PageRank, PageRank, PageRank that one little word that before 1996 didn’t even exist now holds so much weight and importance in both the SEO and domaining community but with only two updates last year and none so far in 2014 has even Google moved on to bigger, better and more relevant measures?

From an expired domains perspective, a domain with a good to excellent PageRank will either sell for a premium price or will simply sell a lot quicker than those without. PageRank in this area is still often regarded as the highest and most consistent measure of how well the domain will perform from an SEO perspective both at the point of purchase and later into the future as PageRank stays with a domain regardless of its owner.

So what happens if you purchase an expired domain like I did with no PageRank at all? So I asked myself at the time will Google forever penalize my domain simply because it has no PageRank? With so few and infrequent updates to the algorithm will any efforts I make to gain PageRank go unrewarded? To be honest I was convinced my domain was destined to languish in the netherland of search around page 8 forever….

The expired domain I purchased had few backlinks, no PageRank and an extremely poor Alexa Rank BUT it did happen to be an EMD, this I felt was very important from a marketing perspective and has formed the premise for our whole go to market strategy. Yes I would have preferred a nice shiny product name to build a cool easily recognized brand around but we had no neither the money nor the expensive domain to this so we simply went back to basics and started from scratch with our EMD.

We spent many months building the framework for our website and our expired domains search engine, consolidating millions of records of data, ultimately ensuring our tool was accurate and robust. Then we waited and waited and waited we were pleased with our final product and through the very nature of what it did we were automatically adding additional pages of information every single day but yes you guessed it we were still scraping the bottom of page 8 on our top search keywords..

Frustrating to say the least if you didn’t already know this but Page 8 is a pretty lonely place to hang out at, I am sure you see more traffic out in the Sahara Desert in the height of summer then what we saw back in those days. But to be fair we did get the occasional visitor and to our great delight they started to come back and yes may have even told their friends about us as visitors to our site slowly but surely did pick up and over time we hiked our way up to the dizzying heights of Page 5!!

And….. that is where we stayed, we hung out there amongst old blog pages dating back from anywhere from 2005 to 2002!!! I was annoyed here was an exact match domain to our target keyword, with content being updated daily and there were sites ranking above us that had not been updated in 10 years! Come on Google give me a break please? It was at this point I decided to start playing the game a little better, I was determined to drag my domain up to Page 1 PageRank or no PageRank..

I started by expanding our site to beyond our main service which is our domain search engine and started blogging, I created a Google + Facebook and Twitter page and gave Google some money and started using Adwords, surely now they would start to notice me? I was playing by all the rules wasn’t I?

Over time I learnt to run simultaneous Adword campaigns across many different countries targeting multiple different keywords, I became pretty proficient at optimizing our advertising budget to ensure our Ad was able to compete with the likes of Godaddy’s, NameJet’s and Sedo’s endless advertising campaigns and yes we did start to see results.

Our site traffic grew exponentially overnight, and yes it was kind of thrilling to log into Google Analytics everyday and see active visitors on the site at any given time (remember our experience in the Sahara desert..) But in many ways it felt like a hollow victory we were paying for the priviledge of these visitors so they werent really real or were they?

Well we did see a high bounce rate from our ad visitors which to this day I still haven’t quite been able to figure out, we are an EMD to our targeted keyword and the Ad pretty much spelt this out so I am not sure why these people clicked on the ad if the site didn’t interest them…? Netherless we started to see organic traffic grow considerably and over the course of three months Google rewarded us with the lofty search result of Page 3 – still no PageRank though.

And that is where we felt we would stay, surely it would be impossible to move up any further without the coverted PageRank? With a steady flow of organic and direct load traffic now coming from our Page 3 position I discovered an alternative search engine that I had simply underestimated – Twitter!

With a growing number of followers and an increasing number of tweets I started to notice a change in the dynamic of our traffic sources – social media was now accounting for nearly 35% of our visitors nearly as much as what Google search was providing.

Even on days I was not tweeting I was getting a steady stream of traffic proving to me that people were using Twitter in much the same way we think of the traditional search engines such as Google, Yahoo and Bing, but even more importantly there is a community here that cannot be underestimated, it has become a valuable forum for sharing articles and ideas that the big three search engines don’t really have but the icing on the cake is yes Twitter really can drive targeted, consistent traffic to your website, even at times when Google does not.

