The 6-Step Vetting Process

🔍
Archive Check
5 min
🔗
Backlink Audit
10 min
📊
Spam Score
3 min
🌐
Index Status
2 min
⚖️
Scoring
5 min

Why Vetting Matters

Buying an expired domain without proper due diligence is the fastest way to waste money and damage your SEO. A domain with a toxic backlink profile, spam history, or Google penalty can harm your site's rankings for years — and in some cases, the damage is irreversible.

This blueprint provides a systematic approach to domain vetting that takes 20–30 minutes per domain. Follow every step in order. Skipping steps leads to missed red flags.

Critical rule: When in doubt, skip the domain. There are millions of expired domains. You only need one clean one. Don't rationalize away red flags.

Step 1: Archive.org History Check (5 minutes)

The Wayback Machine (archive.org) is your first line of defense. You're looking for historical content to identify spam, adult content, casino sites, pharma spam, and hacked periods.

What to Do

  1. Go to archive.org/web/
  2. Enter the domain name
  3. Review the timeline — look for sudden gaps (hacked periods) or content changes
  4. Click on snapshots from different years (at least 5–7 random snapshots)
  5. Check the most recent snapshot before expiration

Red Flags to Watch For

  • Pills/pharma spam: Viagra, Cialis, weight loss pills, "cheap meds" text
  • Casino/gambling: Poker, slots, sports betting content or redirects
  • Adult content: Pornographic images, dating spam, escort services
  • Hacked content: Gibberish text, foreign language spam on English sites, hidden iframe redirects
  • Doorway pages: Auto-generated pages stuffed with keywords and thin content
  • Link farms: Pages with hundreds of unrelated outbound links
  • Parked domain patterns: Long periods (1+ years) showing only ad-filled parking pages

Tool screenshots to look for: Archive.org shows a calendar view with green dots indicating snapshots. Consistent green dots = healthy history. Large gaps or sudden color changes = potential issues. When viewing snapshots, look for the header, footer, and sidebar content — not just the homepage hero.

Pass/Fail Criteria

  • Pass: Consistent content theme, no spam, no long gaps, legitimate business or blog
  • Fail: Any pharma/casino/adult content, doorway pages, or hacked periods longer than 6 months
  • Manual review needed: Short spam periods (under 3 months) or redirects that don't match current Google rankings

Step 2: Backlink Profile Analysis (10 minutes)

Use Ahrefs, Majestic, or Moz to analyze the domain's backlink profile. You're looking for natural link patterns, topical relevance, and red flags in anchor text distribution.

What to Do

  1. Enter the domain into Ahrefs Site Explorer or Majestic Site Explorer
  2. Check the Referring Domains count and Total Backlinks
  3. Review the Anchor Text distribution (click on the Anchors tab)
  4. Check the Top Referring Domains — look for recognizable, relevant sites
  5. Filter for dofollow links only (nofollow links don't transfer authority)
  6. Look at the Link Growth chart — natural growth is gradual, not spiky

Anchor Text Analysis: Red Flags

  • CJK (Chinese/Japanese/Korean) text: If the domain was in English but has 20%+ anchor text in CJK characters, it was likely used in link schemes
  • Cyrillic (Russian) anchor text: Same issue — indicates use in Eastern European link farms
  • Exact-match commercial anchors over 15%: "buy viagra," "cheap loans," "insurance quotes" — hallmarks of spammy link building
  • Brand mismatch: If the domain was "BlueSkyPhotography.com" but anchors say "best poker sites," the links are bought or manipulated
  • Keyword stuffing in anchors: "best SEO services | affordable SEO | top SEO company" as a single anchor

Anchor distribution benchmark: Healthy domains have 40–70% branded/URL anchors, 20–40% generic ("click here," "visit site"), and under 10% exact-match commercial keywords. Anything drastically outside this range requires manual review.

Referring Domain Quality Check

  • Click through 10–15 random referring domains
  • Check if they're real sites (not link farms or PBNs)
  • Look for topical relevance — a photography blog shouldn't have links from payday loan sites
  • Check for link neighborhood toxicity — if the referring domain links to 500+ unrelated sites, it's a link farm

Pass/Fail Criteria

  • Pass: Natural anchor distribution, topically relevant referring domains, gradual link growth
  • Fail: 15%+ CJK/Cyrillic anchors, spiky link growth, link farm referrers, over 20% exact-match commercial anchors

Step 3: Spam Score Check (3 minutes)

Use Moz's Spam Score (available in Moz Pro or via MozBar browser extension) to get a quick algorithmic risk assessment.

What to Do

  1. Enter the domain into Moz Link Explorer
  2. Check the Spam Score (0–100%)
  3. Review the Spam Flags — Moz lists which signals triggered the score

Spam Score Interpretation

  • 0–10%: Low risk — proceed with confidence
  • 11–30%: Moderate risk — requires manual SERP checks (see Step 4)
  • 31–60%: High risk — only proceed if manual checks are spotless and use case is 301 redirect (not money site)
  • 61–100%: Severe risk — skip the domain entirely

Pro tip: Moz Spam Score is a prediction model, not a Google penalty detector. A 25% score doesn't mean the domain is penalized — it means it shares characteristics with penalized sites. Always combine this with manual SERP checks.

Step 4: Google Index Status Verification (2 minutes)

Check if the domain is indexed in Google and whether it has a manual action penalty.

