Do any of you regularly use expired domains?

[MarieHaynes]

I know there has been discussion on using expired domains in the past.  This is not so much a question as to how to do it or whether it works, but rather I would love to see how many of you use this in your backlink strategy.

I have a domain in a low to moderately competitive niche that ranks really well, mostly on the power of a couple of expired domains.  I bought the domains, created a quick wordpress site and pointed some anchor texted links to the site.  It took some time for the expired domains to regain their PR, but when they did, the benefit was great.

I'm considering whether I want to do this with another domain of mine.  On one hand, it's a relatively inexpensive way to get some good quality anchor texted links.  But, on the other hand, something in it feels "immoral" or "sneaky" to me.

What do you think?

[SteveOllington]

I wouldn't call it unethical unless you made a habit of it with loads of sites, all providing no value. It's never worth focusing on micro-sites, but if there's a couple there, might as well use them

[SteveOllington]

Yeah I'm totally with you on that, I wouldn't bother buying a bunch of domains to build sites with, all to link in... Google will know anyway, it'll spot a footprint one way or another. I'm just thinking for the sake of not wasting an already owned domain... would hate to think of it sat there doing nothing when it could be doing something, even if that something is tiny lol.

[DonnieCooper]

Yeah, sorry too. Ethically, I would say it's gray hat on a small scale, and black hat on larger scale. Of course, that's completely subjective. But I say this because, the main purpose of the secondary site's existence would be, in fact, to 'trick' search engines.
Just my opinion. I also can understand Steve's point of view.

[MarieHaynes]

Thanks Donnie...sorry that this convo is getting confusing (as I replied below as well).  My question was more about the ethics of using this tactic rather than how to do it.

[DonnieCooper]

If the site's are relevant for the niche, I may consider 301 redirecting page by page to the primary niche..... or instead, you could just link them over as you're doing. Would it be possible to contact the inbound linking domains, and ask them to link to your primary site instead?  
If the niches are all relevant, I would build pages on the primary site to reflect the secondary site's content. Then redirect page by page. Then contact the linking domains and ask them to update their links. 
Does this help Dunamis?

[MarieHaynes]

The PR seems to come back after a couple of months.  Some are relevant to my niche and some are not.  But, as stated in the question, the question was not so much about whether or not this tactic works, but rather, whether Mozzers are using it.  I don't want to do anything immoral or unethical.

[DonnieCooper]

Are they currently existing?
Did the DNS info reset to your contact info after you bought them? If so, the PR may get reset as well. 
Are the sites relevant to the primary site's niche?

[MarieHaynes]

The domains that I bought have existing links and PR.  It took some time for the PR to come back, but in the ones I have used so far they seem to be helping.

[DonnieCooper]

Hey Steve, thanks. I see what you mean, and can't disagree with your thinking... I personally would prefer to spend that hour (or so) trying to get a link to the primary site. But I can understand why others would rather just create one.
We're both assuming that someone would use different hosts, right?
I'm also curious to know, where would you 'draw the line' so-to-speak?
I mean, domain names are only about $10 each, so you could 5, 10, 100. etc. At some point, you would be building an 'unnatural' link profile, and begin to raise flags.  And me being a skeptic, I tend to lean towards as natural of link profiles as possible.

[MarieHaynes]

I may not have explained myself completely.  These are domains that I bought that have incoming links and PR.

They definitely did help my first site really well.

[SteveOllington]

Ah yeah I don't believe in micro/satellite sites, etc... but even with zero incoming links, as long as the domain is indexed it still has some value to pass no matter how small.

It's not about building micro-sites though, it's just plopping something on a domain and getting a link off it, I'm not suggesting link wheels, or putting SEO time and effort into the other domains, just using them as you have them.

Existing domain + template site + 10 mins of writing content and slapping a couple of images on, submit a sitemap and wallah... 20 minutes and you've got a link off a homepage of a relevant content site that admittedly is low value and on the same server but it's half an hour, and you never know... the site could grow naturally into being trusted, etc... by itself, including with age.

With the speed you could knock it up, and at no cost, I just think sure why not... it can't pass zero value unless it's not indexed or the link is nofollow. Value will be tiny but could grow with no work based on just age of domain.

I can't watch the vid yet as I'm at work right now.

[DonnieCooper]

Thanks Steve, you have great point!
However, I don't think they would pass **any **value, due to a lack of inbound links. And, if they began getting inbound links, I believe the efforts spent would have a larger payoff, if the primary site were getting those new links instead.
I'm also kindof a skeptic in SEO... what I mean is, I try not to ever do anything with the primary goal being to deceive search engines. The time invested in building those micro sites, I think would be better spent engaging in building brand recognition (brand queries, natural links, social, etc.)
What do you think Steve? Thanks.

whiteboard-friday-the-microsite-mistake

[SteveOllington]

If you already own it and it's not costing you anything, why not?! Better than having a domain sitting around and doing nothing. As Donnie said, if it's hosted in the same place then the links won't pass much value, but not much is still "some"... and some is better than none

I'd do it, just for the sake of it, it won't hurt as long as there's nothing spammy about it.

[DonnieCooper]

I doubt you'r adding much value, as those links would have very low (or non existent) domain/ page authority. Plus, if your hosting them all on the same C Block IP Address, they'd likely be discounted even further.