As webmaster, I came across this topic several times in the forums and while marketing websites: dropped domains! What are these “dropped” domains? And do they do us any good?
I participated in a few discussions on this and today it seems important to elaborate this with the readers. Here is my take on this:
Technically, I classify dropped domains in two different types:
1) Expired-Dropped and 2) Dropped-Established
Let’s see what there Expired-dropped domains are. Let’s say you had bought a domain 3 years ago with the idea of starting an online business. You registered the domain for a year after which it had to be renewed. At some point and after long consideration since you bought the domain, you gave up the idea of your online “venture”…Believe me, you wouldnt be the only one!
So you didn’t renew the domain despite repeated notices from the registrar. Consequently, the domain expired and DROPPED…
There was never a website built on it and therefore you’re unlikely to have any backlink whatsoever. The domain is probably never even indexed by seach engines. This type of domains, if registered are treated as almost fresh by search engines and you are unlikely to face any penality when it comes to rankings. All you need to do is develop the website and build links around it and overtime your site will rank!
2) This second type of dropped domains (Dropped-Established as I call it) are a little trickier to handle. Let’s suppose you purchase example.com from a reseller. You notice a few backlinks and some PageRank in the domain. You want to develop the domain to a site on let’s say…”Luxury Furniture”
Now, if it’s not a new domain and has PageRank and backlinks, it’s almost certain that the domain was being used for a website in the past. If example.com was a website on tattoo designs in the past and was abandoned by then owner, search engines WILL see your attempt to develop this domain to a furniture website as manipulative. The domain was previously indexed and categorized as Furniture domain in the past by search engines. If you’re trying to use the domain for a website on a completely different niche, you will eventually lose existing backlinks at some point, which will also lead the domain to losing its current PageRank.
Paying $xxx for this type of endeavor is not foolproof. Therefore, if you’re planning on developing an old domain you want to make sure the type of back links the domain currently has if any. Also, it pays off to have a look at Archive.org’s Wayback Machine and see what site had run on the domain in the past.
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