Do you do SEO and affiliate marketing? Are you launching a new expired domain affiliate website or are you simply improving the search engine rankings of existing ones with 301 expired domain redirects?
The SERP.domains team shares its 5 expired domain verification tips for greater success as an affiliate marketer.
The Internet opens new doors for starting a business every day. It seems that the possibilities it provides have no end if we take the time to delve into the intricacies. One of the areas that has been launched in recent years is affiliate marketing.
This revenue-sharing business model involves placing links in the content of the website to drive traffic to other businesses or e-commerce sites. The affiliate earns a commission from each sale generated by their relationship.
Is it complicated? Not exactly. This is a simple concept with the potential to win a lot for anyone who wants to break away from the traditional rat race and grow an online business. Are you interested? This is certainly an attractive option and one to keep in your back pocket.
There are many materials for affiliate marketing on the web, but the most important step in the process is choosing your domain.
New or expired domain?
Affiliate marketing works for both, but buying a new domain means you are starting from scratch. You may have a blank sheet, but it takes a lot of extra work to develop the page’s credibility. If you build your business on an expired domain, you take advantage of its age, existing links to the domain and the rank of its page.
Expired domains are those that have not been re-registered by the previous owner and become available for purchase. The pool of expired domains is deep and diverse. With so many available, how do you choose the right one to build your business on? Here are five verification tips to follow when looking at an expired domain.
1. Relevance of the domain to your niche
It is common sense to choose a domain name that matches your theme, but the relevance aspect has more to do with the name. Some domain names are quite common and do not provide any guidance on the content of the website.
How do you check the significance of an expired domain for your niche? You can do this in two ways.
Check the topics of the links
You can do this from Ahrefs.com. Enter the domain name and click Feedback. The search shows the number of links and referring websites that lead to the domain you are checking. This information is valuable as you can see how relevant the links are to your topic / niche.
Check your domain history
Archive.org is the ideal tool for checking domain history. Put the domain name in the Wayback Machine and Archive gives you a timeline associated with the domain. You can click on any year and select a round day of the month to see a snapshot of what the site looked like on that particular date. This is a great way to check previous content on your domain and determine its relevance to your topic.
Helps you choose the domain that is best for your niche. If you are building a partner site for health and fitness, look for a domain on this topic. Similarly, if your niche is caring for your dog, find a domain name associated with canine teeth.
There is little freedom if you can’t find an exact match in the cemetery of expired domains. You can buy one with a wide theme and reconfigure it to fit your niche. You can’t take a technical site and remake it for health and fitness. Google detects such discrepancies and you may find yourself in hot water.
2. Contextual references
Contextual feedback is part of a block of content, not a list of links. When you link to an article or similar content, it is more likely to be long-lasting and not disappear after you buy the domain. Buying a domain with strong links is a big step towards the success of your affiliate marketing business.
You can post feedback through ahrefs.com and check out the following:
- Dofollow – Links dofollow have better value as they contribute to the ranking of domain pages. The links marked with “nofollow” are still worthwhile, but will not affect the page rank so much.
- Domain rating – If a domain has a number of decent links and is clean, select it even if the DR is lower.
- Referring domains – You should always manually check if the feedback is still “live”.
It’s best to avoid an expired domain if a lot of links come from forums, comments, or directories. They can limit the potential success of your business.
3. Expired domain rating
Always check the rating of each expired domain you are considering. You can do this at ahrefs.com. The key is to find an expired domain with a reasonably high rating and valuable links. These domains are not easy to find and it may take some time to check the validity of the various links and the quality of the referring websites.
Feedback should always be relevant to the topic of the domain and should preferably be contextual rather than embedded in comments or discussions.
Try to avoid domains with any DR if they are spam, no matter how good the feedback is.
4. The number of reference domains
Take a closer look at the number of referring domains when considering buying an expired domain. The more referring domains there are, the more weight your website will have and the higher it will rank.
It is initially worthwhile to invest more money in a heavily expired domain than to take it for peanuts and have to spend unnecessary time and energy, create links and build the rating of your domain. With a strong domain from the start, much of this work is already done and you can start generating income earlier.
Be sure to check that most referring domain references are contextual.
5. Clear anchor texts and archive
Anchor text is the clickable phrase or word that leads to another web page. As discussed, these links should be found organically in the content in favor of your domain. Unnatural feedback – those that are irrelevant – with spam, verbose text anchors can lead to Google punishing you.
You can check the anchors at ahrefs.com. The anchor should always flow well in an article and not be confused or awkward.
You can check the archives to see if the expired domain is part of the PBN. A PBN, or private blogging network, is a network of websites used specifically to build links to a domain to increase its credibility.
Use the Wayback Machine to see photos of what the site looked like at different times in its history. Avoid any domain that has been part of a PBN or even a “link farm”. You don’t want to suffer sanctions before you start earning income.
Other domains to avoid are those with Chinese language that pop up in the archive.
In conclusion
Although branching out affiliate marketing is an exciting endeavor, it is essential to protect your future business by purchasing a strong expired domain from the start. It is not enough to choose one just by name. Your domain is the backbone of your business and with an inadequate verification process your reputation and that of your business may suffer.
Take the time to go through all the aspects we discussed before purchasing your domain. If you are unhappy with your domain history or feel you may be penalized, discard this domain and try another. Invest your time before investing your money. Building an expired domain affiliate business is still an affordable way to get rankings relatively quickly and earn a stable income.