Over time your website might need to change its address. This could be because of a new name, a merger or maybe the closure of a site that’s no longer needed. You may have brought a domain once but have never used it and don’t think you’ll need it anymore.

When this happens, you’ll end up with a website domain that is no longer used. So, what should you do with an unused domain? Well, it depends on a few factors.

If the domain has been pointing to a website, you’ll almost definitely want to keep it. You can redirect it to the new website domain, which can help maintain existing links and keep traffic coming.

Redirects

If the domain has changed because of a rebrand or merger, you’ll also need to set up permanent redirects (called 301 redirects), so that links to key pages on the old domain continue to work on the new website domain.

Setting up these permanent redirects also help tell search engines that the old page link in search results should be updated to point to the new page on the new domain. This will help keep the reputation of the old domain’s pages in existing search engine results, enabling the new domain keep search engine visitors.

If you let a domain expire that’s been recently pointing to any website of note, it will probably be snapped up by someone as soon as it becomes available and used to create links to boost other sites in search engine results.

Let it go

If the domain has never been used to host a website, and you’re not keeping it to protect a brand (for example, a ‘.co.uk’ when you usually use the .com), then you can simply let it expire.

This means that they will become available for anyone to register, which could lead to someone else taking ownership of your domain. People often overvalue domains or think that they need to keep something similar to their other domain/brand/product to protect it.

This approach made more sense when there were only a few top-level domains, but there are now so many domain extensions that it’s less of an issue.

Sell it

Another option is to sell. If your domains have any value, especially a good .com, you could consider selling them to someone else who might want to use them for their own website or business.

You can use domain auction websites such as Sedo or GoDaddy Auctions to sell your domain names.

One for the future

The final option is to keep them for potential future use. If you think you might want to use your domains again in the future, you can keep them registered and renew them as needed. This can be useful if you are planning on starting a new business or website and want to use one of your existing domain names.

Ultimately, the decision of what to do with your unused domains depends on the circumstances and the value of the domain.