How to Register an Expired Domain
Registering expired domains isn’t complicated, actually. Now, finding an expired domain that you’d like to register? That’s a different story.
If you were to search online for “How to register expired domain,” you’d run across several different registration methods.
They vary according to each registrar—GoDaddy’s process is different from Bluehost’s, and so on.
If you have some online savvy, you can locate the proper registrar fairly easily, too.
Just look up any expired domain name in a resource such as the WHOIS database to find the web hosting and registry company that owns it.
Then, learn where to bid on it once it’s up for grabs.
But sifting through hundreds of thousands of dropped domain registrations and websites to find domains that have excellent backlinks, no spam, and a proven SEO track record in your business niche can be incredibly time-consuming.
Who has the time? SpamZilla does. That's what we're here for! Making it super easy for anyone to purchase expired domains.
We have access to 16 different domain sources and the capability to check expired domain names daily with our extensive search algorithm, weeding out anything spammy or suspicious from those with authority links.
That means you can put your bids toward the expired domain info that you want and grow your business with an already-established domain name. Here’s how.
How Does Domain Name Registration Work?
Just as a refresher: Whenever someone purchases a domain name, they’re really just renting the domain registration for a length of time, such as one to ten years, depending on the registrar’s agreement and renewal fee.
ICANN, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, accredits each trusted domain registrar and sets guidelines for domain name registration, renewal, and website account expiration.
Every person who launches a website thinks up a (hopefully) memorable domain name that the internet’s Domain Name System, or DNS, then links to a unique Internet Protocol (IP) address.
Although ICANN recognizes website extensions such as .biz or .info as indicating a top-level domain, the gold standard for domains is still .com.
Any domain name followed by a dot-com remains one that search engines tend to rank first in terms of domain authority.
While you might think that a top-level domain such as a dot-com might be hard to come by nowadays, the truth is that people who registered a domain name years ago haven't always held on to it.
Also, some companies have folded, consolidated, or changed names over the years — and haven't carried over blog articles from their old domain name.
That leaves lots of homeless domain names floating around the online world, many of them just full of articles, links, and other marketing tools that might fit your current business needs and services.
Domain Name Expiration: Part of a Long Process
Every domain name account expiration presents an opportunity for a business owner to reach customers who had a valued experience with that expired domain — provided you're the highest bidder once the site becomes available.
Registrars essentially keep track of which domain names that link to certain IP addresses are valid on the DNS.
They also present the registrants with domain expiration protection options, such as automatic renewal.
Yet, so many websites undergo an expiration or deletion process each day. Most registrars send reminders about renewals through emails as many as 30 days in advance.
Yet people either don't pay attention to these notifications, or they wind up in a spam folder.
Sometimes an automatic renewal doesn't work because the person listed as the account owner didn't update the credit card or other payment information on file.
When you think of the time and effort that many people put into their domain names, it's frustrating to know that most domain expirations might come down to human error, an owner not checking their registration status, or a person not being able to pay the registration fee.
A Grace Period and Additional Fees
Of course, a registrar often gives people plenty of options to recover their domain names. But you are probably wondering, "how long after a domain expires can I buy it?"
Click through the website of any registrar, and you'll notice an article about how the registry offers a grace period when anyone whose registration has lapsed can sign up for renewal at the former rate.
However, this applies more to registrars accredited with ICANN than those who fall outside this authority. Some have no grace period at all.
The length of this grace period varies depending on the registrar and type of domain, but it might often extend as long as 30 days past the domain expiration date.
A registry also might offer a redemption period when the domain falls into a hold or suspension before being listed at auction.
While the account owner can't use the site or its features at this time, a redemption period does offer another kind of grace period.
The registrant still can buy back the domain name registration, along with paying applicable fees.
Even if another person has bid on the website during the auction, some companies will give priority to the original registrant to reclaim it.
The Advantage of the Expired Domain Name
No matter the registry, there's a long process before the deletion of any domain name, website account, or registration.
The challenge is in culling through all these expired domains to find one of value that'll give your business the top-level domain rankings you want.
Whether you offer financial services or sporting goods, imagine if a domain name existed out in the world that generated sales, loyal customers, and top search rankings.
Seriously, let's say the information associated with this domain is stellar.
Whether through an article on its blog or the helpful links inside that article, this site still gets lots of SEO, even though it's essentially dormant, with no one to provide the service that visitors need.
You can even buy expired domains with traffic and redirect this traffic back to your own website. This could be very targeted traffic already specific to your website topic.
Granted, there's one risk of taking over a domain name that's expired.
No one wants to bid successfully on an old domain name and then have the visitors who remember that site click away from your products and services.
This action can create a high bounce rate that will drive down your rankings — something no domain owner wants.
However, if your business aligns just right with the information provided at a particular expired domain name — and you can add more value to that site — you have a prime spot for growth.
Domains come and go all the time on the web.
Hmm. If only there were a expired domain name service that could search through most of the noise on the web using your specific search terms, alerting you to domains that are worth bidding on at auction and restyling as your own.... Read on!
SpamZilla: A Program That Makes Domain Expiration Work for You
SpamZilla is one such service that's a monster when it comes to weeding out worthwhile domains.
Our team has developed the tools to process millions of domain names through 16 different domain sources.
That means that our SpamZilla program is capable of researching, finding, and double-checking more reputable backlinks than you or your staff could possibly do on your own.
Even if you were to call up an internet archive to view a defunct site when it was active, isn't that time that you could better spend on reaching new customers or providing effective service?
You can adjust SpamZilla to suit your needs. With a free account, you can order a search of up to 25 domain names each month, according to your preferred SEO metrics.
If you want to order more searches, just sign up for our monthly package, where one fee grants you full access to our database of expired domain names, automatic spam checking, and backlink data — all updated daily.
Let us be your research assistant on the web to find the domain names you can use so that you can focus on bidding and registering for them.
Just click on "Sign Up" to get started today!
