Framework: Recovering Links from an Expired Competitor Domain

Framework: Recovering Links from an Expired Competitor Domain

When a niche site dies, its backlinks are orphaned demand.

1. Confirm the domain is truly expired (WHOIS + 404/parked).
2. Export its full backlink profile by referring domain.
3. Filter to links pointing at content topics you cover.
4. Pull the dead pages from Wayback to learn what each linker valued.
5. Build or map a matching live page per linked topic.
6. QA gate: exclude spam/PBN referrers — check their own outbound footprint.

— Automation fits at steps 2–4: batch backlink export plus overnight Wayback retrieval.

Definition of done: a cleaned prospect list of legitimate referring domains, each tied to a Wayback-informed replacement page and ready for the outreach sequence.