Our method: domains
How we value domain names
Facts first, then a score, then a published price formula. Valuing a website instead?
Domains, step 1
First, the disqualifiers
The same filter we run on every auction before we spend a dollar. One fail and we pass, whatever the metrics say.
Subdomain-style names
Names like shop.brand.co inherit the parent’s metrics, not their own.
Hyphens and numbers
Harder to say, spell and remember. They cut resale demand sharply.
Trademark, adult or gambling terms
Legal risk for the buyer and a red flag for search engines.
Spam or takeover history
Gambling, pharma or foreign-language takeover pages in the Wayback archive.
Mostly non-English history
If under 80% of archived pages were in English, the backlinks rarely fit an English buyer.
Blacklisted
Listed on a spam blacklist. Hard to undo, so we pass.
Domains, step 2
Then the Domain Score, out of 100
Our own metric, instead of a single third-party number. Six factors, weighted by how much they move real resale prices.
| Factor | Weight | What it measures |
|---|---|---|
| Top links | 30 | How strong the best sites linking in are, by authority or real traffic. A few links from major publications (authority 70+ on a 100 scale, or 100,000+ visits a month) outweigh hundreds of small ones. Spammy sites never count. |
| Link profile | 15 | How many unique sites link in (full marks at 1,000), how clean they are and how many are real, strong sites. A profile built mostly on automated pages scores near zero, however many links it has. |
| Age | 15 | Years of real use in the Wayback archive or of continuous registration, whichever is longer. Full marks at 15 years. |
| Brandability | 15 | Easy to say, spell and remember, and short. Real words or a clean invented name. The extension is not scored. |
| Keyword match | 15 | Exact match (EMD) or partial match (PMD) to a phrase people search for and advertisers pay for. |
| Hot niche | 10 | Sits in a niche buyers are paying up for: AI, SaaS & cloud, Cybersecurity, Fintech & payments, Insurance, Legal, Health & medical, Real estate. and more. |
No single number decides it. A domain with one strong authority metric but no major links, a short history or a hard-to-say name scores lower than that metric suggests. Any disqualifier from step 1 caps the score at 25. The free domain value checker shows a preview score from the name, age and niche; the link factors unlock with the full check.
85 and up
Exceptional
70 and up
Strong
55 and up
Good
40 and up
Fair
Under 40
Weak
Domains, step 3
Then the price: Domain Value
Every domain we sell gets its Buy-now price from the same published formula, built on the Domain Score, and every listing shows the breakdown under “Why this price”.
| Step | What it does |
|---|---|
| Starting point | Every name starts at $1,000 at Domain Score 35, whatever its extension. A .com doesn’t get a head start: a name earns its price on its links, age, brandability, keyword match and niche. |
| Domain Score | Every 10 points above or below 35 doubles or halves the price. |
| Length | Short names are scarce: 3 characters ×4, 4 ×2.5, 5 ×1.6. |
| Search demand | US searches a month for the exact name, up to ×1.6. |
| Ad value | Searches × Google Ads cost per click: what advertisers already pay for that traffic, up to ×1.5. |
| Link-only names | A name with under 100 US searches a month and no hot niche is bought only for its links and history, by SEO buyers paying wholesale. Its price caps at $1,495, however strong the links. |
| Real sales | As our database of closed sales of similar names grows, the price moves toward them (up to 70% weight). |
Any disqualifier from step 1 means no Buy-now price, offers only. The free domain value checker shows the facts and the score; for a name you want to sell, get a free appraisal.
Questions, answered
Frequently asked questions
How do you value a domain name?
In three steps. First we rule out domains with disqualifiers like hyphens, numbers, trademark terms or a spam history. Then we score the rest out of 100 on the quality of the sites linking in, the link profile, age, brandability, keyword match and niche. Finally we price it with our Domain Value formula: one starting price for every name, adjusted for the score, length, search demand and advertiser CPC, and blended with real sales.
Is a domain valued like a website?
No. A domain is priced as a name: its links, history, brandability, length and the search demand behind the words. A website is priced on its profit. See how we value websites.
Does the free checker show a price?
Yes, from the same Domain Value formula as our listings. The free check shows what the name is worth with no backlinks, solid links and strong links; the full check measures the real links and search demand and gives one value. For a price checked against real sales, get a free appraisal.
What is the Domain Score?
Our own 0–100 rating of a domain: the strength of its top links (30%), its link profile, age, brandability, keyword match and niche. It replaces single third-party metrics, which are easy to inflate.
Does a single authority metric make a domain valuable?
Not on its own. A high number with few referring domains, no major links or a spammy past scores much lower in our Domain Score.