What to Do

  1. Search site:example.com in Google (replace with your domain)
  2. Check the number of indexed pages — compare to Archive.org historical page counts
  3. Click on the top 3–5 results and verify they're from the domain, not redirects
  4. Search for the domain's brand name — does it rank #1 for its own name?
  5. If you have access to Google Search Console (rare for expired domains), check for manual actions

Index Status Red Flags

  • Zero indexed pages: Possible deindexing penalty or long parked period
  • Massive index drop: If Archive shows 500 pages but Google shows 5, something went wrong
  • SERP results show redirects: If site:example.com returns results from a different domain, the domain likely has active redirects or canonical tags pointing elsewhere
  • Doesn't rank for its own brand: If "BlueSkyPhotography" doesn't return BlueSkyPhotography.com as #1, the domain may have a penalty

Pass/Fail Criteria

  • Pass: Indexed pages present, ranks for brand name, no redirect anomalies
  • Fail: Zero indexed pages, redirect loops, or absence from brand name SERP

Step 5: Manual SERP Checks (5 minutes)

This is the final sanity check. You're looking for evidence that Google trusts the domain by checking if it ranks for historical content.

What to Do

  1. Go to Archive.org and find 3–5 historical pages from the domain
  2. Identify unique phrases from those pages (5–10 word quotes)
  3. Search those exact phrases in Google (use quotes: "exact phrase here")
  4. Check if the domain appears in the results

What This Tells You

  • Domain ranks for historical content: Google still trusts the domain's authority
  • Domain doesn't appear: Either deindexed, penalized, or pages were deleted and not cached
  • Only recent pages rank: Historical authority may have been lost or reset

Red flag: If the domain doesn't rank for any historical content AND has a Moz Spam Score over 30%, it's likely penalized. Skip it.

Step 6: Pass/Fail Scoring Rubric

Use this scoring system to make a final decision. Each category is weighted based on risk impact.

Archive.org Check (Weight: 40%)

  • Clean history, no spam: +10 points
  • Short spam period (under 3 months): +5 points
  • Pharma/casino/adult history: 0 points (auto-fail)

Backlink Profile (Weight: 30%)

  • Natural anchors, relevant referrers: +7 points
  • Some CJK/Cyrillic but under 10%: +4 points
  • Over 15% CJK/Cyrillic or link farms: 0 points

Spam Score (Weight: 15%)

  • 0–10%: +4 points
  • 11–30%: +2 points
  • 31–60%: +1 point
  • 61–100%: 0 points (auto-fail)

Index Status (Weight: 15%)

  • Indexed, ranks for brand: +4 points
  • Indexed but no brand ranking: +2 points
  • Not indexed: 0 points

Final Score Interpretation

  • 20–25 points: Excellent domain — buy with confidence
  • 15–19 points: Good domain — safe for most use cases
  • 10–14 points: Marginal domain — only use for 301 redirects, not money sites
  • Under 10 points: Skip the domain

Time Estimates for Each Step

  • Archive.org history check: 5 minutes
  • Backlink profile analysis: 10 minutes
  • Spam Score check: 3 minutes
  • Google index verification: 2 minutes
  • Manual SERP checks: 5 minutes
  • Total time per domain: 25 minutes

Efficiency tip: Batch your vetting. Open 5–10 domains in tabs, run Archive.org checks on all of them, then move to backlink analysis. This reduces context switching and speeds up the process.

Red Flags Summary: Instant Disqualifiers

Skip any domain that exhibits these characteristics, regardless of metrics:

  • Pharma, casino, or adult content in Archive.org history
  • Over 15% CJK or Cyrillic anchor text
  • Moz Spam Score over 60%
  • Zero Google indexed pages with historical evidence of content
  • Link farm referring domains (sites linking to 500+ unrelated domains)
  • Exact-match commercial anchors over 25%
  • Doorway page history (auto-generated city/keyword pages)

Use Case Considerations

Your vetting standards should vary based on how you plan to use the domain:

Money Site (Strictest)

  • Require 20+ points on rubric
  • Zero spam history tolerance
  • Must rank for brand name
  • Topical relevance required

301 Redirect (Moderate)

  • Accept 15+ points on rubric
  • Short spam periods (under 3 months) acceptable
  • Topical relevance preferred but not required
  • Focus on DR/DA over history

PBN (High Risk)

  • Accept 12+ points on rubric
  • Archive history less critical
  • Focus on backlink diversity
  • Avoid footprints (same registrar/host as other PBN sites)

Flipping/Resale

  • Require 18+ points on rubric
  • Marketable metrics (DA 30+, clean history)
  • Brandable name preferred
  • Focus on buyer appeal, not just SEO value

Tool Stack for Vetting

Here are the essential tools for executing this blueprint:

  • Archive.org (Wayback Machine): Free — historical content analysis
  • Ahrefs Site Explorer: $99/month — backlink analysis, DR/UR metrics
  • Majestic Site Explorer: $49.99/month — TF/CF metrics, topical trust flow
  • Moz Pro / MozBar: $99/month or free browser extension — Spam Score
  • Google Search: Free — index status, SERP checks
  • Google Search Console: Free (if domain is verifiable) — manual action checks

Budget option: If you can only afford one tool, choose Ahrefs. It provides backlink analysis, DR/UR, and basic spam indicators. Supplement with free tools (Archive.org, Google Search, MozBar extension).

Common Mistakes to Avoid

  • Trusting metrics alone: A DA 40 domain with pharma history is worthless
  • Skipping Archive.org: This is the most common oversight — never skip historical analysis
  • Ignoring anchor text: CJK/Cyrillic anchors are smoking guns for link schemes
  • Rationalizing red flags: "It's only 6 months of spam" — skip it anyway
  • Not checking Google index: A domain can have great metrics and be deindexed

Next Steps

Now that you have the vetting blueprint, dive deeper into each component: