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.
These are the factors that generally make people willing to pay more for a domain name.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
Trending keywords and high sales can help you navigate where the market is turning.
Domain appraisal tools tell you the approximate market value of domains you own or domains you’re thinking about buying.
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:
With these factors, they provide a market value estimate. For a small fee, they’ll provide an appraisal certificate.
Flippa’s domain valuation tool bases its analysis on how you want to monetize the domain. Some of the options include
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 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 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
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 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 uses more than twenty metrics to find the real value of your domain. This includes rankings from several popular SEO tools like
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
An SEO service known for checking the number and quality of backlinks.
A popular software for keyword research, backlink analysis, and domain analysis.
See search volume trends over time.
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.
A popular domain investing forum where several of the major domain registrars have a presence alongside the investors.
A source of news and humor about all things domains.
A one stop shop for domain investors where you can get news, tool recommendations, links to relevant databases, and more.
A blog that covers topics related to domain name industry news, wordpress, and webhosting.
Articles and videos by domain investors for beginners.
Home of a weekly report of high value domain name sales. It’s great for seeing what kinds of domains sell for high prices.
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.
Treat your domain like a real estate investment and hold onto it, then sell it when the value goes up.
Domain locks, DNSSEC, SSL certificates, WHOIS privacy, and two-factor authentication can help you protect your valuable 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.
Learn the value of a domain name before you buy it so you know whether or not you’re getting ripped off.
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.
What are you waiting for? Get started today!