Expired domains: the link risk beyond 404s

The problem isn’t that the link is broken

A broken-link report tells you a destination returns an error. That is housekeeping, and most SEO tools do it. The risk sits underneath it. When the domain a link points to lapses, it becomes available to register, and some people register expired domains precisely because pages like yours still link to them.

How the play works

1. Find domains that have lapsedBacklink data shows which expired domains still have links pointing at them, and from which sites. A domain that an established site links to is worth more to the buyer.
2. Register itOften cheap, and sometimes grabbed the moment it is released by services built for exactly that.
3. Put something on itCasino, pharmacy, loans or affiliate pages, a network of sites, or a redirect to a site the owner wants to rank.
4. Your page does the restNothing on your site changes. The link is still there, now pointing at content you never chose, and visitors who click it arrive there.

Google’s spam policies name this expired domain abuse. How much of a domain’s earlier standing survives a change of owner is debated, and search engines try to discount it. What isn’t debated is that your readers are sent to someone else’s content, and that your page looks as though it vouches for it. A link that isn’t marked nofollow, sponsored or ugc is an ordinary followed link, so it also passes whatever a link passes (link equity) to whoever owns the destination today.

Why your old links are the target

The people who do this look for the links you have forgotten: a citation in a post from years ago, a partner that closed, a resource list, a footnote. The older and better established your site is, the more attractive it is to them, and the less likely anyone is to notice.

What Link Signals reports at each stage

On a monitored site, a destination that was Unreachable, Broken, not registered, expired or parked is checked again on every check, which is when a takeover happens. A link that turns bad appears as a new finding and triggers an alert email. A destination judged safe is reused for 30 days before it is looked at again.

What to do about a link to a lapsed domain

1. Open the pageUse the Found on column to open the page that carries the link, and look at the anchor text in the finding.
2. Decide whether the link is worth keepingIf the source still exists somewhere else, link to its new address. If it only survives in a web archive, consider linking to the archived copy.
3. Replace or remove itRemoving a link to a domain that has gone is almost always right. Marking it nofollow stops it passing signals but still sends readers there.
4. Scan againRun a new scan, or let monitoring pick it up on its next check, and confirm the finding is gone.

In your report

Links to lapsed domains are counted on the Not registered or expired card on the Overview tab, which carries a red Priority 2 chip by default. This page is about the part of that card that deals with expiry: the Expired or lapsing number, the Expired chip on a finding, the Expiring in 90 days number, and the expiring domains list on the Inventory tab. The Not registered number is explained on unregistered domains.

Past the date is not the same as expired

A registry date that has passed is not proof that a domain has lapsed. Registries commonly keep a domain active through a renewal grace period, and some record a renewal late. A domain that is past its date but still listed as active is called past due. It is not flagged as expired and its link’s verdict does not change. It is listed with the domains about to expire, where it reads “today”.

A domain is flagged as Expired when its date has passed and the registry shows it has stopped (an expired, hold, inactive or suspended status), when it is in redemption or pending delete, or when it is still listed as active more than about three months after its date. Flagging it at this stage leaves time to replace the link before the domain is released.

The expiring domains list

On the Inventory tab, the panel “Linked domains expiring within 90 days” shows one chip for each domain with the time left, soonest first. Chips turn amber at 30 days or fewer. Up to ten domains are named, and the count at the top of the panel is the total. A link to a domain on this list works today. The point of the list is to catch the domain before it lapses, while you can still replace the link or ask the owner about the renewal.

The panel can also offer to monitor the site. Monitoring re-checks these domains on a schedule and emails you when a link could be taken over. The button under the list, labelled “What expiring domains mean”, opens this page in a new tab.

What to do next

1. For an Expired row, replace or remove the link on the page named in Found on, because the domain can be released at any time.
2. For a domain in the expiring list, decide whether the link is still worth having. If it is, check the owner is renewing. If it is not, remove it now.
3. Use Mark reviewed and then Re-check to confirm the change, or let the next scan do it.

How this counts in your LinkSignal

A link to a domain that has expired or is not registered is counted in the links to unregistered or expired domains row of your site’s external LinkSignal. A domain that is still registered but due to lapse within 30 days is a separate row, linked domains expiring within 30 days. how the score is worked out gives the points for both, and the LinkSignal overview lists the rest. LinkSignal is Link Signals’ own metric, worked out only from what this tool finds, and it is not connected to any search engine or third-party score.