How to Appraise Domain Names

How Much is Your Domain Worth?

Short answer: your domain is worth how much people are willing to pay for it. A domain can cost anywhere from $1 to millions of dollars. Since they aren’t physical commodities, domain valuation can look arbitrary to the untrained eye. If you’re selling domains, an appraisal tool can help you set a price. If you’re buying domains, it can tell you if you’re getting ripped off. If you’re deciding whether to sell your domain or hold onto it longer, a domain appraisal can help you make that choice. 

Signs You Have A Valuable Domain Name

These are the factors that generally make people willing to pay more for a domain name. 

Good Top-Level Domain

The domain industry term for domain extensions like .COM, .NET, or .ORG is top level domain (TLD).  .COM is by far the most popular TLD, followed by .NET and .ORG. 

Short Length

Short domain names are more valuable than long ones because they’re easy to remember and type. Three letter domain names are in particularly high demand. 

Easy Pronunciation and Spelling

You want people to be able to hear or read your domain name, remember it, and go to the site. This is more likely to happen if the spelling and pronunciation are intuitive. More memorable domain names are also more brandable. 

Popular Keywords

Keywords with heavy search volume mean more potential traffic. If a domain has keywords that are relevant to an industry, geographic location, event, or other trending topic, they’re more likely to be searched and more sought after by buyers. Doing some SEO keyword research will tell you if the word(s) in your domain are typed into search engines often. 

Traffic History

Domain names with traffic history are more valuable because that means potential for traffic in the future. An online presence makes a domain more valuable. If the domain had subdomains attached, that’s even better for its value. 

Domain Trends

Trending keywords and high sales can help you navigate where the market is turning. 

Top 10 Keywords Searched 2021

1. NFT
2. Pics
3. Time Management
4. Gambling
5. Meme
6. Kids
7. Pure
8. Luxury
9. Sale
10. Meta

Top Domains Sold in 2021

1. Christmas.com- $3,150,000 
2. Angel.com- $2,000,000 
3. Exodus.com- $1,945,000 
4. Meme.com- $1,250,000 
5. eBike.com- $1,008,900 
6. SelfMade.com- $977,500
7. Recursion.com- $904,000
8. GoBet.com- $850,000 
9. Tattoo.com- $812,000 
10. Poker.net- $750,000 

Best Domain Appraisal Services

Domain appraisal tools tell you the approximate market value of domains you own or domains you’re thinking about buying. 

Estibot

Estibot offers a free, well trusted tool for domain name appraisals that collects a lot of data that contributes to a domain’s sales price.

Enter any name and click to see a report that includes:

• The most recent sale price
• The sale prices and dates of comparable domains 
• The search volume of the domain’s name
•  The SSL status

With these factors, they provide a market value estimate. For a small fee, they’ll provide an appraisal certificate. 

Flippa

Flippa’s domain valuation tool bases its analysis on how you want to monetize the domain. Some of the options include

• eCommerce
• Content and advertising
• SaaS
• Affiliate marketing
• Apps

Flippa also has community domain name valuation forum where members can appraise each other’s domains based on their years of experience buying and selling domains.

GoDaddy Appraisal Tool

GoDaddy has a free domain appraisal tool that bases its estimated value on length, TLD memorability, keywords, and more. They also provide comparable sales data drawn from the data that they have access to as a marketplace. 

Sedo Domain Appraisals

Sedo is a huge domain marketplace that boasts a wide variety of features. One of these is their appraisal service. This is the only paid domain appraisal tool on this list, but it doesn’t operate like the others. While other domain appraisal tools use existing data to estimate your domain’s value, Sedo has a panel of staff experts who personally review your domain. 

The factors they consider include

• Search engine optimization
• Brandability
• Niche
• Potential revenue

At $99 per report, it’s not a tool for every domain sale you do, but it’s a good option if you want a tailored approach for a specifically valuable domain. 

