Sedo / Expired Domain Question

[texcomplex]

Hey all

I was wondering if you can help. I've spotted a domain I want to put my content site on to (my site is currently sitting on a server until I decide which domain to do with). The domain I'm after is on Sedo for £400. Is there any value in the age of the domain if it has been active since 2004? Surely Google knows when the registration of the name changes and looks at the domain differently when new contact details are assigned to it?

I'm just trying to work out what is best - start on a fresh domain and have the sandbox period, or buy a £400 domain that has been registered and active since 2004. It has no black hat history, just a domain that used to be a physical store but is now closed. They never had much of an online presence and it only has has a link from 1 site.

Thanks

 

[Philip J. Fry]

I was in the same mindset as you the other day, to design my site for search engine optimisation first and users second. Don't do it. Unless the domain name is some brand you love, it has no branding value. Also, it has very little SEO value since it has only 1 backlink so far. As for it being aged and you getting out of the sandbox sooner, does this really matter? What's the rush? Let's say the hockey stick graph is delayed by 6 months due to you have a new domain instead of an aged one. Let's also say the site would make $2,000/month for the first 6 months to 18 months. You're only losing out on $24,000 in loss revenue, but you'll make that up if you just keep on building the site.

I'd rather make a site with a good brand than to get some aged domain benefit as the only SEO benefit. Sounds like a waste of 400 pounds to me.

 

[Ryuzaki]

I'm trying to justify the £400 price tag in my head. Unless you just have to have that brand name for some reason, I'm not seeing that it's worth the money. There's a million aged domains out there. What makes them valuable is their backlink profiles, and this one you're talking about doesn't have one.

I know you're specifically talking about fast-forwarding past the sandbox period. My question would be whether or not the domain (at least the homepage if not inner pages too) are still indexed. Unless this is the case, you're wasting your money, in my opinion. This makes or breaks the domain in terms of age, even if the registration date never changed because it kept getting drop-catched.

And speaking of the contact details and all that, yes, Google can absolutely see all of that (they're a registrar now, too). But contact info changes all the time. Individuals start companies where the name and address and phone number all change, but it's the same person behind it. That's not what matters.

What matters, in my quite extensive experience with this, is that the original registration date remains in-tact by the domain never fully expiring but being caught during the grace and dropping phases (this can negate the backlink profile and aging benefit), and that at least the homepage managed to stay in the index the whole time (this can negate the aging benefit).

 

[secretagentdad]

I'd give you a blow hard opinion but you gotta tell us what the name is or give us some hints as to the quality of it. Backlinks and age arnt worth 400 but a good brand name that carries water for your marketing department. That can be worth way more.

 

[Golan]

Domains for high bucks on Sedo and other marketplaces might have their value being of two types - SEO (site in the past with backlinks) and brandable name. Ideally both. Do you need a brand? A real strong brand. Then $400 sounds cheap, good brand names cost tens and hundreds thousand bucks. $400 actually might be not bad compromise. Anyway, it's impossible to tell without knowing the name, about neither SEO nor brandable value.

 

[texcomplex]

I was in the same mindset as you the other day, to design my site for search engine optimisation first and users second. Don't do it. Unless the domain name is some brand you love, it has no branding value. Also, it has very little SEO value since it has only 1 backlink so far. As for it being aged and you getting out of the sandbox sooner, does this really matter? What's the rush? Let's say the hockey stick graph is delayed by 6 months due to you have a new domain instead of an aged one. Let's also say the site would make $2,000/month for the first 6 months to 18 months. You're only losing out on $24,000 in loss revenue, but you'll make that up if you just keep on building the site.

I'd rather make a site with a good brand than to get some aged domain benefit as the only SEO benefit. Sounds like a waste of 400 pounds to me.

Thanks, this is really helpful. It is a lot of money for a domain which has age. Also i’ve read about some domains just not working for whatever reason google decides, so £400 is a lot to pay if google just decides it doesn’t like it anyways! Thanks for your feedback

Domains for high bucks on Sedo and other marketplaces might have their value being of two types - SEO (site in the past with backlinks) and brandable name. Ideally both. Do you need a brand? A real strong brand. Then $400 sounds cheap, good brand names cost tens and hundreds thousand bucks. $400 actually might be not bad compromise. Anyway, it's impossible to tell without knowing the name, about neither SEO nor brandable value.

Thanks! You’re right, it was quite a good brand name but I checked the trademark database and found someone has actually trademarked it - so i decided to stay away. Thanks for your feedback though as it will help with the next domain I decide to go with.

I'm trying to justify the £400 price tag in my head. Unless you just have to have that brand name for some reason, I'm not seeing that it's worth the money. There's a million aged domains out there. What makes them valuable is their backlink profiles, and this one you're talking about doesn't have one.

I know you're specifically talking about fast-forwarding past the sandbox period. My question would be whether or not the domain (at least the homepage if not inner pages too) are still indexed. Unless this is the case, you're wasting your money, in my opinion. This makes or breaks the domain in terms of age, even if the registration date never changed because it kept getting drop-catched.

And speaking of the contact details and all that, yes, Google can absolutely see all of that (they're a registrar now, too). But contact info changes all the time. Individuals start companies where the name and address and phone number all change, but it's the same person behind it. That's not what matters.

What matters, in my quite extensive experience with this, is that the original registration date remains in-tact by the domain never fully expiring but being caught during the grace and dropping phases (this can negate the backlink profile and aging benefit), and that at least the homepage managed to stay in the index the whole time (this can negate the aging benefit).

Thanks for your reply on this. I hadn’t really thought about looking at whether a domain is still indexed in google when considering domains on sedo, I will definitely check this out in the future, as well as the registration date and if that has remained in-tact.

 

[timaay]

Thanks! You’re right, it was quite a good brand name but I checked the trademark database and found someone has actually trademarked it - so i decided to stay away. Thanks for your feedback though as it will help with the next domain I decide to go with.

Smart to look out for this!

Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer and you should seek one out prior to taking any legal actions, i'm not giving any legal advice in any way :-)

Also, just in case you aren't aware (you very well may be) make sure the trademark isn't marked "DEAD" or abandoned. Simply seeing it show up in the database isn't a reason to stay away from it. I've personally myself tried to get Word Mark trademarks and was not able to do so... if you search TESS it shows up as DEAD. Also, even if someone had an active trademark but let it go there is not a lot of enforceability behind it. Sure they could try but again if you stick to the domain name alone there isn't much exposure there.

Again, i'm not an attorney and this is not legal advice please seek out counsel prior to making any opinions or making any decisions about how to proceed :-)