What is an Expired Domain name?
An expired domain name is a domain that has been owned and it is back on the market.
Someone let it expire – either accidentally or on purpose.
I let domains go all the time – I look at all the domains I own and I say – is that one productive – or an anchor on my business? Why the heck did I buy that domain? Do I really need that one?
Does it bring income, joy or is it helping someone? What am I doing with it?
It's kind of like de-cluttering the house – letting domain names expire lets someone else build a website on them.
And usually – I will find a better website when I let a few go.
Why Would Anyone Want an Expired Domain Name?
When you buy a brand new domain name – unless you accidentally buy an expired domain name – you are starting at zero in all your metrics. Zero domain authority, zero trust flow, zero domain age, zero traffic, etc.
What if you could get a head start.
Let's say you are running a marathon.
The prize is a million dollars for crossing the finish line first.
You can start on the 5 mile mark – without cost or penalty – would you?
Picture the race to the top of the rankings – your marathon.
You want the best possible chance to come in first, don't you?
Now, I am not suggesting you cheat. In a marathon – that would be cheating.
It's not cheating in business. It is working smart.
It is buying an advantage – and sometimes the expired domains can cost the same as a new domains.
Domain names are like a fine wine – domain age is more than a number – it is “clout” with search engines like Google and Bing.
If the aged domain has had a website on it that was not spammy – that's even better.
And I am going to show you how to check for that.
Another reason someone might want an expired domain name…
It happens. People go to their website only to discover that their domain name is expired.
As long as no one scooped it between the time the domain name expired – and the time you discovered it was not working – you should be able to purchase it again.
Domain renewal and registering a .com domain is usually under $15 a year.
I have had clients forget to renew and call me up in a panic because they can't figure out how to get their website back. I have seen it cost a couple hundred dollars to get it back because someone had bought it!
***Keep an eye on your domains and know when they are up for renewal.
Make sure your payment information is up to date at your domain registrar.
I keep all of my domains in one place – or else I would probably lose track of one somewhere.
(I've done it. That's why I keep all my domains in one place.)
Where to find an expired domain names lists
There are lots of websites that list expired domain names.
I visited all of these – I tried a lot of them.
http://www.domainhole.com
http://expireddomains.net/
https://expireddomains.io/ Both holycuteness.com and barkypetproducts.com are available on Godaddy Auctions – I found them using this site – good filters and sorting for free – lots of info on Moz and Majestic
https://www.expired-domains.co/
http://www.freshdrop.com/
https://www.domcop.com
https://auctions.godaddy.com/
https://moonsy.com/expired_domains/
https://www.registercompass.com/
https://domainhuntergatherer.com/
https://www.dropping.com/
http://www.namejet.com/
http://buycomdomain.com/
http://easyexpireddomains.com/
https://inbackorder.com/
http://www.expiredpicks.com/
https://www.dropcatch.com/
I highly recommend looking at how to find a recently expired domain name. Who knows, maybe you will find something that skyrockets your business to the level you would like it at. Just make sure you know what to avoid when you get an expired domain name.
Quick Links to Main Topics – How to Find Expired Domain Names
What is an expired domain name?
Where to find an expired domain names lists
When does an expired domain name become available?
Domain Age
DomainHole.com – search for an expired domain name
What WAS on this expired domain in the past?
Stay in a similar niche
Avoid Spam
ExpiredDomains.net – search for an expired domain with filters & sorting
Don't Pay Over $15 a year for a Domain Name… unless…
Where to Check if an Expired Domain Name is Available
How to Register an Expired Domain Name
Where to Host Your New Domain Name
When does an expired domain name become available?
Godaddy has a great explanation of their process here: What happens after domain names expire?
I read a lot of other answers to this question and here are the highlights:
Domain Deletion Process as follows:
Expiration period of 1-45 days
RDP (Redemption Days Period) – 30 Days
Deletion Days – 5 Days
After 75-80 days it available for public.
Some registrars don't follow the rules and domains can be released earlier.
This article is very informative and technical – When Does an Expired Domain Name Become Available?
Domain Age
Domain Age is one of many factors the search engines consider when they are ranking your domain name. They look at new websites as less trustworthy and therefore it might take a while for a new website to rank in the search engines.
If you can grab a domain name that has recently expired than you are starting with an “aged domain”
One aged domain is not just like the other!
DomainHole.com – search for an expired domain name
I spent some time on DomainHole today searching for domain names for a friend who is starting a business website – I like the site and I can see why they call it a hole. I fell in the hole and was searching for hours!
I choose domains that “contain” any of the keywords. The other choices in this drop down are “Starts with” and “Ends with”
Put in as many keywords as you want, separated by commas.
I look for just .com – but it shows me .com, .net and .org
I have it set for the “Last 60 Days” you can search for less or more – or custom dates.
I make sure Hyphens and Numbers are unchecked – I would never do another domain name with a hyphen in it because it is too hard to communicate. “My domain name is Total Nutrition Today with dashes in between the words…” People are lost. I got so much push back and confused look when that was my website!
