New Domain vs Old Domains, What’s the Difference?

• 13 Feb, 2024
• Adult Site Broker

Choosing between registering a new domain name or buying a pre-existing old domain can be challenging. 

Expired or old domains (in this article, we shall refer to them as old domains) allow you to build on a site’s existing SEO and reputation. New domains offer creative freedom and potential for SEO growth through keyword relevance. Knowing which one to choose and why is vital to success. 

In this article, Adult Site Broker will explain the critical distinctions between the two, helping you decide the best option for your adult website.  

What is a New Domain?

As the name suggests, having a new domain is when you register a domain yourself. To do so, you must choose a domain register, such as GoDaddy, check the availability, and then register your new domain name and TLD via a yearly or multi-year registration.

Adult site owners may decide to purchase a new domain for many reasons. These include wanting to start the site on a clean slate, align with branding, or build up SEO rankings.  

Advantages of a New Domain

There are multiple advantages to choosing a new domain name instead of buying an expired domain, including the chance for brand originality and a clean slate for SEO – allowing you to control your reputation and content completely. Other advantages include boosting your SEO ranking by creating a new domain name using relevant keywords. Or it will enable you to choose a better top-level domain (TLD), for example, using a niche-specialized TLD like .adult or .xxx to align your domain with your adult content and target your audience. 

What is an Old Domain?

Imagine that you have decided to set up your new adult website, and you painstakingly think of which domain name to use branding, and content you would like to showcase. Still, when you register your new domain name, it’s already taken and accrued a good SEO authority. However, the domain was never re-registered by the old domain owner and has moved through the grace period, redemption period, and pending delete status. When this occurs, the domain will re-enter the market, allowing you to register the domain for yourself. This is what is known as an old or expired domain.

Advantages of an Old Domain

There are many advantages to buying an old domain. Firstly, your site can benefit from the old domain’s history and authority. In addition, purchasing an old domain with a good domain age, page rank, and trust flow can result in better SEO performance and higher search rankings. Secondly, the site has a backlink history from authoritative, high-quality websites, which you can benefit from without starting from scratch. These backlinks can help improve your website’s SEO ranking, driving more organic traffic. Thirdly, the site may receive traffic from search engine results or direct URL entries, which you can capitalize on for your new site. 

Risks and Considerations

However, whether you’re buying a new or old domain, both options involve multiple risks and considerations. 

A considerable drawback for new domains is the cost of registering your new domain and market saturation, making finding a domain name tricky. In addition to this, because you are starting from new, your website traffic and SEO ranking may be low at the beginning. Finally, as a new domain, it can be costly to set up and pay the yearly registration fee, not to mention the expenses for building up your brand awareness and marketing, such as buying high-quality backlinks to start driving traffic to your site and building your SEO ranking. 

Certain drawbacks for expired old domains include taking on any lousy history or penalties they have previously incurred via unethical or bad practices, which can impact your credibility and trustworthiness as a site. In addition, if you buy an old domain with a bad SEO ranking due to losing authority in the niche or losing backlinks, you must put time and effort into resolving those issues and growing your SEO ranking the same as you would when buying a new domain. 

Knowing which to choose is a matter of understanding your business needs. 

Choosing the Right Option for Your Needs

When deciding which option to go for, it is vital to consider the following: 

A Clean Slate: if you’re looking for a domain that gives you complete control over brand alignment, history, and credibility, a new domain may be the answer. 

Authority: An old domain can offer you domain authority due to its history and the use of pre-existing backlinks.  

SEO capabilities: Do you have the time, resources, and money to put into SEO and back-link building?  Or are you looking to use your domain name to help with keyword rankings? 

Costs: Registering a new domain can be a costly endeavor. 

Market Saturation: As the adult industry grows, it can be harder to consider a new domain name that has yet to be taken. In this case, buying an expired domain may be the best option. 

In summary, old domains allow you to build on a site’s existing SEO and reputation. In contrast, new domains offer creative freedom and a chance for SEO growth through keyword relevance. 

Considering your business model and goals can help you determine your best choice.

Best Practices in Domain Selection

When selecting a domain, choosing one that will match your business needs is essential. As we come to the end of this article, here are some best practices in domain selection: 

1. Use domain name checkers to check the availability of your domain name. 
2. Use a suitable TLD such as .com or a new TLD like .adult for target audiences for your adult site. 
3. Keep your new domain name short and sweet, avoiding numbers and hyphens. For extra help, use a domain name generator. 
4. If buying an old domain, do your due diligence on its history, such as traffic and SEO. You can do this by working with a reputable site broker like Adult Site Broker. 
5. You can also use tools like Semrush to audit old domains for yourself. This tool can break down Keywords, traffic, SEO to-do lists, etc., to give you the whole story of their SEO ranking. 

To conclude, there are many benefits and risks for choosing a new domain name or purchasing a pre-existing old domain. Old domains allow you to maintain the domain’s credibility and SEO traffic; however, you are also taking on a domain history that can impact your credibility if they have incurred penalties or lost their SEO ranking due to unethical practices. On the other hand, a new domain offers you the chance to kickstart your SEO growth by using keywords in the domain and control your site’s reputation and history. However, it is important to understand that building up your SEO and organic website traffic takes time, and market saturation has made it harder to find an available, creative new domain name. 

It is essential to know that, no matter which you choose to buy, you must consider your personal and business needs and the time, effort, and resources you have to put into your domain. 

Read more from Adult Site Broker: 

Buying An Adult Website

Interesting Adult Industry Startups

Buy or Sell an Adult Website