Expired domains are one of the best options when you want a name which has existing traffic coming into it. Sure, there’s always typo domains. However, at this day in age typo domains are usually pretty clear signs of cyber squatting. Anytime we start talking about cyber squatting there is always going to be an increased risk of legal trouble for registering the name. The next metric that usually comes to mind for people is Alexa ranking. The truth is, Alexa isn’t always the most accurate metric out there and you can usually get domains that have more traffic without judging them solely by their Alexa ranking. Consider paying attention to the different metrics below when searching for expired domains that have existing traffic!

Number of Incoming Links – The number of incoming links an expired domain has pointing into it can be a great metric for determining whether it has traffic or not. Previously developed domains will usually have multiple links coming into them and many of these links could be driving additional traffic into the name. At the same time, if you see a domain which has an Alexa ranking of 1,000,000 and only one link coming into it – This should be a clear sign that something fishy is going on. Most likely that domain was just being redirected.

SEMRush/Ahrefs/MajesticSEO Statistics – These websites are the tools needed to see how much authority a specific domain has. If you’ve managed to find an expired domain that was previously developed then plug it into any of these websites and find out what kind of traffic history it has. You can get a better idea on where the traffic comes from, what kind of search engine rankings the website previously had, how good of quality the links are which point to it, plus a number of other important factors that can determine if the previous website was “legit” or “spammy.”

Other Global Ranking Websites – Believe it or not, there are numerous other websites out there which have a global ranking system similar to Alexa. Some of the websites include Ranking.com, SimilarWeb and Quantcast. If you find an expired domain which appears to have incoming links or a decent Alexa ranking, check it on some of the other global website ranking networks and see what kind of numbers it has there as well. Seeing a domain with solid ranking numbers across multiple networks is a good sign that the traffic is more than likely real.

I still believe Alexa numbers are worth taking into consideration. But, I don’t believe it’s the only metric you should go by. Searching for expired domains that have good numbers in more than one of the methods listed above should give confirmation on whether it really does have valid traffic coming in or not. For example, if the domain has allot of backlinks AND has a good Alexa ranking then this would be a good sign because one number can backup the other. We all know that everyday there are dozens of previously developed domain names which are going to be up the air for anyone to grab. You most likely won’t be able to register them by hand, and that is exactly where our software will come into play! Search and find the traffic domains that you want. Then, load them into DesktopCatcher on their drop date and our software will automatically run and register them for you. Just visit the Download page above to get your copy now!