SEO Fundamentals
Expired domains, backlinks, domain authority and link history: how to find, check and evaluate an expired domain with backlinks.
Core Concepts
What is SEO?
A comprehensive introduction to search engine optimization, how it works, and why it matters for businesses.
How Search Engines Work
A comprehensive guide to understanding how search engines crawl, index, and rank web pages to deliver relevant search results.
What Are Keywords? A Comprehensive Guide to Keyword Research and Targeting
Understand the fundamentals of keywords in SEO, from search intent and keyword types to research methods and optimization strategies for better search rankings.
What is a SERP? Search Engine Results Pages Explained
A comprehensive guide to search engine results pages (SERPs), their anatomy, key features, evolution, and optimization strategies for modern search.
What is Search Intent?
Understanding search intent is fundamental to SEO success. Learn the four types of user intent and how to align your content for better rankings.
Backlinks & Link Building
How Backlinks Work
Understand the fundamentals of backlinks and why they matter for SEO.
Link Building Strategies
A comprehensive guide to ethical link building techniques that improve search rankings and build lasting authority.
Redirecting an Expired Domain: What Google Allows and What Gets Flagged
Google's expired domain abuse policy never mentions redirects, so the same fit test that applies to a rebuilt site decides whether a 301 from an expired domain holds up. When it makes sense, when it is a mismatch, and how to check before you point anything anywhere.
How to Evaluate an Expired Domain's Link History
The referring-domain count is the least useful number on the page. Here is what to look at instead, in the order I look at it, and the checks that have saved me from bad domains.
How to Check Any Site's Backlinks for Free (5 Methods, No Ahrefs)
Five ways to find backlinks to a site without paying for a link index: Google Search Console, our Common Crawl checker, Common Crawl itself, the vendor free tiers, and the Wayback Machine. What each one covers, what it misses, and how to read the result.
Domain Authority vs Domain Rating vs Revised Authority (What Each Score Measures)
Three 0 to 100 scores, three owners, three different inputs. What Moz, Ahrefs and Revised each measure, why none of them is a Google ranking factor, and which comparisons are safe to make.
Edu and Gov Backlinks: What They're Worth, Where Real Ones Come From
Google says a .edu or .gov link is not special on its own. The pages behind those links usually are. Where legitimate ones come from, why the bought kind is the textbook link spam case, how to verify a claimed one, and how rare they are in a directory of 12,000 expired domains.
Wikipedia Backlinks: How to Get Them Honestly (and Why They Are Nofollow)
Every external link on Wikipedia has been nofollow since 2007, and Wikipedia's own guideline says adding your site will not help SEO. What the links are still worth, the three ways to earn one that survive review, and the one route that starts with a domain Wikipedia already cites.
Wikipedia Backlinks: What a Link From Wikipedia Is Worth (Nofollow Since 2007)
Every outbound link on Wikipedia has been nofollow since January 2007 and Wikipedia says so. What the link still does for referral traffic, editorial trust and AI answers, what happens to a citation when the cited site dies, and where to find the domains Wikipedia already links to.
Dofollow vs Nofollow Links: What the Attribute Does (and What Google Changed in 2020)
There is no dofollow attribute. A dofollow link is any link without rel=nofollow, sponsored or ugc. What each value tells a search engine, how Google has treated them as hints since 2020, how to tell the two apart on a page, and why a nofollow link from the right site still counts.
Referring Domains vs Backlinks: Why the Domain Count Is the One to Read (2026)
A referring domain is one site that links to you, however many times it does. Why the referring domain count beats the raw backlink count, how Ahrefs, Semrush, Majestic and Moz each define it, why every listing in the directory shows a referring domain band, and how to read that band against a domain authority score.
Toxic Backlinks and Disavow: What Google Actually Says (and What Tools Mean by Toxic)
Google says most sites will never need the disavow tool. Toxic is a vendor score, not a Google signal. What the disavow doc and the spam policies say, how Semrush, Moz and Ahrefs each define a toxic or spammy link, how to read a dropped domain's link profile before you use it, and the two conditions under which disavowing makes sense.
Google Search Console Backlinks: How to Find, Export and Read the Links Report (and Check a Domain You Don't Own)
Where the Links report is in Search Console, what its three tables show, the 1,000-row cap and the 100,000-row export, how to read the result, and what to do when the domain is not yours and no Search Console exists for it.
