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Expired Domain Vetting SOP — 15-Minute Qualification Process

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Step-by-step 15-20 minute process to vet an expired domain for PBN use: stat thresholds, Wayback Machine history check, backlink profile analysis, and pass/fail decision logic.

domainspbnexpired-domainsvettingtrust-flow
Agent trigger phrases: how to vet a domain · expired domain vetting · is this domain good · domain quality check · check domain before buying · PBN domain vetting · trust flow thresholds · should I buy this domain

Expired Domain Vetting SOP

15-20 minutes per domain. Every domain gets the full process before registering.

Stat Thresholds (Quick Reference)

Trust Flow (Majestic) — Primary Indicator:

| TF Range | Rating | Use Case | |----------|--------|----------| | 2-7 | Trash | Reject | | 8-9 | Usable | Budget PBN only | | 10-14 | Good | Standard PBN | | 15-19 | Very Good | PBN + resellable | | 20-24 | Excellent | ~$200 resale | | 25-29 | Outstanding | ~$500 resale | | 30+ | Elite | Rare at reg cost |

Critical Rule: TF and DA MUST align within ~10 points. DA 45 + TF 5 = SPAM. Always reject large disparities.

Other Metrics:

  • Referring Domains: 20-40 acceptable, 40-70 good, 70-100+ excellent
  • Referring IPs: Should match referring domains closely
  • Domain Length: Max 26 chars for resellability

Step 1: Stats Check (2 min)

  • TF and DA alignment within 10 points
  • Referring domains 20+
  • Topical Trust Flow consistent (top 3 topics in same niche = good, scattered = reject)

Step 2: Wayback Machine History (5 min)

Open 5-6 snapshots spread across years. Automatic rejections:

  • Adult, gambling, or pharmaceutical content
  • Foreign alphabet (unless targeting that region)
  • Hacked pages
  • Parking-only history (entire lifespan)
  • Drastic content/niche shifts

Green lights:

  • 5-10+ years consistent niche content
  • Company/organization site that closed
  • Educational/resource content

Step 3: Backlink Profile (5 min)

Anchor Text Distribution (Ideal):

  • 50-60% brand mentions (domain/company name)
  • 20-30% generic ("click here", "read more")
  • 10-20% keyword-related
  • 5-10% naked URL

Red Flags: All exact-match keywords, adult/spam terms, foreign language spam

Do-Follow Ratio: More do-follow than no-follow = good. Majority no-follow = comment spam.

Step 4: Source URL Spot-Check (5 min)

Open 10-15 referring URLs manually:

  • Good: Editorial mentions, resource pages, .edu/.gov, news sites, moderated forums
  • Bad: Blog comment spam, forum signatures, syndication patterns, scraper sites, link farms

Accept if: 50%+ quality links with good diversity.

Step 5: Decision (1 min)

TF 8+? → NO = Reject
TF & DA aligned (within 10pts)? → NO = Deep investigation
Wayback clean? (no adult/gambling/pharma/foreign) → NO = Reject
Content consistent niche? → NO = Reject
Backlinks 50%+ quality? → NO = Reject
Good anchor distribution? → NO = Reject
ALL YES → BUY IMMEDIATELY

Never procrastinate on a qualified domain — register immediately or someone else will.

#links-sop #domains #pbn #expired-domains #vetting #trust-flow

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