Fast forward a couple of months and we have a consistent base of returning visitors, an ever increasing organic traffic source from Google and a healthy social media presence AND a solid position on Page 2 on Google search and we have even flirted with the bottom of Page 1 a couple of times but yes you guessed it my PageRank is still a big fat 0!!

Clare Coggins

clare@expired-domains.co

Check out our expired domains search engine – we add over 100,000 new domains every day and it is completely free to use http://www.expired-domains.co

Both prior and subsequently after the release of the new gtlds there has been plenty of speculation on how their existence would impact the demand and ultimately the value of the existing tld’s most notably the .com domain names. The debate mostly split into three camps, those that thought they were a terrible idea with absolutely no mainstream marketing credibility within the general public, with the assumption being they would have little to no resale value with the majority ending up as glorified parking sites never to see the light of day.

Then there were those that were completely against their release as they felt they would dilute the value of their existing domain portfolios and then last but not least there were the few investors that welcomed the diversification and expansion of the domain market and keenly and consistently have followed their release with overall positive press.

My attention though when looking at the top 100 domain sales YTD 2014 is the sheer amount of  country code tlds that are in the top 100 and how much they have sold for.

The combined sale value of the top 10 cc gtld up to July 14th 2014 has been $1.9 million, excluding the sale of sex.xxx which sold for $3 million this is almost 4x as much as the top 10 generic tlds excluding .com. So the question I find myself asking – is why is this surely a .net or a .org has more appeal than a domain name that’s reach and appeal is essentially limited to it’s own country’s boundaries?

Country code tlds have long been seen as the second cousin to the generic and more globally recognized .com, and in many ways even the .nets and .orgs. It has always been assumed that if the .com was available for your chosen domain and within your price reach that would be the best bet for your money but with the likes of Game.cn claiming the 10th highest domain sale spot this year with a highley respectable price tag of $512,307 can it really be claimed this is still the case?

The rise in popularity of the country code domain is a momentum that has been growing in the local marketing world for some years now. As more and more retailers turned their attention from the traditional brick and mortar style revenue model and realized the big gains there was to be had by increasing their online presence more and more country code domains were bought up by big box retailers who strategically tailored their marketing to their targeted local audiences. The likes of Office Depot, Staples and even the self proclaimed king of online retail Amazon all own domains with country code specific tld’s, even Google have joined the party, with www.google.co.uk, www.google.com.au, www.google.fr etc.

One things these guys all have in common is they all have big marketing budgets, they invest heavily in brand awareness and poof  all of a sudden it becomes second nature to the general public to type in a cctld against a domain name, and not just for the big names who advertise on television and radio but for all domains they regularly use. In light of this the default .com argument becomes a little weaker every day.

I recently read an article by Shaun Mcgowan the owner of www.carloans.com.au, an Australian car loan company. The essence of his success story was how swapping his domain name for an exact match domain more than doubled his traffic literally overnight, the domain ended up paying for itself and he was able to expand his business literally off the back of buying an EMD. Whilst the story itself has some interesting points and elements it was one of the feedback comments that caught my eye and got me me thinking.. “Why didn’t you just buy the .com version”? Great point but what made the author of the comment feel the .com version would be more valuable?

www.carloans.com.au is an exact match domain with an Australian country code tld, Shaun Mcgowan’s company is based and is specific to Australia so really in this case would have the .com version been more valuable or indeed more profitable the answer is probably not but the perception is still there that the .com  equivalent would be a more valuable asset…

With the Chinese online population now exceeding 600 million, this is a perception that is going to be continued to be challenged for some time to come. Eight out of the top ten country code domain sales this year were .cn domains and it is predicted we will continue to see this trend increase over the coming years.

One of the biggest criticism the new gtlds have received is that the general public are simply not used to typing anything other than .com at the end of a domain name…. Maybe just maybe though the rise and rise of the country code domains might just be telling us something and yes if those big box companies join the .club, .game, .guru bandwagon and we start seeing billboard campaigns, regular television and radio advertisements our automatic propensity to type that .com may just be challenged a little further..Who knows maybe that .com bubble will burst after all?

