5 Things to Consider Before Buying Used Domain Name

Buy old domains
  • Save

The first step for starting a blog is to select a domain name. If you are planning to buy a used & old Domain name, I suggest you select the domain name for your blog after doing proper research.

There might be chances that you select a banned or a blacklisted domain name, which might create a problem in approving Google Adsense or many other unknown legal & technical issues in the near future. There are many other factors which must be kept in mind before buying used domain name.

Here I’m outlining some of the important factors that you should consider before purchasing a used domain name.

Age of Domain

If you are planning to buy an old domain name, consider age as a major SEO factor. The older the domain is, the more domain trust value it will have. However you need to check the history of domain name that it has never been misused in the past. Else a domain name could contain penalty & it would do more harm than good.

You can use archive.org to see what kind of website was earlier created on that domain name.

Good domain authority

When selecting a Domain name, just don’t go for any name. Always keep in mind to check the domain authority. A blog with good domain authority is always preferred by search engines and is most effective in driving huge traffic. You must be aware of a few facts about domain name before purchasing it, such as:

  • Domain registration date
  • Domain Expiration date
  • Domain swapping date

.com, .org or .net

This is the biggest myth when it comes to selecting a domain name. Many bloggers prefer to have a .com extension. But extension doesn’t matter when it comes to blogging. Many successful bloggers in blogosphere who are using .net or .org extension. Quality content and promotion are more important in blogging and not extensions.

Though anytime .com and .org are preferred as I don’t see other TLDs appearing much on the Google’s homepage. Do you?

These days there are many more domain extensions like .buzz, .guru, .agency & many more that you could consider. However, a majority of such domain are not yet sold.

Domain Name

Domain names can be up to 67 characters, but it is always recommended that you must not choose very long domain name for your blog. You can include characters, digits, and hyphen. Usually I don’t recommend it but in case if your purpose is just to get the link juice, it doesn’t really matter.

You must choose your domain name very carefully because it will represent you forever. I always prefer a professional and relevant (niche-specific) domain name. And if you are buying a used domain name, make sure you buy it for SEO advantage else for branding it;s always a good idea to start something of your own.

You might be interested in reading:

Copyright

Before selecting a domain name, do check out that the domain name doesn’t have any copyright or trademark. And if it’s a big brand, you might face a big penalty. Thus always take care that you must keep your hands off from copyrighted domain names.

Little off-topic, also make sure to check for any DMCA penalty against that domain. Since many domains are involved in auto-blogging and chances are high that DMCA notice might appear for such domains in search results. You can use this tool from Google to check for DMCA penalties against any domain.

You can do a search on Google to see what all results do you get for example: site:domain.com

Niche:

If you are buying a domain name for its SEO advantage, make sure you do your research about its earlier niche. A domain could be transferred many times, and some time even it was used for a different niche, in such cases, you might like to make sure you not getting too many 404 or irrelevant backlinks.

SEO issues related to old domains:

One of the most important concerns with buying old domains is SEO. Is it very much possible that the second-hand domain which you are planning to buy might be used for spamming earlier?

This includes manual penalty put by Google, bad trust score, and may be blocked by many anti-viruses. Well, my primary concern is with search engine optimization, as even with a great name, it will help you for nothing. Here is a useful video by Matt Cutts, in which he explained should you buy a used domain, and what are the disadvantages if that domain is previously marked as spam domain:

Subscribe on YouTube

Hope this article will help you to buy used domain name for your next project. Do share with us, which factors you consider before buying any old/used domain name?

Was this helpful?

Thanks for your feedback!
Authored By
A Shouter who love to help the blogging community grow.

14 thoughts on “5 Things to Consider Before Buying Used Domain Name”

  1. Leonard

    I am interested in using an aged domain with a high PR to create a new website. But what happens when I fill the new website with new content unrelated to the old domains content or niche ? Does the site mainatain its high PR rating and all the previous links ?

  2. Naren P

    Great tips. the wrong domain selection can get you into trouble and cause you much difficulty later on. Most importantly, a right domain name selection may increase your opportunities for getting better Search Engine Results Page (SERP) rankings. Taking time to research and learn the history of your domain will be imperative to your long-term success. Thanks for the article.

  3. domainka

    Interesting and useful post. I am planning to buy a high page rank domain or old domain for my new business. I have carefully choose my domain before I purchased it from domainka.com and the factors and information you mention in this articles is very useful and a great help for me. Cheers!

  4. aaditya

    I am planning to buy a domain with a digit at the end of keyword but I am worried about SEO. is it good or bad to have an digit in the domain name for seo ?

  5. algie @ freelancers guide

    Hi! I am planning to buy an old domain with high PR but I would like to know also how do we know that the domain is banned by google??

  6. VISHAL

    Thanks for the great tips… I will follow the steps while buying domain next time.

    1. Ruchi

      Yeah vishal, Do take care.
      Anywayz r u planning for one more blog ? 😉

  7. Rajesh Kanuri

    perfect tips and checklist for the old domain name buyers..

  8. Netchunks

    A great post Ruchi. By the way I think we should not buy any domains that have a hyphen in it even if it is has a good name or phrase attached. Hyphens are disastrous for SEO

    1. Ruchi

      Hey Netchunks, Hyphen don’t effect SEO the only thing why most of the bloggers avoid use hyphen is that sometimes it becomes tough to remember hyphen in domain name.
      Glad you like the post :).

  9. Techno-Pulse

    There’s one more myth related to hyphen ( – ) in domain names. I’ve a domain name with hyphen & I think it’s working quite well!

    1. Ruchi

      Right Techno-Pulse , bloggers avoid choosing hyphen in domain name but I have noticed many blogs which are doing great even with hyphen.

    2. NpXp

      There is no problem with having a hyphen in the domain when there is not much of a competition on the web 😉

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Scroll to Top