Keep Your Domain Names Short
If you have to start telling people mydomainisreallylong.obsure.domain.ending (in a conversation) – you probably just lost that customer. And you will wind up in conversations where people ask you what your domain name is.
Keep it short.
It's good for business cards too. I have made the mistake with a few domains that are almost too long to comfortably fit on a business card. Let's face it, if you put a long domain on a business card or in a print advertisement, most people are going to type it in wrong when (and if) they try to visit your website.
Keep your domain as short as possible, while staying clearly in your niche.
I'm not really practicing what I preach with FreeTrainingWorkFromHome.com
That's not a short domain name!
I have owned this domain name for 5+ years – so it is an aged domain. And it's been my dream to create this site to help people work from home. I have always pictured this site on this domain.
I want to sort by Number of Characters in the domain – because I would rather have a short domain name. You can choose to sort by “domain name” or “Number of words.” I wish you could sort by the domain age!
You can limit the # of Characters in the domain and you can limit the # of words in the domain.
Your results will look like this:
I love how the domain name is separated into “Words” – so you can scan that column instead of the actual “Domain” column. It lists anything that is available in .com, .net or .org – even though I chose only .com!
You do have to scan the availability column and then look at the Words column if you are only interested in .com domain names like I am. I just don't think the other domain name extensions are as marketable.
On the right there is a gear shaped icon – click on that and you can see the “Domain Age” and any pages or inbound links Google has indexed. It will look like this:
I like to double check everything in Market Samurai – because I know those numbers come from Majestic -and I trust those numbers.
DomainHole is telling me that imihair is 17 years old! (it is currently May 15, 2018)
Market Samurai says 14 years.
If I had a hair salon – or a niche hair website – I might consider calling it IMI HAIR! I wonder if someone's name is Imi and she had a hair salon?
What WAS on this Domain in the past?
To find out what was on any domain – for free – use the WayBack Machine – which is a free website that keeps archives of every site they ever crawled. You can click on any date that is archived and see what was on the site on that date.
In 2004-2005 imihair.com was International Marketing & Imports (specializing in hair)
There has not been anything else on this domain since 2005 – so likely – someone bought the domain and it sat vacant for the past 13 years. I know this because the Wayback Machine never crawled it again.
imihair.com has a domain age of 14 years – so Market Samurai got it right.
The domain imihair.com is aged – but long vacant.
If you have a hair business and you can think of a way to market imihair – it looks like a good one!
I am looking for air – not hair – so imihair.com is available on Godaddy for $11.99 for anyone who wants it! If you buy it you are getting a domain with 14 years of domain age.
That's like buying a fine wine or whiskey that is aged – you just can't get that with a new domain.
In the Market Samurai results you can also see that the Go Air Me site has a referring domain (RDD) and 3 backlinks to the domain (BLD)
So, let's go wayback in the archives to see what used to be on goairme.
Not at all what I am looking for – this would be a great domain for someone in the travel niche.
Stay in a Similar Niche
I would not want to put my site on a domain unless the previous domain was a somewhat similar niche.
Travel & air fare with some backlinks? The backlinks are going to all bounce off my site because they are looking to book a vacation and I want to talk to them about cleaning their air up so they can live healthy lives!
We are looking for a domain having to do with air cleaning, indoor air, eradicating mold, etc. I did find 16 aged domains that might work for my friend. I am going to send them to her with a link to this blog. She can check them in the Wayback machine and see if she wants to go with an aged domain.
Avoid Spammy Sites
If you see Chinese symbols on a website or in links leading to a website – it was probably used as a link farm – avoid
If a site has a large number of anchor text that are the same – this could be a site that used spam – I have not found a good FREE backlink checker that is unlimited – I am going to continue to look and test and will post if I find a good way to check this. I was trying one – but it is not working the way it should. I will update – or please comment if you know of a good site to check backlinks that lists anchor text and gives exact sites the links come from – not just counts.
Check the expired domain on the Google banned site checker
If you see a 301 redirect in the wayback – this site may have been used as a link mill for black hat SEO – avoid this kind of site.
Blog Networks & Poorly Executed Guest Blogs – Google hates sites that are made just to put content and link back to other sites.
Single Post Blogs – something that was slapped up and never used
ExpiredDomains.net
Just when you think you did all the domain hunting you were going to do for one day – I kept looking at some resources and found another great website to search for expired domains.
You do have to become a member (for free) to see all the features. This is a no-brainer. It takes 10 seconds to choose a username and password, confirm via email and you are in the membership area. I see no limitations with the free membership.
The expired domain name searches have filters and sorting and so you are only seeing expiring domains with high Trust Flow – or nothing over 20 characters long – no hyphens – or whatever other metric you want to filter for. Seriously – if there is a measurement – this site has it.
This is a great tool. The numbers seem accurate when I check them with
I found a domain name I am seriously thinking about purchasing because it's domain age is 17 years and it has a Trust Flow of 17 – and I love the domain for a niche I want to get into.
Do I need another domain right now? No. Not really.
I really like all the filters and customization of the columns of detail they give you on expireddomains.net
I can't believe you get all this for free!
