subject: Expired Domain Names - Why it Makes Sense to Shell Out More for an Expired Domain [print this page] Expired Domain Names - Why it Makes Sense to Shell Out More for an Expired Domain
Whether you want to host a personal blog, or run a large website, the one thing you will need is a domain name. Domain names are the foundational stones of the internet, the base on top of which the online world functions. Domains such as Facebook.com, or Google.com have become as much a part of our lives as a favorite book, movie or TV show.
But not all domain names are equal. Some are many, many times better than others and can give a ton of benefits - marketing, branding, and SEO (Search Engine Optimization). The right name can make it 10 times easier to rank high in the search engines, while the wrong one can set back your marketing efforts significantly.
This is where expired domain names step in. In a nutshell, expired domains are names that were not renewed after their registration period ended. If your name was expiring on the 1st of May and you forgot to renew it (or didn't do so deliberately), it will enter the 'expired' pool.
Expired names offer a ton of SEO benefits. Google and other search engines such as Bing, love old domain names. They believe that the older a name is, the older the site, and consequently, the more established and trusted it would be. Thus, you will find that a site on an old name will rank higher on Google in a much shorter span of time than a new domain name. Expired names, since they have been registered for at least one year, are particularly loved by Google.
Then there are the factors of existing page rank and backlinks. Page Rank refers to a mechanism used by Google to rank a site. The higher the page rank (or PR), the more respected the site is, according to the search engines. Backlinks, on the other hand, refers to the number of links pointing back to your site. The higher this number, the easier you will find to rank high on search engines for your keyword. Once again, expired names which previously housed a site will have some existing backlinks at least, and extend the benefits of these backlinks to your new site, giving you a significant SEO advantage.
Expired domain names might cost a big more than a regular, free to register name, but the cost is easily offset by the obvious SEO advantages. If you want
