Here is a compiled list of glossary and definitions. To help you better understand the technical terms for expired domains and related industry words.
301 Redirect
In it most simplest definition, a 301 redirect is a permanent redirection from one URL to another.
If for some reason you change your domain name from shoes.com to onlyshoes.com, you could use a 301 redirect that would connect your old URL to the new one. This way, people who go to shoes.com would automatically be sent to onlyshoes.com.
Ahrefs
A tool that helps with search engine optimization along with helping with analyzing backlinks, commonly used by domainers to help check domains for spam.
Archive.org (AKA Wayback Machine)
Also known as the Wayback Machine, archive.org is an archive of all websites in the world since 1996. Archive.org allows users to see how much a website changed throughout it’s time duration. It also allows Internet marketers to analyze certain sites and check for spam.
Anchor Text
Anchor text is the clickable text in a hyperlink. In most cases, it is easily identifiable as underlined and blue.
ccTLD (Country Code Top Level Domain)
This is the acronym of “Country Code Top Level Domain”. ccTLD is the domain extension associated with specific countries or territories. An example is .uk for the United Kingdom or .au for Australia. ccTLDs are designated by IANA, the abbreviation of “Internet Assigned Numbers Authority.”
CF (Citation Flow metric from Majestic)
Abbreviation of Citation Flow metric from Majestic. This is the number that predicts the influence of URLs depending on the amount of sites with links to it. This is one of the most common metrics used by domainers to verify the quality of a domain.
Cybersquatting
Is the act of taking over or managing a domain that is similar to a trademark. The term cyber-squatter also describes a person or organization that practices cybersquatting.
DA (Domain Authority metric from Moz.com)
Is the abbreviation of Domain Authority. It is also one of the metrics from Moz.com. It is a score on a 100-point scale created by Moz, and it predicts the ranking of websites on search engines. You can use Domain Authority when you compare one website to another one or to keep a track of the popularity or strength of a website throughout time. This metric is calculated when combining different link metrics into one score.
Domain Auctions
These are auctions of specific domain names. In these sales, the highest bidder is the one who purchases the domain.
Domain Broker
This term refers to the individual, company or organization who specializes in helping people to buy or sell domains. The domain broker is in charge of handling negotiations on behalf of the buyer. They charge different fees depending on the services provided, but it often is a percentage of the price of the domain. Domain brokers use contacts to have access to buyers or sellers that would not have had the chance to buy a domain.
Domainer
A relatively new term. It is used to describe a person who earns money when registering, selling, buying or leasing certain domain names.
Drop Catching
This refers to the practice of registering a domain name as soon as it is expired or after the registrar deletes it and makes it available to the public. Drop catching can be done manually. However, there are several companies that allow users to use some automated drop catching services. This way, users have a higher chance of registering a domain after it is released. Drop catching is also referred to as back ordering.
Drop Lists
These are comprehensive lists of certain domain names that are about to be deleted by domain name registrars. They are used when domainers are looking to use a backordering service, and it allows the domainer to instantly register the desired domain after it is deleted.
Expired Domain
These are the domains that were not renewed before their expiration dates. An expired domain is usually available for the cost of a hand registration fee. The terms of when and how a domain expires are different between registrars. It is important to understand the obligations and rights with your registrar when you purchase a name to know how it will be handled.
Hosting
A Hosting company that manages clients sites on its servers and enables the clients site to be viewed on the world wide web.
Namecheap, Godaddy, Hostgator, and Bluehost are some examples of the
more popular hosting companies to host your sites on.
Majestic
This is the name of link intelligence tools for Marketing, Internet PR and SEO. Their explorer allows users to see inbound links and summary data from the site. They also have Trust Flow and Citation Flow, which are metrics that are often used by marketers when checking a domain’s quality and trustworthiness.
Money Site
A money site is a website that you would want to promote, such as your products or affiliate products that you would sell on your page.
PA (Page Authority metric from Moz.com)
Moz developed the Page Authority metric that is based on a 100 point score that determines how well a page will rank in the serps. The data is coming courtesy from the Mozscape web index and many other factors. The higher the number (PA), the better the quality.
Where PA determines the ranking of a single page, Domain Authority determines the ranking and strength of the whole entire website.
PR (Page Rank)
Google developed the Page Rank Algorithm that analyzes the quality of a link and further helps to determine how important is a website. Google assigns each website a score that is between 0 to 10 and is on an exponential scale. PR is not widely used as it once was, as Google has not updated the Page Rank toolbar since late 2014.
PBN (Private Blog Network)
A PBN, which is the abbreviation for private blog networks. It is considered a gray hat to blackhat tactic to enable you to use the power of previously owned high-quality domains with powerful backlinks that point to your “money site”. Used to help propel your site’s rankings and traffic.
Redirection/Duplicate Check
Redirection is used to verify a domain to see if it has been spammed by checking if the site was redirected to another site which would pass all the link juice to the new site. Redirection can be checked with Archive.org.
Duplicate check is when you check for the uniqueness of an article by using the online tool called Copyscape.com, and also to see if the content has been passed over to another site. Combined with checking for any redirection, duplicate content check will help you verify if a domain has lost its link juice.
Registrar History
Useful information to determine how many times a domain has been dropped and registered. A rule of thumb is not to purchase a domain if it has been registered more than two times and not dropped more than one time. The online tool to check this can be found at the following site: http://whois.domaintools.com.
Screenshots.com
Screenshots.com is alternative free tool to Archive.org. Screenshots.com has an archive of 250 million historical websites. Also used as a tool by domainers to double check the quality of a domain.
Seed lists
Basically a list of keywords or URLs that you would input into a scraping tool to help gather expired domains.
Spam Check
Is a process to check the overall spamminess of a domain. The following tools can help with the spam check process, they are Majestic, Ahrefs, Moz, Archive.org and Screenshots.com. Other important checks include checking the anchor text to weed out and look out for spam words such as: Pharma, pills, sex, etc.
TF (Trust Flow metric from Majestic)
Is a number predicting how trustworthy a page is based on how trustworthy sites tend to link to trustworthy neighbors. Most widely accepted by domainers as an important metric to help check the quality of a domain.
Whois Record
Is a public record that tells who is the owner and manages a domain. Along with the owner’s contact info, it also gives info such as what is the location of the registrar and the expiration date. Whois privacy service is also offered as an optional service to help keep the domain owner’s information private.