What To Consider Before Buying Expired Domain?

check domain's backlinks (are they legit, or spammy?)

check archive.org to find out what content was actually on the domain in the past (real site, or just some kind of spam/duplicate content?)

check SEMRush (or similar tools) to find out if the domain had any SE traffic in the past, focus on possible significant declines.

Check that the backlinks actually go to the home page and not subdomains or deep pages that you won't want to rebuild.

I tend to use Majestic on these and if I see a high CF value but low TF it means while it has lots of backlinks, they are mostly worthless or spam. If you check the keyword density and most links have the exact same keyword, it is probably dropped because it was penalised for that.

I am somewhat getting back into this business again, think more like a gentleman farmer, so I have been messing around with ahrefs but I was curious if SEMRush is a better solution or am I better off staying with what I have been learning with ahrefs?

Thank for your time and I look forward to your replies!

The only sure fire way to tell if a website has been penalized is to actually check the Google webmaster console.

But here are the main things I consider when it comes to registering an expired domain.

1. Archive.org history. Was the website hacked in the past? was it used as a PBN before? any 301 redirects?

2. Backlink history. Are the backlinks relevant to your niche? are the backlinks in your desired language? Do the backlinks provide any value or are they all forum links? etc.

3. Traffic History. Ahrefs has a history of traffic a site has received. So if you see a steep drop off in traffic and no traffic recovery on an expired domain - it's best you steer clear of that domain.

I have a 12 step checklist if you'd like me to post it - but primarily, these are the things I look at when I determine whether or not an expired domain will be useful for me.

In my opinion Ahrefs has a better product. Not only in terms of search engine data - but even their crawlers.

Ahrefs always picks up backlinks and domains the SEMRush misses.

toysdude, welcome to GFY!