Expired Domains: How to Leverage Established Authority and Backlinks with Sean Markey [Ep.117]

Buying an existing business allows you to skip the building phase and jump straight into generating profit. Similarly, using expired domains can be a cost-effective alternative to starting from scratch.

This is a tactic that Sean Markey often uses, leveraging expired domains to fast-track the authority of his sites. Sean is an SEO who specializes in acquiring, building out, and 301’ing expired domains. Using this approach, he has sold over $775k in sites in the last few years.

In this episode, Sean joins us to shed light on the various benefits of using expired domains.

We discuss the qualities of a great expired domain, and the red flags you should steer clear of. According to Sean,

“For me the most important characteristics are, is the expired domain indexed? Then, if it's indexed, is it ranking? A lot of really powerful expired domains with strong backlink profiles will continue ranking. That makes the pool of possible acquisitions smaller because a lot of sites don't hold their rankings through that expiration process. Then, check what the site is ranking for and ask yourself if it's niche-relevant to what you're doing.”

Sean dives into the various ways you can use expired domains, and how long it will take to start seeing results. He also reveals the best places to purchase expired domains and walks us through some strategies you can use to win domain auctions.

If you are looking for new and effective ways to boost your backlink profile and domain authority, then look no further than this informative episode!

Topics Discussed in This Episode:

Sean walks us through his background and his entrepreneurial journey (03:24)
What initially drew Sean to expired domains (07:01)
The characteristics of a good expired domain (09:57)
At what stage in its lifecycle should you purchase an expired domain? (14:20)
What Sean looked for when buying a site from Empire Flippers (16:19)
Why Sean uses 301 redirects as his main link-building method (20:51)
The best places to buy an expired domain (23:26)
What to do with an expired domain once you’ve bought it (26:56)
The timeline of taking an expired domain from zero to hero (34:13)
Strategies to win domain auctions (38:08)
The backstory of Sean’s Rank Theory newsletter (40:30)

Mentions:

Sit back, grab a coffee, and learn how to use expired domains to accelerate your domain authority.