In this post I will discuss buying aged domains with page rank and the things you need to be aware of.
I have to give credit to my friend Terry Kyle (Terry’s product: Best SEO Course I’ve ever used – affiliate link) who has taught me how to do this the right way!
Before I discuss how to buy an aged domain with page rank, I first want to discuss why this could be useful.
The fact is that search engines trust domains with age and page rank, so if you have a domain like this then it can be easier and faster to rank in the search engines. This is especially true if the domain has a Yahoo and/or DMOZ listing.
I’ve bought domains for as little as $40 that are PR 3 and listed in DMOZ, so it’s not that expensive, but you do need to know what you are doing.
When buying a domain from someone, the most important thing to do is check that the domain has not been dropped. What this means is that the domain has not expired at some time in the past and not been renewed by the owner. If this has happened, most SEO experts will agree that the domain has lost a lot of its value.
The best way to check if a domain has been dropped is to head over to www.domaintools.com and use there free service to check the domain out. The image below is an example of what domaintools shows you when you find a dropped domain.
You can see in the blue circle that it reads, “3 drops”. This to me is a domain that I would not consider buying, as you run the risk of the domain losing it’s page rank on the next Google update.
Another thing you need to do is check that the page rank is valid, and you can do this by doing a quick Google search like this: info:http://www.domain.com
You replace the URL with the domain you are looking at buying, and also test it without the www. What you are looking for is that the first result that Google has is the actual domain itself and not some other domain.
The reason you would do this is because some dodgy domain sellers will redirect page rank from one domain they own to another, so it gives the domain it’s page rank, but then they remove it once you’ve bought it. This may leave you with a page rank zero domain!
Here’s an example of a fake page rank:
In the example above you can see that I searched for info:tacticnews.com, however the first result that Google has is for www.burninginfo.com. This shows me that tacticnews.com is a forged page rank domain, and one I would not buy.
The other thing to check is the quality of the backlinks that the domain has. You can do this with any link checking tool, or even Yahoo site explorer. But just make sure you search for good strong backlinks, and not a whole bunch of low quality garbage links. You want to aim for at least 2 or more links to the domain that are of higher or equal page rank.
The reason for this (again thanks Terry for pointing this out) is because if by chance one of the links was removed then your domain should still hold it’s page rank because there is another high page rank link still in place.
One more thing that you should do when deciding whether to buy a domain or not is check and see if any of the inner pages of the site have page rank too. You might be looking at a PR 4 domain, and find that there a several inner pages that also have PR 4. This is very handy, because all you need to do is recreate these pages and you can use them.
To check if inner pages have page rank, all you need to do is search for the domain in Google like this:
site:http://www…..
However you also need to have the free firefox plugin called SEO Quake installed and switched on. The reason for this is that it will show you the page rank of the results. In the example below I have shown a domain that has home page of PR 4 and an inner page of only PR 0, but it still illustrates my point.
Anyway I hope these lessons on buying aged domains was useful for you, I don’t have room in this post to go into detail about why and how you can use these domains, because there are many ways. However if you are truly serious about SEO, I can’ t stress enough how great Terry Kyles course on SEO is.
If you want great SEO rankings for your keywords, then just grab Terry’s course here: BEST SEO COURSE EVER (affiliate marketing link)as it’s simply brilliant and I use it myself. (I stayed up until 2am two nights in row reading it…I don’t normally do that!)
All the best
Matt
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I have the seo quake tool bar and these are some amazing tips. I’ll have to take a look at that course you mentioned at the beginning of the post. I’m bummed I should have read this before I started all my sites! Thanks for the post, very cool.
Hi Matt;
I attended your recent webinar. It was excellent. Sadly, I had to leave early. As a full-time professional SEM/SEO, also heavily involved with affiliate marketing, I am impressed by the level of expertise you show and share.
Rather than pretending a get rich quick scheme, you are carefully explaining the tricks of the trade.
Things would have gone faster for me if I had access to a blog like this earlier ;o)
Keep it up
Fabian
A link to a trusted place where you can buy aged domains would give this post even greater value…
Matt these are great tips. I purchased Terry’s course
Backlinks Hydra and I think it’s one of the best courses offered online.
