PBN: What metrics do you use to see if you want to register a domain?

Minimum number? No.

I evaluate domains on a risk-based pricing model.

Fewer links doesn't mean I won't buy it. It just means I'm not going to be willing to pay much for it. If I find a domain that only has 4-5 really good links, but they look like links that might stick, and I can get it for $50 or less, I'll take a chance on something like that. If it is in an auction and it hits $300+, no freaking way.

No, I'm also looking at link profiles, keyword anchor-text (relevant vs spam), page titles on backlink pages, supporting backlinks for backlink pages, Wayback history.







That's not true at all. If a domain has a backlink profile generating traffic today and the domain is dropped tomorrow the same domain links will be generating traffic next month/year.

That's exactly why a lot of domains are parked and showing ads, because a lot of old dropped domains still have backlinks generating direct traffic ($$). Parked domains all by itself is a whole niche ($$).

Of course you have to rely on some metrics not so much the metrics on the domain as the metrics on the links to the domain. The posters above are misleading you as they always do on this subject . There is no way you are ever going to determine the strength of a domain by looking at the links without metrics

Looking at anchor text, wayback machine and page titles doesn't tell you a single thing about link strength. Thats total and absolute garbage and hog wash. anchor text may tell a story about link spam but a weak page can be non spammy

Every day non spammy anchor text links are left on sites that have no juice. the wayback machine shows sites that are weak or strong in authority - nothing about link strength.

Some people trying to sell a course say just look at the links without metrics but that makes absolutely no sense except they are trying to position themselves as gurus.There are trillions of pages on the internet and tens of millions of domains. theres no way you know even 1% of sites out there to know link strength based on that.

So what do you do? Use plain old common sense

You have to use what you have. Pagerank is gone as a metric anyone can use. the remaining metrics are at best approximations of link strength. Since none of them can be as solid as Google's own rating (and even that was so far behind not being updated it often wasn't either) you use them all together.

I use moz to weed out the low liers. Will it miss some? sure as I stated nothing is perfect but practically you need something to eradicate going through tens of thousand or even millions of domains. If you see a site with millions of links or even hundreds of thousands its usually a dead give away of spam worse if the DA shows no exceptional strength. If you go through the backlinks and see all low numbers as well then thats even a better indicator. What are the chances out of tens of thousands of links Moz just missed all the good ones?

time to move on to the next domain

When you weed out the junk then Majestic is pretty decent. Again the naysayers will come in with their objections and exceptions but again what are they offering as an alternative? Just look at the links with your bare eyeballs, feel the force and look at the wayback machine? Thats too funny for words.

Trustflow with all it warts is probably the best we have (I haven't used ahrefs in a long time but they were pretty bad and Moz is known for being gamed easily)

now the next thing you have to do is know the weakness of these metrics and adjust based on other easily seen factors. I mentioned Moz being able to game with link spam but in a lot of cases you can just look at quantity of links and tell a spammed profile. If a domain really had 250,000 quality links pointing at it heres the thing -

are you even going to be able to afford it in an auction?

Way back I used to entertain the idea of finding that one domain everyone else missed. did it happen a few times? Yep but then I added up the hours being spent to find it - not pretty.

One other thing you can do at least with auctions is piggyback on other people's research. You will miss a few domains (very few these days) but not spend countless hours trying to find the killer domain that no one else has shown any interest in. You are more likely to find a good domain not bid through the roof that only a few people have an interest in than you are to find a good domain NO ONE has shown interest in.

Probably the best regular deals sources now are dropcatching services with registrars that don't have auctions. better be registered at a few though and even then the catching is so competitive you might still lose out on most

Once you're in control of the domain the redirect will be gone so if the links are still there the domain will retain it's strength.

I actually only look at that when its a non dropped domain. Those dropped ones always have much dns history.

On the other hand, if you look at old domains that are still alive you'll see that they have a ton of dns history build up over the years as well. Take warriorforum.com for example, 52 changes on 42 unique IP addresses over the last 12 years.