What is an aged domain to begin with?
These are domains that were being used by other websites prior, but are now discontinued or not in use by the original owner. This could be because the company behind the website went bust or the company changed its name and brand. A lot of the times it is simply a case of the owner losing interest. Many entrepreneurs register domain names and build websites with grand ambitions but lose interest shortly after. It may be a minus for them but it is a plus for us.
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Why We love Aged Domains
SEO takes a really long time to work. That is the unfortunate but true reality. Think of it from the search engine’s perspective. Are you really going to recommend a brand new website to your users that quickly? I mean, you don’t know anything about the website. In addition to that, you are not quite sure of who is behind the website. Heck, you are not even sure if the users get a good experience on the website.
Although most search engines won’t admit it, we get the impression that there exists a sandbox of sorts. A place where new website are kept as the search engines try to find out more about the website and where it fits in the overall search results.
After some time in this environment, what we at Ahadisoft Group Nairobi like to refer to as the ghost town phase, the website suddenly experiences hockey stick growth with regards to traffic numbers. This process takes months and in some cases years.
With aged domains however, because the domain was already in use and the previous owner spent a significant amount of resources on the brand, it is already trusted by Google and other search engines. This means, no ghost town phase and the SEO results can be very fast. In some cases, with domain names that have high domain authority and existing backlinks, it can take just days or hours to rank.
That is why we love, love aged domains. I mean, who wants to wait?
More benefits of aged domains
Shorter
A lot of really good, short, brandable domains tend to be already is use, and registering a new one is almost impossible. Because they are easy to remember, they tend to be very effective and thus everyone wants one. Aged domains are a great option if you are looking for something short and sweet.
Existing traffic
A lot of good aged domains are already ranking. This is excellent news for us. Like I mentioned above, we want to minimize the ghost town phase and get straight to getting traffic and making money
Aged Domain Strategies to keep in mind
In order to squeeze the most benefits from aged domains, here are some key aged domain strategies and tactics to keep in mind.
Big links
These are back links that are hard to get and may not be possible to get even through paying for them. These are links from websites such as Huffington Post etc. Not all backlinks are created equally. A website with a collection of backlinks from low DA websites is not going to be of much use to us.
Although the domain authority can be easily manipulated, a domain authority of more than 15 is ideal. Remember, we are not looking for expired domains or domains with problems. We want good domains that were previously in use. This does not mean domains that had a low domain authority or spammy domains with a bad reputation.
Niche relevance
The back links also have to be relevant to the niche in question. For example, if its a travel domain, then backlinks from good travel blogs are a great asset.
More content tips
Content length
Aged domains do not work magic, you also need really great rockstar content to satisfy your website visitors. Aim to create posts that are at least 800 to 1000 words.
Content velocity
Content velocity is the frequency of publishing content. A high content velocity always works wonders. This paired with a good aged domain that has relevant backlinks, is recipe for growth. You will be shocked at how fast your website is going to scale if you maintain a high content velocity.
Originality
This is the secret unsung hero of SEO. Many SEOs simply summarize existing content. While this is not bad per se, it tends to lead to websites having similar content and thus cut throat competition. You want to make your website stand out. The only real way to do this is by having original, researched content on your website. This can include a myriad of content types such as
- Surveys
- Experiments
- Interviews with experts
- Videos
Where to get aged domains?
This is the easy part, there are so many vendors out there that sell aged domains. The best thing to do is to start with your current domain registrar. Contact them and ask them if they have some good domains that the owners are not going to renew. From there, you can expand your search to other vendors online. I will not provide a list of vendors, for the sake of neutrality, but they are there in plenty.
You can use the wayback machine to see what the website history was about and the type of content that it hosted.
From there you can use a tool like Ahrefs to find the domain authority and total backlinks pointing to your aged domain.
Then you place your bid. Often times, the price can be higher that a typical new website that has not been used. This is especially when the seller understands the power of aged domains, and he/she happens to be sitting on a really good one.
You could also keep track of companies going out of business. I know, its a pretty dark thing to do but, they are not going to need the domain and you will get it for a really good price.
Use your negotiation skills and do not overpay for the domain names. You can learn more about us here.
