchor text used in the backlinks. Backlinks from relevant websites or pages and with natural anchor text are generally considered more valuable.

Authority

Check the domain’s authority using tools such as Moz’s Domain Authority or SEMrush’s Domain Score. A higher authority domain can help your website rank higher in search engine results.

These metrics are scored on a 100-point logarithmic scale, meaning that it’s generally easier to increase your score from 10 to 20 than from 70 to 80. The higher the score, the more authoritative and trustworthy a domain is considered to be.

There is no single “bad” or “good” domain score as it largely depends on the context and competition of your industry. Generally speaking, a score of 50 or above is considered good, while a score of 60 or above is considered excellent.

Trustworthiness

Check domains’ reputation with such tools as Majestic’s Trust Flow, SEMrush’s Trust Score, Google Safe Browsing, Norton Safe Web, and McAfee SiteAdvisor. These tools can help identify whether the domain has been flagged for hosting malware or engaging in other malicious activities. A trustworthy domain can help build your website’s credibility with search engines and users.

Don’t forget that a used domain should have a valid SSL certificate, which indicates that the website is using a secure connection. You can check for SSL certificates by looking for a padlock icon in the browser’s address bar or by checking the URL for “https://” instead of “http://”. If there is no SSL, you will need to buy the certificate yourself.

Check the domain’s WHOIS information to see if it matches the website’s content and whether the domain has a long-standing history. It will also help you find the domain’s owner information when necessary: email address, phone number, or physical address.

Legal issues

Make sure that the domain is not involved in any legal issues or trademark disputes that could cause legal problems for your website.

You can check whether the domain has been accused of infringing on any trademarks by using the US Patent and Trademark Office’s Trademark Electronic Search System (TESS). This will help you determine whether the domain name or content on the website violates any registered trademarks. Similarly, the Copyright Office’s online search database to see if the domain has been accused of violating any copyright laws. You can also use Google’s “site:” operator to see if any copyrighted content has been indexed.

If you want to find out whether a domain was involved in any legal disputes or lawsuits, try tools like LexisNexis or PACER. Their databases contain legal documents and cases filed in federal and state courts.

It’s important to carefully evaluate these factors before purchasing an expired domain to ensure that it is a valuable asset for your website. If you are still unsure about the purchase, get advice from a domain expert or SEO professional.

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