buying an expired domain

Posted Wednesday 16th January 2008 by Catherine in SEO.

A debateable issue for SEO’s when trying to build quality links for their clients sites is the business of buying an expired domain.

The general idea is that a domain name can be purchased and backward links can be utilised from that site to avoid the lengthy process of starting from scratch. Link building being an important part of the work SEO’s do for their clients.

Many SEO companies have used this route in the past with a degree of success. However, Google have largely put a stop to this practice.

A Google spokesperson states that Google know when a domain name has expired and that it will reset all backward links, preventing SEO’s from taking this shortcut. New links will be duly recognised.

This will cause a problem for sites that have accidentally allowed their domain names to expire as they will also lose all their links.

Some SEO’s still believe this course of action is a way to pre-existing links as Google have not yet perfected their filtering method and some domains will still slip through. Users should be aware though, that page ranking gained through this method will be short lived and as soon as Google pick it up, that ranking will be lost.

Questions raised in the SEO community regarding this issue include ‘What happens if there is a transfer of ownership of a domain name?’ and ‘What if you buy a domain name that hasn’t yet expired?’

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