Don't Pay Over $15 a year for an Expired Domain Name
Just because the domain is expired and is available does not mean it is selling for the regular .com price which should be between $11.99 and $14.99…
Sometimes expired domains are put on the market as “Premium Domains” and that means they have a “Premium” price tag – most of the time – I don't pay more than $15 a year for a domain name.
When you have an established online business and you are stuck on a domain name – you can pay top dollar for it. As a start up – make sure you are paying under $15 for your .com domain names or you are paying too much!
A couple of exceptions:
- If you have an established business that has a name that was owned and comes up on the expired domain list. Buy it if the business can afford it. Especially if you have been using a domain name that is not your business name or not a DOT COM – I think every business needs to have a dot com. It's so much easier to remember.
- If you find a domain that is not spammy, has great metrics, lots of backlinks in your niche, you love the name and have a plan – you can pay a little more to get it and get that head start on your competition. I know people who have paid a little more upfront and were ranking on Google with in weeks of purchasing a domain and building a website.
Where to Check if Your Domain Name is Available
Even if the expired domain search tool of your choice tells you a domain is available – I would check on an actual domain registrar. I go to Godaddy for all my domain name searches.
I am used to their domain search page, so it's easy for me.
But honestly, you could go to any domain registrar to check domain availability. If you are anything like me, you have your favorite domain name registrar and you are sticking with them. If not, go to Godaddy.
How to Register an Expired Domain Name
If you are a Wealthy Affiliate member – you can register your domains right inside the Wealthy Affiliate premium membership area. On the left side of the page – where it says “Websites” ==>”Site Builder”
Once you click on “Site Builder” you will see:
1. What kind of website do you want to build?
Your choices are
1.) On a Free Domain
2.) On a Domain I Own
3.) Register a domain (choose 3)
Domains are $13.99 at Wealthy Affiliate. Registering your domain name at Wealthy Affiliate will make starting your website easier if you are a newbie! It eliminates one step. See – Host a Domain You Already Own on Wealthy Affiliate
Or, if you would rather keep your domains all in one place (like I do) – even though I am a Wealthy Affiliate member – my domains are registered with Godaddy. Godaddy gives a slight break on the first year but usually gets you for the full $14.99 per year on renewal. Once in a while, I find a coupon for renewals on Godaddy – but usually the discounts are for new domains only.
So, you may pay $11.99 for the first year at Goddaddy – but you pay $14.99 for every year after – so it evens out with Wealthy Affiliate's straight up $13.99 per year for domain registration.
Where to Host Your Domain Name
If you do choose to buy your domains on Godaddy or another domain name registrar you can Host a Domain You Already Own on Wealthy Affiliate with these instructions!
If you buy your domains inside Wealthy Affiliate – you can have your website set up in under a minute with the Site Builder inside Wealthy Affiliate Premium membership.
You can host up to 50 sites at Wealthy Affiliate – for the one low price of the Premium membership – and that also comes with all the training you will need to be successful with your website or websites – whatever you choose.
More Helpful info on How to Find Expired Domains
The Basic Problem with Buying Expired Domains for SEO
I'd love to hear your comments or experience with expired domains!
Interesting post here. I haven’t purchased an expired domain yet but now I have some info on what it’s all about. Still a bit confusing to me though. Do you buy an expired domain and then sell it? I have no idea but you did give some good info here. Thanks!
I buy expired domains for my own use because it gives a jump start on rankings if you get a good one. Some people do buy and sell them like real estate.
This is very interesting and something I have never thought about exploring when looking for a new domain. This is something I will keep in mind moving forward in regards to domains. Thank you, Curtis
Great! Knowledge is power!
Wow, this is amazing.
I can’t believe I never though of utilizing an expired domain name until just now!!
It makes perfect sense, and you’re right, it’s not cheating at all.
Why wait for maturity when you can spend an extra hour or two buying a domain that’s already mature, saving what.?.? 6 to 12 months worth of time.
Thank you for this information. Truly helpful!!
I’m glad you found it helpful. Makes me smile. 🙂 I’d love to know if you wind up getting an expired domain.
Thanks for this information. Although I already bought couple of domains, I had no clue there’s a market for expired domains, too. Also good to know they could be of advantage. Very useful.
I’m glad you found this useful. I did my job. 🙂
Exceptionally informative article and I like the way you link it out with the contextual flow. Its a fortunate aspect to have my domain registered at Wealthy Affiliate where its simple and we don’t lose our previous work thankfully.
I will definitely come back to read again if I missed out something and its highly informative and detailed.
I’m glad you got something out of it! It is great how easy it is to set up a website at Wealthy Affiliate. I love it – because they make it so anyone can have a website without a big cost upfront!
Thank you for this reminder, Heather. I just made a note of this and set up a reminder at least a month before for me to renew my domain. Lots of valuable information in here, very useful post for future reference. Self-education will really make one a fortune, it didn’t come to my mind that one can buy and sell domains too if not from this post. Thank you. Good job.
I’m glad you got something out of this post Thanks for the compliments! Sorry it took me so long to approve your comment – my computer was down for a couple of days. I think I it’s finally fixed!