It’s not easy purchasing domains with age, page rank and backlinks as the good ones get snapped up pretty quickly. You’ve got to be at it on a regular basis to find a gem for yourself.
I thought I had a goodie from GoDaddy. Paid $300 for it but it misses on the dropped criteria you mentioned. Oh well, “live and learn – die and forget “as they say.
Joan
This is a great blog Matt. I’ve found things in here that the “gurus” hide or overlook. I check back on here pretty often! Keep up the good work!
Wow, those are great information you got there…
I don’t know if you forget, but you didn’t say where you bought All your domains, “I’ve bought domains for as little as $40 that are PR 3 and listed in DMOZ”.
Please keep us posted, really appreciate it..:)
Regards,
Dev
Hey Matt, I enjoyed the valuable information and love coming by to see what you got to share to help me out on my online venture. Thanks again, Lani
How can i identify a domain name in that situation? i.e. i imagine they already must be active, having a website, maybe empty but with backlinks, but for sale. How can i know?
Well thanks once again Matt. I listened to the webinar and then I purchased Backlinks Hydra thru your link. It was a good buy!
Unfortunately most of all domains you see are in the dropped category or have been dropped in the past.
One of the key criteria you left out of the equation is that of buying keyword domains. Get the exact search term keyword domain along with age and bingo it’s easy to rank for even tough terms in a very short time. For instance if you’re selling life annuities it’s much better to have http://www.lifeannuity or http://lifeannuities.com to work with rather than comebuyyourlifeannuityhere.com. Not only do you start with value but you build value into your enterprise that will last. The domain has value aside from the business and can be sold separately if you’re not successful.
Founding a web business on a weak domain is always a tough slog and the domain only has value as a component of the business. Independently it’s worthless, one of the reasons you can buy a pr3 with dmoz for $40.
Gordon
Matt,
Thanks for the specifics on what to look for with an aged domain. I have not tried this yet, but feel that I could with the information you provided in this post.
By the way, I really enjoyed your last webinar! I have seen traffic improvement from the few webinar back-link tricks I have already tried out.
Matt,
I agree that buying aged domains is a good idea. The Converting them to My website’s is where I’m unclear.Thanks
Great post Matt. I do have one question about PR. Say I have a PR3 site, and I change the content on that site, (for example, change it from a sales page to article content), would I still keep that PR, or would it drop after the next PR update?
Matt Carter Reply:
August 24th, 2010 at 6:50 am
Hey James
The content has nothing to do with the PR, so you would not lose your PR if you changed it to an article site. Its heavily to do with the backlinks pointing to your site.
Great questions
Thanks
Matt
Dear Matt
Thank you for the info. I am slowly weeding out the people
who only want to SELL something. I want to say YOU always
give advice that is QUALITY! I will keep you on my list.
Thank you
Mark
Matt, Another great post. I sent this post to some friends who I was with this weekend and had this very discussion. We all buy website on Flippa, and with a little research, you can find the scammers and there are many, trust me
Just this week alone, I bought 5 directory sites and they looked ok, but I paid next to nothing, but I caught some problems in the listing and found that a seller had over 100 domains was just importing databases from each other into each site and selling it
Buyer beware, i guess, but i will now also install SEO Quake
Thanks
Jb
Thanks Matt, on the ball as ever. I bought Terrys course from the webinar and it is excellent as you say. I haven’t looked at aged domains before so it will be a good trip, thanks.
Hi Matt,
Thanks for the great tips on buying aged domains. I ‘attended’ the webinar with Terry Kyle late last night – he had some very interesting comments to say.
I also use SEO Quake and I reckon that it is really very valuable for analysing competition without too much of a fuss. I shall continue to look out for high quality aged domains, although I think the chances of finding one is pretty slim, with the guru’s and their teams (both inhouse and outsourcers).
Thanks
Chronic Tinnitus
Hey Matt,
Thanks a lot for the tips, I really wanted to know some of the pitfalls around buying aged domains.
I do have one giant question still pounding in my head though…
Which website will give me the best chance of finding one of these great domains?
Regards
Juan
Matt,
Very good tips and advise on buying “used cars” or aged domains. Just like anything else in this biz, you have to do your due diligence.
You know… we’re really “researchers” when you think about it and “marketers.”
Take care “straight away!”
