An entire industry has sprung up around domains. They have become a commodity that is bought, sold, traded, auctioned and monetized in dozens of ways. This is only peripherally on the radar for most SEOs and SEMs, as they are too busy doing what they do to learn another craft. But every once in a while, you run across an expired domain that makes your mouth water with possibilities.

Are you better off starting fresh with a brand spanking new domain? Or should you purchase a domain someone before you has used? Before you jump on the opportunity, consider the pros and cons:

Pro: An older  domain probably gets a bit of a trust boost from its age on the internet.

Con: Like a used car, an older domain has a history. Unless you know what this history is, you’re  taking a huge risk.

Action:  Thoroughly investigate the history of this domain and its old IP address using all the tools at your disposal and make your decision based on what you find.

Pro: An older domain probably has PageRank and incoming links, giving you a head start over a new domain.

Con: Google, speaking with the voice of Matt Cutts, is rumbling  about “resetting” (back to zero) the Page Rank and backlinks of domains that are allowed to expire. They know people are buying them for the links and PR and want to neutralize its effect on the rankings.

Action: Google tends to warn and warn and warn before actually instituting any major spam filters. So, while I expect that with 12-18 months, Google will have something in place to filtering our the influence of expired domains is something