Fox Marketer

December 23, 2009

Part 4: WARNING! Don’t Get Scammed By Expired Domains!

Filed under: Domain Names — Tags: — FoxMarketer @ 2:18 pm

This is the fourth article in my series and covers the hidden traps and dangers of buying expired domain names.

The 3 main traps you should be aware of when purchasing expired domain names are:

1. Expired Domains that are banned from showing Google Adsense
2. Expired Domains that are banned from Google’s Index
3. Expired Domains that have a fake pagerank.

With regard to item 3; I have already covered the solution for expired domains which have fake pagerank in part 2. You can read part 2 here.

So in this post I will only discuss item 1: Expired Domains that are banned from showing Google Adsense and item 2: Expired Domains that are banned from Google’s Index.

First of all, let share with you my own experiences with expired domain names:

Using my own method that I outlined in Part 2: Identifying Quality Expired Domain Names, I discovered what I thought was a SEO domain which had a great deal of potential to be developed into a small site with search engine optimization resources.

So I eagerly purchased the domain thinking it was a good buy. I went ahead and installed Wordpress, wrote a few articles and obtained some good solid backlinks. I was pleased to find after all my hard work that my site ranked well on Google.

I added Google adsense for the site but found for some reason the google ads would not show on the site. Disastrously for me (and this is a trap for the unwary) what I had not realized (and this is not a topic not widely mentioned or discussed on forums) – is the subject of sites that are banned from showing Google Adsense.

Now I’m not sure what the site had been doing wrong in the past, but it must have done something which upset the big G, as it would not allow this domain to show Adsense ads no matter what.

However, don’t let this put you off buying expired domain names, as there are a number of methods you can use to help make sure the expired domain you are buying is safe to show Google Adsense.

1st Method – The Domain’s History: As a general rule I always carry out a background check using wayback records to make sure the site hasn’t been doing anything suspicious in the past.

If the site looks suspicious in any way then I stay away from it. It’s not worth the risk spending lots of money on an expired domain name only to find it has been banned by Google.

You can check a domains history here: http://archive.org

2) Check to see if the domain is banned from Google’s index: If an expired domain is banned from showing in Google’s index then there is also a strong chance that the domain is banned from showing Google Adsense as well.

For more information on domains being banned from Google, then read this article: Banned Domain Names

So a friendly word of caution for those of you buying expired domains, if you plan on placing adsense as a form of monetization on your site ALWAYS make sure you check that the domain has not been banned by Google for showing in the search results and also for showing adsense.

However, if you do purchase an expired domain that is banned from adsense then don’t give up hope. You can always try sending an email to Google telling them that the domain has now changed hands and ask whether or not they will allow adsense back onto the domain. It is possible that Google may allow Adsense back onto the domain.

What are your thoughts on this subject? Would you still buy expired domains now that you know this information?

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Note:
This is the final Part of my series on buying Expired domains. I hope you have enjoyed what I have posted. If you would like to receive my informative posts on a wide range of internet marketing subjects that I provide EXCLUSIVELY for my subscribers then click here to learn the benefits of being a subscriber

  • Hi Brandon,

    Found you via your guest post at Gather Success!

    This is a very interesting post. I have not looked at expired Domain Names but have always wondered about them - have even let some of mine expire!

    I gather that the expired names that go to auction are those that have some added value, and not just domain names that have never been activated.
  • Hi Valentina, thanks for your comment :). Yes, you will find that there is not much information regarding expired domain names on the internet at all, that's why I wrote these posts - to educate people. I'm pleased you found it useful.

    Yes, most of the expired domain names that go to auction usually have value of some kind whether this be backlinks, pagerank or traffic. However, there are quite a few expired domain names which are "low quality" domains which aren't even worth buying. But if you follow my advice outlined in the 4 part series then you should be able to identify these quality expired domain names. Freshdrop definitely helps with this.

    Brandon
  • Please tell me how to search for Domains that are trademark protected. So that we avoid purchasing those!
  • Hi there, and thanks for your comment. Normally you can tell whether or not a domain is trademarked just by looking at the keywords within the domain name. For example: BestDesserts.com you would have no trademark issues, as it is a general term.. But a domain such as RialtoBestDesserts would be a problem as "Rialto" may be a trademarked term. If your unsure, then I suggest doing a thorough background check by looking at the wayback records at archive.org and also typing in the domain into Google and seeing what results come up. Do lots of background research if you are unsure.

    Brandon
  • Thanks Brendon!
  • Hi Brandon Walker,
    I have read rest part of post but this part is really useful to know details history about expired domain. After studied your post I want to know that Google Adsense is play major rule. Anyway thanks for your great tips.
  • Glad you found the post useful Chris :)
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