How to Check an Expired Domain’s Backlinks

Backlink counts are a map legend, not the territory. A useful review opens the strongest links and asks whether they are relevant, real, durable and connected to pages you can sensibly recreate or replace.

Prioritize referring domains over raw link count

One site can create hundreds of sitewide links. Referring-domain diversity is usually a better place to start than total backlinks, but you still need to inspect source quality.

Read the anchors in context

Anchor text can reveal the former brand, topic and spam history. Look for patterns that match the archived site and investigate terms that do not.

Map old target URLs

Strong links may point to deep URLs rather than the homepage. Record valuable targets so you understand what content earned the links and whether a legitimate replacement page makes sense.

Check whether links still exist

Historical backlink databases can contain links that are gone, changed or nofollowed. Open the source when it materially affects your purchase thesis.