Free Valuator

Free Valuator  bases appraisals on keywords, statistics, and website rankings. Like Flippa, they also have a crowd appraisal feature where you can find out how much real potential buyers would pay for this domain. They also offer professional appraisal like Sedo’s for a $69 fee.

Website Outlook

Website Outlook uses more than twenty metrics to find the real value of your domain. This includes rankings from several popular SEO tools like

• Moz rank
• Semrush rank
• Adwords traffic/budget

If you’re a buyer, these metrics could help you monetize your domain and boost its SEO profile. If you’re a seller, this data could be valuable for potential buyers who want to monetize based on traffic. 

$iteprice

$iteprice has many features in common with other free appraisal tools. However, their emphasis on ad revenue stats makes them stand out. They get this information from crawling the site that’s on the domain and from SEO tools.

Are Paid Appraisals Worth It? 

As you can see, some domain appraisal services are free and others cost money. Before you pay for an appraisal, consider the depth of its research compared to free providers. If it’s not doing anything special to justify its price, opt for a free one. Even if you use paid services occasionally, you probably don’t need to make them your go-to tool since you can get a lot of the data elsewhere.

Self-Appraisal Resources

Domain appraisal tools are great, but they won’t give you an exact, guaranteed sale price on their own. Sometimes, you’ll need to do research on your own to figure out what price to put on your domain. 

SEO Tools

A history of high search volume, quality backlinks, and Google indexing are great news for a domain’s valuation and future traffic. You can look into all of these things without the help of SEO software and search term trend tools. 

Majestic

An SEO service known for checking the number and quality of backlinks.  

Moz

A popular software for keyword research, backlink analysis, and domain analysis. 

Google Trends

See search volume trends over time. 

Domain Investing Forums and Blogs

A domain is worth as much as people are willing to pay for it. Who better than the potential buyers and experienced sellers themselves to give you a little guidance? The domain community may be niche, but there are several good spots to find the pros. 

NamePros

A popular domain investing forum where several of the major domain registrars have a presence alongside the investors. 

DomainGang

A source of news and humor about all things domains. 

Domaining.com

A one stop shop for domain investors where you can get news, tool recommendations, links to relevant databases, and more. 

Domain Name Wire

A blog that covers topics related to domain name industry news, wordpress, and webhosting. 

DomainSherpa

Articles and videos by domain investors for beginners.

DNJournal Sales Report

Home of a weekly report of high value domain name sales. It’s great for seeing what kinds of domains sell for high prices. 

Domain Appraisal is an Art, Not a Science

As you’ve probably figured out, you’re not going to find an exact formula to tell you the right price for a domain. Appraisal tools are a great starting point, but there’s more to it than algorithms and search rankings. Knowing the value of your domain requires context. Who are your potential buyers? What industry are they in? How important are websites to their business? How relevant is your domain? What are similar domains selling for? The answers to all of these questions will help inform the value of your domain when you combine them with the data. 

Now What?

Knowing the value of your domain can guide your choices no matter what you use it for. 

Renew Your Domain

Treat your domain like a real estate investment and hold onto it, then sell it when the value goes up. 

Protect Your Domain

Domain locks, DNSSEC, SSL certificates, WHOIS privacy, and two-factor authentication can help you protect your valuable domain. 

Sell Your Domain

List your domain for sale at a fixed price or try your luck at an auction. For lower value domains, a fixed price listing is usually a better choice. Auctions are typically more successful for higher value domains. 

Buy Another Domain

Learn the value of a domain name before you buy it so you know whether or not you’re getting ripped off. 

How Sav Can Help

There are a lot of reasons Sav is a great place for domain sales and purchases. We have the tools to help you buy your perfect domain name and build an online business. 

• Wide domain name selection
• Low prices
• 4% commission rate
• Free SSL and WHOIS privacy
• An affordable website builder
• DNS powered by CloudFlare 

What are you waiting for? Get started today!