Tech talk, social media, blogging, computing tips and tricks

← →

Boost Your Blog With an Expiring Domain Name

October 22nd, 2007 by David Bradley >> 16 Comments

Expiring domain names

Some time ago, I discussed how to move from a system like Blogspot to your own web address and the option to do a 301 redirect from that Google-owned system to your blogger custom domain name. It’s definitely worth the effort, pagerank and backlinks eventually migrate and you end up with a stronger blog over which you have full control.

So, is the best approach simply to register an entirely new domain name for your blog? Not really, you could trawl the registrars for expired names but, to be honest, an expired domain name is not what you want…it’s just as bad as an entirely new domain name as search engine ranking, backlinks, and PR will all be lost once ownership is transferred.

Instead, what you need is a live domain name that is not being actively updated, one that has loads of backlinks, and a great pagerank. Grab the whois entry and email the owner with an offer to buy it from them.

That way you get an established base on which to build a new blog (or import your old Blogspot blog) rather than a site you are essentially starting from scratch.

The old Ryan Shamus site offered some advice on how to find an expiring domain name (as opposed to the expired domains of his title). It’s a useful starting point, there are literally millions of domains out there and a huge proportion of them are essentially dormant or abandoned cobweb sites ripe for the picking.

However, I’d suggest not using those lists or tools mentioned by Shamus to find sites that have a PR6 or above that are not being utilized or updated by their owners. Instead, search the niche you are working on and visit individual sites with names that look promising for the blog or site you aspire too. If a site is being held by a domain auctioneer, as in those listed by Shamus, there really is no guarantee that you will retain any of its rank when you purchase it, much better to go straight to the source.

I’d be very dubious of buying an expired domain or an expiring domain, as I said, PR and backlinks will not carry over on the owner transfer in most cases, especially for expired domains. It’s much better to find a site that is not being updated and contact the owner direct to bargain with them. It might take longer, but you’ll end up with something stronger.


Leave a comment ↓

  • Lina // Oct 28, 2007 at 11:51 am

    I played around with close-to-expiring domain names for a while, and I followed close to what the process described in the link and the post, and I found it took up a LOT of time with not a lot of results. Thanks for the post – and great blog!

  • David Bradley // Oct 28, 2007 at 2:37 pm

    Hi Lina, so what you’re saying is I’ve got a great blog but the expiring domain tip was a waste of time? I still think it’s more worthwhile to go for an expiring domain than an expired one, especially true if you can get in before the registrar and buy it off the owner. I obtained two sites that way, both of which have gone from strength to strength.

  • Domain Name Generator // Dec 29, 2007 at 11:06 pm

    Great blog. I’ve written all sorts of tools at http://www.domainnamesoup.com to find available domain names and to catch them as they come up to expire. Hope you find it useful.

  • David Bradley // Jan 2, 2008 at 12:21 pm

    Thanks for the spam comment DNG! I’ve let it through nevertheless as it could actually be useful to readers.

  • Vineet // Jan 13, 2008 at 8:32 pm

    what about if the seller says after selling that his/her domain is running by someone else..
    I mean copyright or something…

  • David Bradley // Jan 13, 2008 at 9:07 pm

    I’m not exactly sure what you’re getting at Vineet. How would the seller have been able to transfer the domain if they did not have ownership of the registration login etc?

    db

  • Smart Domainers // Jul 3, 2008 at 4:59 am

    Hi,
    This is useful info about expired domain names. I would like to add some more. After a domain is deleted it is still valuable for many things: Back links from the other sites, Page rank (could be dead but will recover after 6-8 weeks if we host the domain right after).

    I have found some very nice expired domain names with the LuckyRegister domain registration service. It is free list of domains with pr rank, alexa info.

  • David Bradley // Jul 3, 2008 at 8:30 am

    Mr Domainers I am not entirely sure that going for actual expired as opposed to expiring domains is a good idea. Google really does kill pagerank and backlinks on expired domains and it can be a huge struggle to crawl back up the greasy pole of the SERPs with a dead domain.

  • Adnan // Jul 22, 2008 at 11:46 am

    I am not sure if this is the right place for my problem. If i google my website i see a lot of deleted or expired domain name websites showing my name as deleted or expired domain name. How can i overcome this situation?

  • David Bradley // Jul 22, 2008 at 2:37 pm

    Hi Adnan, not quite the right post, but I’ll take a look. I cannot see the deleted or expired domains when I search for inventexpo. What keywords are you having trouble with?

  • Adnan // Jul 22, 2008 at 2:43 pm

    Hello, i am trying with “Inventexpo” i see in the first results my own website but if i scroll down i see “Expired and deleted domain names” some of the links showing this message are http://www.justdropped.com; http://www.seguinhost.com and http://www.bizprolink-internet.com

  • David Bradley // Jul 22, 2008 at 3:07 pm

    Okay, I see what you mean, your domain is listed on those pages, which is why they’re appearing in the results. Did you buy your domain second hand or were you the first registrant? Either way, I’d contact the webmasters of those sites and ask them to remove mention of your domain.

  • Adnan // Jul 22, 2008 at 3:55 pm

    Well, we wanted this name and we checked if it is available or not and it was availbale so we bought it without checking if it is deleted or expired.

    Thank you very much for your help!

  • David Bradley // Jul 22, 2008 at 5:19 pm

    Righto, thanks for being so frank. I think therein lies your problem. Sorry you didn’t reach Sciencetext before taking the plunge we might have been able to warn you off.

  • Analog Designer // Jun 26, 2010 at 8:50 am

    Hello all,

    I have a domain called techdockets.com.
    I had submitted my site to Google search engine. For initial few days it was in the search results top hit. Now its no more in the google search results.

    Wht could be the problem? I had found one domain techdocket.com. The moment when i search for my domain “techdockets”, the above domain is coming in the 4th or 5th position of google search results.

    I would expect experts advice ASAP.

    Thanks
    Analog Designer

  • David Bradley // Jun 26, 2010 at 9:06 am

    @Analog No idea. But, the site is page one for both terms, so not sure what you’re talking about. By the way, it’s very rude to say, you “expect experts advice ASAP” all you like, this isn’t a free personal technical support page, you know?

    I will say this, there’s nothing worse than “Coming soon” pages or “under construction”. Looks totally unprofessional and sh*t.