Steve
Matt Carter Reply:
August 24th, 2010 at 7:50 am
Hey Steve
Nice to hear from you, and yes I agree that we marketers have to do our research!!
Thanks
Matt
Matt,
Do you recommend checking the Wayback Machine to see what sort of content used to hosted on the expired domain?
Thanks,
Mark
Matt Carter Reply:
August 24th, 2010 at 6:44 pm
Hey Baby Math,
Yes I think the wayback machine is a good idea, and I do use it myself.
Thanks for pointing that out
Cheers
Matt
I don’t follow many of the “gurus” out there because a lot of what they produce is fluff. However, Matt, your blog is one that I follow religiously, and I trust what you say, because your content is ALWAYS rock solid. I don’t recall reading a single post where I said to myself “gee, that was a waste of time”.
I’ve considered buying aged domains, but I never really was sure how to check to make sure that they’re legit, which has stopped me from doing it so far. Now I have no reason, so I’ll be giving it a try soon.
I guess all I need to know now is how to find these aged domains that are for sale, for the niche that I’m working in. Maybe you can do a post on that Matt?
Thanks again for the great content!
Alex
Matt Carter Reply:
August 24th, 2010 at 6:46 pm
Hey Adam
thanks for such a positive comment there, really appreciate that, and glad you like my posts.
thanks
Matt
Great update post again Matt, I purchased Hydra backlinks as well, and learning learning learning, its awesome interesting! I always check in here to see if Im on the right track!
Brilliant advice Matt. A great way to gain more credibility in Google’s eyes. But where do we find these great websites to buy for just 40$ ?
Another great post Matt. I have seen some PR5 or even PR6 domains that were good if you wanted to market in that niche. For the price you should probably just buy it. How do you contact the person to buy the domain name. I know there are services out there that people use. Which one do you recommend?
Bill
Great blog Matt. You always have great information and come up with original ideas that most do not even consider. I have not considered buying used domains up until now.
Hey Matt,
Great blog, found it through your sig on warrior forum. Good to find a fellow Aussie IM’er. I have to agree, Backlinks Hydra was indeed a very good course. I bought that myself too!
cheers
Matt Carter Reply:
August 27th, 2010 at 12:09 pm
hey Anurag
great to meet you and thanks for stopping by my blog, hope to hear from you again soon mate
Cheers
Matt
Great article and I too have gone the way of the hydra. I have purchased a site but have run into some issues with rebuilding. Can anyone recommend a knowledgable source for advice? I am trying some of the forums but no luck to date (dreamweaver and warrior)
Thanks….looking forward to the boot camp
Gordon J
Hi Matt,
Great post and very useful stuff. Can you let us know where are the best places to buy Aged PR domains from?
Thanks.
This is a great post. Aged domains are very good to purchase. It just depends on the domain. Some could be in bad shape and aged so you have to be very careful. Good info on this site keep it up
Matt Carter Reply:
September 1st, 2010 at 9:46 pm
Hey Connor
Yes you are right, it is important to pick a good domain and do your checks on it.
Thanks
Matt
Hi Matt,
Great post! I am wondering, do you use Class C Hosting or just normal hosting to keep you aged domain PR rangking. Do the PRs drop if you host them with normal hosting?
Thanks,
Riley
Hi Matt,
good tips, thx.
what about a domain that has expired but is 3 years old? If its PR drops to 0 then its the same as having a new domain, except its already 3 years old. Will a dropped 3yo domain rank quicker than a brand new domain?
Phil
Matt,
I notice you promote traffic siphon.
There are a whole host of new auto link building software programs out there. Can you give your feedback for everyone on:
Alex Goad’s “Rank Builder” released Sept 7
SE Nuke (subscription is $147/mo)
SEO Power Suite (Link Builder module)
Market Samurai Link Building module
Thanks.
Investor
Mark,
What are your thoughts about “auto link building” softwares out there like Alex Goad’s “Rank Builder” subscription program for $67/mo?
Great article. Aged domains are a powerful but still widely underused resource to boost your seo efforts. The important thing is to buy them with the registration date intact (so before they are deleted). To improve your chances of keeping the PR it is best to rebuild part of the old site using the data from the waybackmachine and later gradually transform it into a new site.