This week’s deals feature 7 sites listed on Flippa that we review for quality post-Google core updates, one site on Empire Flippers, and an aged domain from Odys.
We also share findings on 5 aged SEO domains and 7 branded domains live at GoDaddy auctions.
Let’s get into each deal!
12-Year-Old Lifestyle Site Making $3,479/mo on Empire Flippers
Summary
Type: Existing Content Site
Niche: Lifestyle, Home, DIY
Source: Empire Flippers (see listing)
Profit: $3,313/mo from Amazon Associates, display ads, other direct affiliate programs, and sponsored posts.
Asking Price: $162,320 at a 49X multiple using a last 10-month average
AHREFS
Growth Blueprint
Highlights
- Aged one-owner 12-year-old site
- 900+ articles published
- Diversified traffic and revenue sources
- Has branded, active social channels
- Growing traffic and revenue on a monthly basis
- Backlinks from Buzzfeed, ShutterFly, Coldwell Banker, Hometalk, and other niche-relevant links
Setbacks
- Requires additional work than your typical blog given social media channels
- Sponsored posts were allowed on the site and were 5% of monthly revenue (or $165/mo). Buyer can disregard this income stream from valuation as it’s active income and dilutes site authority.
Easy Wins
- CRO opportunities to improve affiliate revenue by up to 30%, or $100-$150/month
- Improve technical SEO of existing articles
- Target more money/review content to improve affiliate revenue
- Design custom homepage to send backlink authority to high-priority pages
Takeaway
This 12-year-old site in the lifestyle niche is certainly worth considering for someone looking for a general site to work on. The past 12 months have been the best year out of its entire history; a huge plus point.
With multiple traffic sources going to a diverse set of pages there is no single point of failure for this site. In fact, we don’t see any major setbacks for this site, but a new owner will have to spend some more time managing the different social properties of the site.
There are a few easy wins, but admittedly none of them are going to quickly change the business in a big way. Instead, the best way to look at this site is by taking a long-term approach.
First, a new owner will want to better optimize the homepage and start cranking out some money/review content to take advantage of the topical authority the site has. Then, we’d focus on improving the technical SEO given the site has 900+ pieces of content, many of which should probably be removed through a detailed content audit.
Domain: NetCompetition.org
Summary
Type: Aged Domain
Niche: Technology (internet)
Source: Odys Global (see listing here)
Age: 2006 (16 years old)
Listed Price: $5,630
AHREFS
Backlinks: Washington Post, Wikipedia, Harvard, Business Insider, MIT, Wired, LA Times, and more
Site History
NetCompetition’s mission was to advocate for a fair Internet for all while ensuring no blockage on access to content, applications, or devices.
Here is what the old website looked like:
Growth Blueprint
Monetizing a content site with Internet service (ISP) affiliate programs are extremely lucrative. For example, Xfinity pays $135/sale, AT&T pays $85/sale, and Verizon Wireless is $75/sale, among many other ISPs.
This domain is posed to be recreated into a content site discussing the topics of the Internet, cybersecurity, and privacy.
Here is what I would do:
- Recreate the homepage to cover the same topic as the current homepage including missions, about us, archive of posts, and categories
- Start with the ISP category covering ISPs in the U.S., privacy issues about ISPs, net neutrality, and more
- Branch out into covering the best ISPs in specific cities, states, and then countries
- Cover informative topics such as how to set up your Internet, router, WiFi, etc.
There are thousands of keywords in this niche and subsequent sub-niches. The major challenge is that this is not an evergreen niche; content will need to be kept up to date.
The niche is also very competitive so starting on an aged domain with existing backlinks would be the only way to get traction.
7 Sites For Sale Post-Google Update on Flippa
As you all know, the May 2022 Google Core update just ended. As soon as Google updates hit, many people frantically start listing their sites for sale on Flippa.
Flippa has had a large influx of content sites listed for sale in the past week. I will be breaking down some quality sites and then a list of low-quality sites.
2 quality sites
BrooklynCraftPizza.com – trending downwards in traffic since Jan 2022. Slightly hit in the May 2022 update; not a bad hit though. This could be a good acquisition. However, note that there is no Google EAT (no authors) and the content is easy to rank (no protective moat).
SmartHomeInsider.co.uk – A good quality site that includes an e-book and mailing list. The site was hit in the Nov-Dec 20221 Google update. The site has stabilized to an average since then. The buyer should pay on a L6M average, not 12-mo. Be aware of the technology niche which requires consistent content updates.
5 low-quality sites listed on Flippa
SweetTrip.org – Last 12-months shows this site earning a healthy income and receiving steady traffic. However, last 30 days, the site has taken a hit in traffic due to the Google update. This is a YMYL site with no Google EAT or quality backlinks; this is a huge red flag site. Buyer beware!
FunOnFoot.com – hit by the recent Google update. Low-quality content focused on a very specific sub-niche. Too many commercial articles without physically reviewing the products. No Google EAT; no quality backlinks. A poor niche site.
MountainBikesLab.com – hit by all of the past Google updates and then a significant hit in the May 2022 update. High ratio of commercial buying guide content compared to informational content. The same low-quality rehashed content found on typical affiliate sites.
SafeROMs.com – The traffic on this site is increasing quickly. This site has not been hit by the update. However, it’s very tough to monetize such content; no display ad provider wants to place their ads on such content. Google Adsense is currently on the site but if they review the site, they will most likely reject the site. Having traffic is not always ideal, you have to have a proper monetization strategy.
OutdoorLabWithJ.com – the site seems to have not been hit by the recent update. However, it was hit in the December 2021 update. The niche site has low-quality review and buying guide content. This site is not going to last through future updates.
🚀 5 SEO Domains & 7 Brandable Domains
My team and I sifted through the marketplaces and found 5 aged SEO domains with quality backlinks and 7 branded domains that are live at auction.
5 SEO Domains
Five SEO domains this week, bidding from $1,000+ to $22,750+. We share the AHREFs stats and also what the past site was about.
- AtlasJet.com: Was a Turkish airline starting in 2004. The site currently has an AHREFs Domain Rating of 49 and ranks for 116 keywords in the top 100 positions. Has backlinks from CNN, Behance, and TheGuardian.
- Shanghaiist.com: A site about Shanghai from 2006 to 2021, with a DR of 74 and ranking for 28 KWs with backlinks from Adobe, Forbes and The New York Times. It still has over 1000 pages indexed in Google.
- YourOwnLinux.com: A site about Linux starting in 2013 with a DR of 37 and ranking for 2194 KWs. Backlinks from Stack Overflow, Ubuntu.org and Kernel.
- MaderaWineTrail.com: A site for Wineries close to Yosemite National Forest. Currently has a DR of 37 and ranking for 141 KWs with backlinks from LA Time, USA Today and SF Gate.
- PickupPools.com: Was a site for truck-bed swimming pools from 2015 to 2021. Has a DR of 23 and ranks for 120 KWs with backlinks from CNBC, BuzzFeed and Insider.com
7 Brandable Domains
Seven brandable domains this week are currently bidding at $100+ to $2,300+.
Additional Resources
If you are interested in any of the deals this week, go through the specific platforms and contact the sellers. Make sure to perform detailed research and due diligence when acquiring any domains or websites.
Here are resources you should read up on:
