The SEO value of an expired domain lies mainly in its backlinks and the consistency of its history, not in a single score. A name can keep a useful reputation as well as an awkward past: here is how to read the indicators to rule out poor candidates, without promising any result.
A domain name that hosted a website for years has built up links, mentions and a degree of trust from search engines. When it expires, part of that legacy can survive, provided the new site carries on from the old one. Three families of indicators help estimate it: authority, referring domains and history.
None of these indicators is enough on its own. Their value comes from cross-checking: a name whose authority, links and history tell the same story is a serious candidate; a name whose signals contradict each other calls for a closer look.
The authority scores published by the various tools on the market are not equivalent: each one has its own scale, its own link index and its own formula. Never add them up, average them or compare them with each other. A 40 with one provider can correspond to a 20 with another.
BestSEOLinks always shows the scale it uses. Our authority score, from 0 to 100, combines the number of referring domains with the name’s rank in our link index, with a cap to limit the effect of artificial link networks. The details are published in our methodology.
7 / 100
median authority score of tracked names: half of expiring names carry very little weight.
High-authority names remain the exception. Out of 3,993 names tracked on 22 October 2026, only 106 reached 30 out of 100, or 2.7%. Among the 221 names available on that date, there were just 10.
Available names by authority score
names
Below 30
30 and above
The number of different sites linking to the name matters more than the total number of links. A few hundred varied referring domains are worth more than thousands of links from a single site or network. In our catalog, 1,637 names out of 3,993, or 41%, have at least 10 referring domains.
103 of 221
available names with at least 10 referring domains.
This figure is as reassuring as it is a call for caution: a link history often exists, but it needs to be assessed. Look at the diversity of referring sites, their topic, their language and how the links are worded. Repetitive, commercial anchor texts often betray artificial link building.
The site’s history matters as much as its links. The web archives show what the name hosted over the years. Four points deserve particular attention.
Our purchase risk score sums up these signals in a rating with readable reasons. Like any automated indicator, it can be wrong both ways: it helps you prioritise your review, it does not replace it.
No indicator ensures good rankings in search engines, and a high score is never a guarantee of traffic. An old domain’s authority can vanish if the new site has nothing to do with the old one, or if search engines detect an opportunistic takeover. Use these metrics to rule out poor candidates and focus your time on the best ones, not to promise a result.
Imagine two fictitious names released on the same day. The first shows an authority score of 34 out of 100, but almost all its links come from a handful of look-alike blogs, and the archives show three changes of topic in five years. The second shows only 18, but for ten years it hosted the site of a local association, cited by some sixty varied sites: town halls, regional press, sports clubs.
On paper, the first looks stronger. On closer inspection, the second is the better candidate for a project in the same field: its links are natural, its history is consistent and its risk is low. This is exactly what cross-reading the indicators reveals, and what a single score hides. Keep this example in mind whenever a high number makes a name look like an obvious choice: the figure is a starting point for your review, never its conclusion.
If the name is not free yet, our guide to the expired domain lifecycle will help you estimate when it might be, and use that time to finish your assessment. The free account lets you filter tracked names by authority, referring domains and risk, so you only open the archives for the most promising ones.
There is no universal threshold, since each tool has its own scale. On ours, a score of 30 out of 100 already places a name among the top 3% of our catalog. The score should always be confirmed by referring domains and history.
Not automatically. Backlinks may keep bringing trust if the new site carries on from the old one, but no indicator ensures a ranking. A redirect to an unrelated site is often ignored by search engines.
Look in the web archives for a history of spam, auto-generated pages or risky content, and examine the diversity of its backlinks. A name that no longer appears in search engines despite having many links deserves particular suspicion.
No. Each tool measures on its own scale, with its own link index. We never add up or convert scales between providers.
