How To Make Money With Expired Domain Names

Updated: January 28, 2024 by Bill Burniece

Thousands of domain names expire every single day.

In fact, you might be surprised to learn how vast and diverse the domain name graveyard really is.

But did you know that there are several ways to make money with expired domains? 

Below, about middle of this page, I will describe each one for you in detail.

make money with expired domains image

Why Buy Expired Domains?

For starters, one of the factors in Google’s search ranking algorithm is the domain name’s age. Older is better.

In fact, expired domains are also commonly referred to as aged domains. But the benefits go far beyond just the domain’s age.

  • Some expired domains already have earned a PageRank (PR) score higher than zero where all new domains start. PageRank is a factor in Google’s search algorithm. Despite what you may have read elsewhere, PageRank is not dead yet. According to Google, it still matters.
  • You’ll find some expired domain names that are already listed in some hard-to-get-into directories such as DMOZ.
  • Most expired domain names already have some valuable backlinks pointing to them which will give you a head start on building your own. It’s always nice when someone else has already done some of the hard work for you.
  • What’s really cool is that you’ll be able to find the data on existing PageRank, directory listings, and backlinks on these domains prior to buying them so you know exactly what you’re getting.
  • Since the domain has been around for a few years you’ll likely be able to use more aggressive backlink strategies and promotional techniques than new domains which are often flagged (and sandboxed) for the same methods.

Why Do Marketers Let Their Domain Names Expire? 

There are many reasons why people abandon good domain names including:

  • The owner has forgotten to re-register the domain
  • The owner simply doesn’t want or need the domain any longer
  • The owner has been squatting on the domain hoping to sell it without any success
  • The domain may have belonged to a business or website that has officially shut down

6 Great Ways To Make Money With Expired Domains 

 

1. Buy & Flip Expired Domains

Good domain names are always in demand.

In fact, there are marketplaces that specialize in helping you sell your domain names. Platforms such as Flippa, Afternic and Freemarket allow you to get maximum exposure for your domain to get it sold for the max price. More on the biggest domain marketplace Flippa below.

You can also advertise your domain name for sale on your own website or social media platforms to avoid listing fees or third party commissions.

Learn more about flipping domain names here

2. Repurpose Expired Domains Into A New Website

As we examined above, expired domains are ‘aged domains’ which carry more authority and possibly even have valuable backlinks already pointing to them. If you revamp the website for your own purposes, you can get a nice head start on monetizing the repurposed content over using a new domain.

3. Utilize Domain Parking Services

You can buy an expired domain name and park it with a domain parking company to earn income on a pay-per-click basis for ads on that parked page. This strategy is also called cash parking. These parked websites consist of the landing page only and link out to the ads of the company’s choice. This won’t make a ton of money for you, but it will likely turn a profit.

4. Use Expired Domains For Backlinking Or Redirecting

Expired domain names are nice for building mini websites to augment and point to your primary money-sites. The goal here is to transfer any existing “link juice” that your aged domain name already has to your main site.

This is method of linking is commonly known as a Private Blog Network or PBN’s. If you go this route, make sure you know how to set up and link these mini sites to make sure you don’t get flagged or possibly banned by Google for breaking the rules. In general, Google frowns on PBN’s so you must do your due diligence to ensure you are above board to stay out of trouble.

5. Use An Automation Tool Such As MyTrafficJacker That Automatically Picks The Best Expired Domains

There is a tool called MyTrafficJacker that allows users to search by keyword on either Wikipedia, YouTube, BBC or Quora and find live but expired links that are still posted on these sites that you can pick up for as little as $10 and redirect that traffic and authority on your sites. This includes links from popular sites such as Wikipedia, Quora and even large news sites like BBC.

This is a really cool option if you don’t mind spending a few bucks on the automation tool. Click here to learn more about the MyTrafficJacker tool.

6. Use Your Expired Domain To Make Your Own Landing Page With Ad Links

Similar to domain parking services (#3 above) you can use your expired domain to do something similar. Just design a simple landing page on your domain topic and either populate it with your own ads or sell ad space to others.

Before You Buy Do You Due Diligence First

  1. Using your link checking tool of choice to check the backlink profile of the domain you like. Does it look like the domain was involved in any link farming schemes that Google hates? Are the links good quality or just a disjointed collection of spammy links from non-related crappy sites? If it’s the latter you may want to pass on that domain since it may be more trouble than it’s worth to clean it up. 
  2. Using your link tool once again check to see what domains (if any) 301 redirect to them. If the domain you’re analyzing has a ton of 301’s from suspect sites pointing to it this is also a red flag and you may want to pass on it. Especially because you have no control over 301 redirects from a third party site so trying to get cooperation from the sites owners is a major headache. 
  3. Is the site still indexed by Google?  From Google’s home page type in – site:yourdomainname.com
  4. While you’re on Google check to see if the brand has a bad reputation. If the previous domain owner spammed his audience or pissed off every other site owner in that niche you had better know about it in advance before you end up guilty by assumed association. 
  5. Finally, while still on Google, check to see if the domain still has an existing audience. Are people still commenting on the domain or site?  Is there any social media presence and if so is it positive or negative?
  6. Go see what content was on the domain in the past using the free Wayback Machine website archive tool. 

Best Place To Buy Expired Domains

Here are a few good sites to get you started:how to make money with expired domain names image 2

SEO.Domains – over 20,000+ expired domains from all over the world.

instantdomainsearch

expireddomains

snapnames

domcop

namejet

pool

Where To Sell And Buy Domain Names

There are several good domain aftermarkets on the interwebs in which to buy and sell domains  including sedo.com, aftermarket.com, and even auctions.godaddy.com but my favorite is by far Flippa.com. 

Flippa is the entrepreneur’s marketplace.flippa logo

Flippa is the world’s number one marketplace for buying and selling websites, domains and apps.

Buyers love Flippa due to the extensive inventory to suit a range of investors. In fact more than 1,000 new businesses are listed for sale on Flippa every single day. As the first and leading marketplace for entrepreneurs, they’ve built a buying experience that is second to none, it’s simple and secure.

Sellers use Flippa due to it having the highest sales rate in the industry—primarily due to the massive size and quality of the Flippa buyer audience. Every month on Flippa over $2m of businesses are sold.

Here are some numbers Flippa stats (probably higher now):

  • Over 600,000 users have registered to buy or sell on Flippa
  • A bid is placed on a Flippa auction every minute
  • More than 2,500 buyers and sellers are online every minute of the day
  • In the last 12 months 300,000 bids were placed and nearly 23,000 business were sold on Flippa.
  • Alexa puts Flippa in the top 1,000 sites worldwide

Go check out Flippa.com right now and get in the game.

Affiliate Disclosure
Disclosure: The operator of this website is a 3rd party marketer with a material connection to product/service providers appearing on this site in that we are compensated for sales made through our affiliate links.

If you have any questions please contact me bill@highpayingaffiliateprograms.com