Technical SEO
What is Technical SEO?
A comprehensive guide to the technical foundations that help search engines crawl, index, and rank your website effectively.
Core Web Vitals Explained
Understanding Google's page experience metrics and how to optimize your website's loading performance, interactivity, and visual stability.
Expired Domains
What Happens When a Domain Expires: The Full Timeline (gTLD and .au)
Day by day, what happens after a domain expires: the 45-day grace period, the 30-day redemption period, the 5-day pending delete and the drop, with the ICANN and auDA policy text behind each number, and how to read where a domain is right now.
How to Find Expired Domains with Traffic (Free Methods That Still Work)
Why the traffic on an expired domain is residual, where it actually comes from, how to estimate it for free from referring domains and archive density, and why a list of verified referring domains beats a scraped traffic column.
Expired Domains: The Complete Guide (Timeline, Value, Where to Find Them)
What expired, aged, dropped and deleted actually mean, the 80-day gTLD timeline and the 30-day .au one with the policy text behind each, why a few expired domains are worth having and most are not, and where the lists come from.
Expired Domain Abuse: What Google's Policy Actually Says (Verbatim)
Google's expired domain abuse policy quoted in full, the three examples, what Chris Nelson and John Mueller have said on the record, and the two-part test that separates a real site on an old domain from spam.
Aged Domain vs New Domain for a Launch: What 12,000 Drops Say
What aged actually means (three different clocks), what Google has said on the record about domain age, what an old domain with real links gives a launch and what it doesn't, a 15-minute evaluation, cost reality, and the honest case for a fresh name.
Dropcatching Explained: How Backorders Win the 5-Day Drop
The pending-delete window and why it is a race, how dropcatchers use hundreds of registrar accreditations to win it, what a backorder at DropCatch, Dynadot or GoDaddy actually buys, the .au version, honest success rates, and what to check first.
How to Find Expired Domains with Backlinks (6 Sources, Free and Paid)
Where expired domains with real backlinks come from, the six places to look, what each source costs and misses, and the four checks that separate a linked domain from a domain with a link count.
Buying Expired Domains for SEO: What Works and What Google Penalises (2026)
What buying an expired domain actually gets you, the three ways to acquire one and what each costs, Google's expired domain abuse policy quoted in full, and the rebuild-or-redirect decision that decides whether the links count.
Domain Backorder vs Dropcatch vs Expired Domain Directory: Which Gets You the Domain
What a backorder at GoDaddy, DropCatch, SnapNames or NameJet actually buys, how registry drop lists and expiry auctions fit in, when a directory of already-dropped domains is the better route, and what Revised does and does not do.
Buying Expired Domains: What Reddit Gets Right and Wrong (2026)
The five questions that come up in every Reddit thread about buying expired domains, answered against Google's own policy text, John Mueller's on-record statements and ICANN's expiry rules, plus where people actually find the domains and what a clean one looks like.
Expired Domains Australia: How .au Drops Work (30-Day Rule, Drop List, Eligibility)
An expired .com.au or .au domain is released 30 days after expiry, not 80. What the auDA Licensing Rules say, where the registry publishes the daily drop list, who is eligible to register a dropped name, and why the backlinks are still there afterwards.
Expired Domain Checker: How to Check Expiry, History, Backlinks and Availability (4 Lookups)
Four public sources answer everything an expired domain checker should: RDAP for the registration status, the Wayback CDX index for history, the Common Crawl web graph for backlinks, and DNS for whether the name is in the zone. What each one returns and where it misleads.
Expired Domain Auctions Explained: GoDaddy, Dynadot, NameJet, Backorders (2026)
An expired domain auction is a registrar selling a name its own customer let lapse, before the registry deletes it. The four stages from expiry to drop, what GoDaddy, Dynadot, NameJet, Namecheap, Sedo and DropCatch sell at each one, the fees, and where the free drop list sits.
Brandable Domains: What Makes a Name Brandable, Where They Sell, and Why an Aged One Beats a Fresh Coin
The five tests of a brandable domain name, what Brandpa, Atom and Namecheap Market sell and for how much, what an aged brandable with clean history gives a launch that a new coinage cannot, how to vet one in four checks, and how to shortlist masked names in a directory.