SEMrush for Expired Domains: Authority Score Analysis

What Is SEMrush?

SEMrush is an all-in-one SEO platform with keyword research, rank tracking, competitive analysis, and backlink tools. For expired domain buyers, its Authority Score metric, organic traffic estimates, and toxicity scoring provide unique insights beyond Ahrefs and Majestic.

Primary use case: Estimating pre-expiration organic traffic to identify domains with existing rankings and content potential.

2026 Pricing

Understanding Authority Score

What Is Authority Score?

Authority Score (AS) is SEMrush's proprietary metric that measures a domain's overall quality on a scale of 0–100. It's similar to Ahrefs DR and Moz DA, but uses a broader range of signals.

How Authority Score Is Calculated

• Backlink quality: Number and authority of referring domains
• Organic traffic: Estimated monthly visitors from Google
• Organic keywords: Number of keywords ranking in top 100
• Domain longevity: Age and historical stability

Authority Score Interpretation for Expired Domains

• AS 0–10: No authority. Avoid.
• AS 10–30: Low authority. Only viable for volume PBN builds.
• AS 30–50: Moderate authority. Good for standard PBN links or redirects.
• AS 50–70: Strong authority. Ideal for money site redirects or high-quality PBNs.
• AS 70+: Elite authority. Rare in expired domain pools, worth paying premium prices.

Organic Traffic Estimates

Why Organic Traffic Matters for Expired Domains

Unlike backlink metrics (DR, TF, CF), organic traffic estimates tell you whether the domain had real rankings before it expired. High DR with zero traffic often indicates spam backlinks.

How SEMrush Estimates Organic Traffic

• Keyword rankings: SEMrush tracks 500 million+ keywords and identifies which ones the domain ranks for
• Position-to-traffic conversion: Estimates clicks based on ranking position (position 1 = ~30% CTR, position 10 = ~2% CTR)
• Search volume: Multiplies CTR by keyword search volume to estimate monthly visitors

Interpreting Traffic Data

• High traffic (1,000+ visits/month): Domain had real rankings and content potential. Excellent for 301 redirects or rebuilding as a money site.
• Moderate traffic (100–1,000 visits/month): Domain had some rankings. Good for niche PBNs or redirects to related sites.
• Low traffic (<100 visits/month): Minimal rankings. Authority comes from backlinks only (not content/rankings).
• Zero traffic despite high DR: Red flag — domain likely has spam backlinks inflating DR without real rankings.

Toxicity Scoring

What Is Toxicity Score?

SEMrush's Toxicity Score evaluates the health of a domain's backlink profile on a scale of 0–100. Higher scores indicate toxic backlinks that could trigger Google penalties.

Toxicity Markers

• Spam domains: Links from known spam networks
• Low-quality directories: Mass submission sites
• Over-optimized anchors: Excessive exact-match anchor text
• Unnatural link velocity: Sudden spikes in backlink acquisition
• PBN footprints: Links from interlinked networks

Toxicity Score Interpretation

• 0–30% toxic: Clean domain, safe to buy
• 31–45% toxic: Moderate risk, review toxic backlinks manually
• 46–60% toxic: High risk, requires extensive cleanup (disavow file)
• 61–100% toxic: Avoid — domain is heavily penalized or spam-laden

Best Features for Expired Domain Research

1. Keyword Gap Analysis

Use Keyword Gap to compare an expired domain's rankings to your money site. If the expired domain ranks for 100+ keywords that your site doesn't, it's a strong 301 redirect candidate.

2. Organic Research Tool

The Organic Research tool shows which keywords the expired domain ranked for historically. This helps you:

• Identify high-value keywords you can recapture after redirecting
• Assess content relevance (does the domain's niche align with yours?)
• Estimate ROI of a 301 redirect (how much traffic can you gain?)

3. Backlink Audit

SEMrush's Backlink Audit automatically flags toxic links and provides a disavow file. This is faster than manually auditing in Ahrefs (which requires manual tagging of toxic links).

4. Bulk Analysis (Guru+ Plans)

Upload a CSV of 50–200 domains and SEMrush returns:

• Authority Score
• Organic traffic estimates
• Toxicity percentage
• Referring domains

This is similar to Ahrefs Batch Analysis but includes traffic/toxicity data.

Comparison to Ahrefs and Majestic

Pros and Cons

When to Use SEMrush

Essential Use Cases

• 301 redirects: Identify domains with existing rankings to recapture traffic
• Money site creation: Find expired domains with content potential (high traffic, low competition keywords)
• Competitive research: Discover which expired domains your competitors might target
• Keyword research: Use expired domains' historical rankings to inform your content strategy

When to Skip SEMrush

• Pure PBN building: Ahrefs + SpamZilla is a better combo (SEMrush's traffic data is irrelevant for PBNs)
• Budget constraints: If you can only afford one tool, choose Ahrefs (better backlink data)
• Low-value domains (DR <20): Traffic estimates aren't accurate enough for cheap domains

SEMrush Workflow for Expired Domains

1. Discovery (ExpiredDomains.net): Export 50 domains (DR 25+, age 5+)
2. Bulk Analysis (SEMrush): Upload CSV → filter for AS 30+, traffic 100+, toxicity <40%
3. Traffic Validation: Check Organic Research for each domain to see keyword rankings
4. Keyword Gap Analysis: Compare expired domain's rankings to your money site
5. Backlink Audit: Review toxicity report and generate disavow file if needed
6. Final Validation (Ahrefs): Cross-check DR and referring domains before purchasing

Alternative Tools

• Ahrefs ($129/mo): Better backlink database, cheaper, simpler UI. Choose if you only need DR validation.
• Majestic ($49.99/mo): Best for topical relevance and budget buyers. Skip if you need traffic data.
• Ubersuggest ($29/mo): Budget alternative with basic traffic estimates. Less accurate but 80% cheaper.
• Moz ($99/mo): DA metric + spam score. Smaller database but simpler for beginners.

Final Verdict

SEMrush is the best tool for traffic-focused expired domain research in 2026. If you're buying domains for 301 redirects or rebuilding as money sites, the organic traffic estimates and Keyword Gap analysis are invaluable.

However, for pure PBN building or backlink validation, Ahrefs is more cost-effective. SEMrush shines when you need the full picture: backlinks plus traffic plus keyword insights.

Bottom line: Use SEMrush if traffic and content potential matter to your strategy. Skip it if you only care about backlink authority.