Domain for Sale Scams: Should I Buy a Domain for SEO?

Have you ever received an email encouraging you to buy a domain name that’s related to what you do?

The emails are usually kind of pushy, with lots of big claims about how much a domain will help your traffic.

As a wedding SEO consultant, these emails get forwarded to my inbox all the time, by clients who want to know if the claims are real.  The emails go something like this:

“We have a domain that is currently on sale that you might be interested in— DomainWithKeywordInIt.com.  This domain name explains what you do and can help you get more targeted customers and clients online.”

It sounds great, right?  So… Should you buy it?  Will it really help your traffic or SEO?

Here’s what you need to know about these “domain name for sale” offers.

Should I buy a keyword-rich domain name and point it to my website?

Short answer— No.  

Buying a domain name with keywords in it and redirecting it to your website will not help you rank higher on Google or get more traffic.

These domain offers are a waste of your money.  Delete the email and move on.

If you’re one of those people who wants to know why this doesn’t actually work, I feel you. 😉 Let me explain.

Why this doesn’t work

These domains don’t get any traffic

A lot of these sellers try to mislead you into thinking the domain name that’s for sale gets a lot of traffic.

But think about this— If this is a domain name with no website attached, how would it be getting traffic?

When is the last time you typed in a domain name with keywords into a browser and just hoped it would take you to a real, reputable website?

I’m going to guess never.  Because no one does that.

Most of us start with a search engine when we’re looking for something, to make sure we end up on real websites.

There is no real traffic going to a random domain that is not a real website.

Google doesn’t rank you higher if you buy domains with keywords in them 

Google is trying to figure out which websites are best, not who can buy the most domain names.

Buying AtlantaWeddingPlanner.com and pointing it to your website will not help you rank higher in searches for “Atlanta wedding planner.”

If that actually worked, I can’t even tell you how many domains I’d own 😉 

If you want more information about the domain

The only time when buying a domain and redirecting it to your website might have value is if it was once a real website and has good backlinks pointing to it.

If you want to check for more information on a domain name’s authority and backlinks, I recommend using SEMRush’s Domain Overview tool.

Just set up a free account, and then you can search for the domain name.

You’ll likely find that it has no Authority and few if any Backlinks.  A domain like this has no value redirected to your website.

In the rare case that the domain does have a lot of backlinks, make sure to click over to the backlinks section of the tool and take a look at those links.  Do they come from high quality websites?  

The last thing you want is to redirect a domain with thousands of spam links to your good, high-quality website—that could actually hurt your SEO.

*For the record, I would never buy an old domain name with backlinks to it for SEO, but some SEO professionals do.

A few examples of domain name sale emails you can ignore

These are examples of real emails I’ve received or had forwarded to me by my wedding industry SEO clients.

If you get an email like these, please know that the promises are completely false.  Buying a domain name with keywords in it does not help you rank higher on Google or get more traffic.

Again, do not believe these claims, and delete the email.  No need to reply— they usually don’t even follow up, moving onto the next person they hope to hoodwink.

Did this help you save some money you almost spent?  I’d love to know!  Leave a comment below if this answered your question.