For the full list of today’s expired domains, pre release auction domains and thousands of high quality dropped domains please go http://www.expired-domains.co.

Clare Coggins

clare@expired-domains.co

How much is it really worth?

With so many people nowadays likening the domain market to the modern day equivalent of the cyberspace real estate division, coupled with my own recent attempts at buying another house my mind has started to wonder at how accurately we can place value against a particular name or indeed a portfolio…

I have the luck of living in the sunny state of Florida and can happily say as I sit at my laptop top by my pool I enjoy year round sunshine which suits me just fine as I happen to hate the cold. I have got to say though the real estate estate market is pretty lousy and despite having renovated my house from top to bottom over the last four years it is barely worth what I paid for it, so it seems where I live your house is only actually worth what the last house in the neighbourhood sold for. Ok yes I live in a typical family style cookie cutter house but it would be nice to think all the changes I made to my house to make it stand out from the others would have some impact on its value, to my disappointment this does not seem the case. So can the same be said for my domain portfolio..?

Free Valuations – What’s the catch?

So straight off the bat there are websites out there which will quickly, convnientley and in many cases for free give you a very high level and to be honest crude valuation of what your domain is worth www.valueate.com and www.estibot.com are two of the most popular. Crude? A bit harsh of a description maybe but probably just a little justified. Every Realtor I know dismisses the automatic property valuation given by www.zillow.com so really how are these sites any different when assesing the value of an expired domain?

It has long been preached that very specific, tangible and measurable list of features will impact the value of a domain….

The older the better!

Overall it is felt that domain age is an important factor when considering value, with the thought process being the more history the domain has the more likely the new owner will enjoy residual traffic and loyalty from previous owners. Always remember a domain is not just a name, it is an entity which grows and expands over time depending on how much it’s owners invest and care for it. Think of it like a garden – there are those that have been landscaped and cared for over hundreds of year and have established plants and trees and others that are bare lots of land. History can though be problematic with domain names, if previous owners have employed black hat techniques in the past to drive traffic to the website most notably a tactic called link bombing this will have a negative impact on the value of the domain most notably because it will continue to be penalized by Google until these links are removed.

The shorter the better!

Much like a specific zip code or address in the real estate industry the length of a domain name really counts and adds value and it is generally regarded that the shorter the better, with a one word domain name more often than not having the ability to command a premium price tag. The caveat being the word must be an easily recognizable and spellable.

Yes .com is really better..

Despite their being an influx of new gtlds on the marketplace this year with the likes of .club, .xyz, .guru and .ninja it is generally still regarded that the old faithful .com extension is where the true value in domain names exists. At this point in time most people who directly type in a domain name automatically will add .com to the end of the name – hence the value of this gtld is so high because of the traffic it generates.

Keywords are key!!

A keyword is a search term which is used to find your website in Google search. A few years ago domains that met the criteria of being an exact match domain i.e. the domains name was the same as the main key word were hot property. Google apparently has changed its algorithm now and has placed less weightings on EMD’s but those that represent a high traffic keyword will always be a more attractive proposition for investors than non EMD’s.

Google PageRank = $$$$$

Domains that command a high PageRank or even have a PageRank are important when assessing a value of a domain. PageRank is Google’s seal of approval and is extremely difficult to obtain. PageRank is tied to the domain name and not the owner/business therefore has significant impact on the value of a domain.

Ok so where does all this leave us…? All of the above I have no doubt will add value to your domain but what really makes a domain worth $1 million dollars versus one that sells for a $1 thousand dollars..? The answer is a lot less scientific than what many people will argue and much more difficult to value than any property in the real estate market. A domain is essentially a shopfront to a business, the value of this domain can be extremely subjective and niche to your particular business or it can have global appeal like the likes of www.whiskey.com which sold earlier this year for $5 million.

When buying expired domains follow the rules : age, length, .com, keyword and PageRank and you should have some sound investments but beware it really is hard to hit the jackpot..!

For the full list of today’s expired domains, pre release auction domains and thousands of high quality dropped domains please go http://www.expired-domains.co.

