Google's Thoughts On Selling Domains Based On SEO Value

Jan 14, 2021 - 7:51 am 1 by

Seo Domain Car Salesman

A while back, John Mueller and Gary Illyes from Google reacted to a tweet around selling domain names based on their "SEO footprint." Meaning, it has a lot of perceived SEO value (links and authority) based on third-party tools. And the domain name broker is pitching that as a reason to buy the domain name.

So while Gary Illyes simply "no" to bidding on it:

John Mueller had a more fun response:

The funny thing, John said this the year before in a different tweet. He said buying used domains is like buying a used car. Keep in mind, when you buy a domain name, Google knows it has changed ownership and also knows the content on that domain name has changed significantly. So if the past history does not hurt you, which it might or might not - the same flows with it might or might not help you. Google might reset all the good things, all the past links, and such when the domain name is sold.

In any event - buy the domain name if you think the name works for your brand. But be careful not to buy a domain name with a shady history or that had adult content on it - use the Way Back Machine.

Forum discussion at Twitter.

 

Popular Categories

The Pulse of the search community

Search Video Recaps

 
- YouTube
Video Details More Videos Subscribe to Videos

Most Recent Articles

Web Analytics

Google Analytics Real Time Reporting Broken Again

Jul 17, 2025 - 10:40 am
Search Forum Recap

Daily Search Forum Recap: July 17, 2025

Jul 17, 2025 - 10:00 am
Google

Google AI Mode Gets Gemini 2.5 Pro & Deep Search For A Fee

Jul 17, 2025 - 7:51 am
Google

Google Discover Officially Gets AI-Generated Summaries

Jul 17, 2025 - 7:41 am
Google

How The Google Ask For Me Feature Works & New AI Local Calling

Jul 17, 2025 - 7:31 am
Google

Google Tests Much Larger Favicons In Search

Jul 17, 2025 - 7:21 am
Previous Story: Google Search Console Notification For Google Will Start Crawling Over HTTP/2