Run every domain through four gates, in order
The first gate that triggers decides what happens. Re-run the gates about 90 days before each renewal.
| Gate | Question | Rule |
|---|---|---|
| 0. Control | Do you control it end to end: registrar login, nameservers, hosting and SSL? | If not, fix control first. Never leave nameservers pointing at a host where you no longer have an account. |
| 1. Risk | Does the name contain a trademark, a real person's name, or a sensitive topic? | Trademark or famous person: drop. A former client's name: offer it back, or drop. Sensitive niche: sell quietly or drop. |
| 2. Fit | Does it directly serve a business or project you are actively running? | Yes: build on it, hold it, or redirect it into the main site if the topic matches and its links are clean. |
| 3. Economics | Is it worth more built, sold or dropped? | Build if there is real search demand and a clear way to earn. Sell if the name is strong or there is an obvious buyer. Otherwise drop. |
Score each domain
Score five factors from 1 to 5, then weight them:
| Factor | Weight | 1 | 5 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Name quality | 30% | Hyphens, numbers, typos, 3+ words | Dictionary word, short .com or a strong brandable |
| Buyer demand | 25% | Nobody would pay for it | A category with search volume and many funded buyers |
| Strategic fit | 20% | Unrelated to anything you do | Core to an active project |
| Asset equity | 10% | New, no links, no site | Aged, live site, real referring domains |
| Risk (inverted) | 15% | Clean generic name | Trademark, famous person or sensitive claims |
Score = (Name × 0.30 + Demand × 0.25 + Fit × 0.20 + Equity × 0.10 + (6 − Risk) × 0.15) ÷ 5 × 100.
Rough bands: 70 and up, build or sell at a premium; 50 to 69, list for sale; under 50, drop unless it fits a project. The score cross-checks the gates; it never overrides them.
Do not overweight age
Asset equity is only 10% for a reason. In our study of 224 aged domains, age came with almost no measurable authority on its own.
Before you drop a domain
Remove it from email signatures, profiles and your own sites first. In our expired domains study, 30% of dropped domains were picked up by someone else, and some of them now serve spam.
A simple routine
- Every quarter: list domains renewing in the next 90 days, re-score them and set auto-renew to match the decision.
- Every year: lower asking prices on names with no inquiries, and drop names with no inquiries after two renewals.
- Before buying a new domain: only for a named project with a launch date.