Clare Coggins

clare@expired-domains.co

What on earth is this thing called Pagerank?? (PR)

Ok so you have just bought a domain whether it be an expired domain you picked up from the dropped list or bought from one of the auction process’s or maybe it is a newly registered GTLD…Now though you want to start building your online business and drive traffic to your website and you have heard that it is important that you have a good Page Rank with Google.. But really what does this mean? And why should you care?

The higher the better…

The first thing you really need to know in regards to PageRank is that it is measured on a scale of 0-9 with 9 being the highest and really only achieved by the internet Goliaths of the likes of Facebook and Amazon. A really good PR that SEO experts would claim is reachable for any successful online business is really rated somewhere between 4-6 with anything less being regarded as needing work and anything more as a sign of an astronomically successful website with millions of visits on a daily basis…

How is it calculated?

The Google Page Rank is 1 algorithm of approximately 200 metrics that is used to establish a website’s authenticity and authority, many people would argue that it is the most important of all the metrics as it was one of the first if not the first.. It basically evaluates the number, quality and relevancy of the websites that have links to your site. The basic premise behind this equation being if people of authority on your website’s subject matter choose to promote your site by having links on their website there is no greater nod to your domain’s relevancy and content than by someone else voluntarily choosing to promote it on their website.

When looking to buy expired domains that have high Page Rank typically you will find domain names that were historically tied to websites that were reference based – think medical websites- hobbies like gardening or cooking always do well. It would also be wise to make sure the links to your chosen domain are not all just to landing pages and reference other pages deep link building is extremely important when maintaining your Google Page Rank.

Truth or Myth..?

Ok so now we have looked at how and possibly why websites with a high Pagerank are good and in the expired domains industry why they carry a perceived value and increased price tag. But now I ask myself does it still carry as much weight and importance in 2014 as it did lets say 5 years ago? Firstly confession time my own domain http://www.expired-domains.co carries a Google Page Rank of a big fat 0 !!! But yet my site consistently sits around page 3 on search on my top targeted keywords and by concentrating on content and developing a social presence I have seen a steady increase in organic traffic but still my Page Rank taunts me in the right hand corner of my Google Chrome bar and refuses to budge.. And I don’t think I am alone, by doing a quick analysis on different keywords I see many websites that rank high in search but have low to no Page Rank so what does all of this mean?

Those other Giants are catching up…

In the days when Google Pagerank ruled above everything else the likes of Facebook and Twitter and content search were a mere glimmer in the rearview mirror of Larry Page’s Google and long before our business’s could be easily run through our phones. Rich link building was the king of content validation and formed an intricate interwoven online community where experts shared knowledge..

Fast forward a few years and doesn’t this sound familiar but something most of us do now thorough our chosen social forum Google +, Twitter and Facebook. We tweet, tweet, tweet, all day long, we add status updates that include links to our sites and our blogs and now we can even run advertising campaigns that easily rival those we can do through Google’s Adwords. To top all of this up it appears all our hard work building these social communities are starting to pay off – traffic through search via a social network is up considerably versus 2013 and is expected to grow significantly year on year over the next 5 years.

Google’s next move and why I still want to move my Pagerank up from 0

So Google get it they understand the relevancy of online social networking that is why they introduced the sometimes cumbersome Google + and is why they modified the other metrics to increase the weighting for domains which have a heavy social presence. Social traffic really can mean quality traffic, in most cases these guys haven’t accidently stumbled across your site they have been referred there or they regularly follow you or have friended, you the 2014 equivalent to giving out your email address..But where does all this leave the founder of online networking Pagerank ?

It really hasn’t lost its importance or relevance – remember linking is truly the backbone of the world wide web without these links it may just all fall apart..? It’s just that other factors have also become prevalent. Social links and backlinks now live alongside each other in the Google metrics and so they should. I will continue to stare at my Google Pagerank venomously but will work my hardest at building credibility and being a part of my sites online community until further notice..

For the full list of today’s expired domains, pre release auction domains and thousands of high quality dropped domains please go http://www.expired-domains.co.

Clare Coggins

clare@expired-domains.co