--- title: "Domain History Checker: Spam, Backlinks & Archive Report" description: "Check a domain before you buy: Wayback history, spam and blacklist scan, DR, Trust Flow, backlinks and anchor texts in one report, in about a minute." url: https://hunter.domains/domain-checker language: en --- # Domain history checker: see *what it was* before you buy. Enter a domain name and get its Wayback archive, spam and blacklist records, DR and Trust Flow, the sites that link to it and its anchor texts in one report. It takes about a minute. - First check is free - No card needed - The report stays in your account What the report covers ## Everything to look at before you buy a domain, on one page The domain checker runs the same review we apply to every domain on our list on the name you enter. You don't open six sources and compare them yourself; you read the result with its score and the reasons behind it. ### Archive history We read Wayback Machine captures spread from the first year to the last: which years the site was live, what its title and language were, whether it turned into a parked or for-sale page along the way, and whether its topic changed. **2006 — 2026** Topic changed Captures in 14 different years · 1,240 URL Gambling content after 2022 ### Spam and blacklists Gambling, pharma and adult content patterns (including Thai, Chinese, Japanese and Korean), spam URLs, and Spamhaus DBL and SURBL listings. Spamhaus DBL Clean SURBL Clean Spam in the archive Warning ### Authority metrics Ahrefs Domain Rating, Majestic Trust Flow and Citation Flow, Moz DA, referring domains and Open PageRank, all measured at the time of the check. Domain Rating **43** Trust Flow / Citation Flow **25 / 21** ### Backlink profile and anchor texts We list the strongest sites linking to the domain and its most common anchor texts. You see what share of the anchors is spam and what share is written in a foreign script, plus which topics the linking sites are about (topical trust). bbc.co.uk news wikipedia.org reference “brand name” 312 domains ### Trademark risk and Google index Does the name contain a known brand, and does Google still have pages from this domain in its index? Neither decides anything alone; both appear in the report as warnings. ### Registration status Is the domain registered right now, with which registrar and until when, or is it available at the normal registration price? Read from the registry's own record (RDAP). How it works ## Enter the name, read the report, make the call ### Enter the domain Expired, in an auction, one you are negotiating for, or your own: any name works. It does not have to be on our list. ### We read its history and links Archive captures, blacklists, authority metrics and the backlink list are fetched one after another. Most checks finish in a minute or two, and the page opens by itself when the report is ready. ### Score and verdict You get a 0–100 Hunter score, its breakdown and a clear verdict. The report stays in your account; reopening the same domain within 7 days does not use a check. Verdict ## A high DR says nothing on its own A domain with a DR of 50 may have spent two years as a gambling site, been taken over by Japanese spam, or been inflated by a link network. The report reads the metrics together with the history and gives one of three verdicts, using the same rules as our daily scan. [See a sample report: waterandhealth.org](https://hunter.domains/domain/waterandhealth.org) **We would list it** Enough authority and a clean history. Had it come up in our daily scan, we would have published it. We would list it **Risky** We would publish it, with a warning: there is a finding such as a topic or language change, a parked period or an inflated DR. Risky **We would not list it** A spam period, a blacklist entry, an empty history or a weak link profile. The report states the reason. We would not list it Pricing ## The first check is free. After that there are two ways. If you look up a domain now and then, buy a pack; if you hunt domains every day, Pro includes both the list and a monthly check allowance. ### First check To try the tool **Free** An account is enough, no card needed - 1 full report - Score, verdict and the reasons - The report stays in your account [Sign up free](https://hunter.domains/register) ### 10-check pack For occasional checks **$4.99** one-time No subscription; $0.50 per check - 10 full reports - Checks never expire - A check that fails is not counted [Sign up and buy a pack](https://hunter.domains/register) Best value ### Hunter Pro For domain hunters **$9.99** /mo $5.99 a month billed yearly - 30 checks every month - The daily filtered list: every domain by name - Alert rules and instant email - Available now: dropped domains nobody registered [Try Pro free for 3 days](https://hunter.domains/register?plan=pro) ## When should you check a domain? - **Before you bid in an auction.** Before the price climbs, see whether the domain's past holds a period that will cost you later. - **When buying a domain from someone.** Compare the seller's metrics and the “clean history” claim with an independent report. - **Before you place a backorder.** Decide whether a pending-delete domain is worth an order before it drops. - **When planning a 301 redirect or a rebuild.** Look at which topics the linking sites are about; if they don't match your new site, the links won't have the effect you expect. If you want to run the checks by hand: [How to Check Domain History: 6 Free Checks Before You Buy](https://hunter.domains/blog/how-to-check-domain-history), [Expired Domain Spam History: 9 Signs to Look For](https://hunter.domains/blog/expired-domain-spam-history), [Domain Reputation Check: Spamhaus, SURBL and Safe Browsing](https://hunter.domains/blog/domain-reputation-check), [Expired Domain Checker: 12 Checks Before You Buy](https://hunter.domains/blog/expired-domain-checker-checklist) ## What can't the report see? - **Google penalties.** Manual actions and algorithmic penalties are visible only to the domain's owner in Search Console. - **Periods the archive did not see.** The history is read from samples spread across the years. A short spam period may have fallen between the samples; browse the calendar yourself using the Wayback link in the report. - **Every single backlink.** The strongest referring sites and the most common anchor texts come from a sample of the link profile; to go through links one by one you need Ahrefs or Majestic. - **Trademark registration.** Names are matched against known brands; no trademark search is run. This is not legal advice. ## Domain checker FAQ **What does the domain checker look at?** It reads the Wayback Machine archive of the domain you enter across the years and looks for gambling, pharma and adult content and for parked periods. It measures Ahrefs Domain Rating, Majestic Trust Flow and Citation Flow, Moz DA, referring domains and Open PageRank. It lists the strongest sites linking to the domain and its most common anchor texts, and checks the Spamhaus DBL and SURBL blacklists, the Google index and known brand names. It ends with a 0–100 Hunter score and a verdict. **How long does a check take?** Usually a minute or two. Most of that time goes to reading past captures from archive.org; when the archive is busy the queue can stretch by a few minutes. The page opens the report by itself when it is ready, and the report is kept in your account. **Is it paid?** Everyone with an account gets their first check free, no card needed. Hunter Pro includes 30 checks every month. If you don't want a subscription, a one-time pack of 10 checks costs $4.99, and the checks in a pack never expire. **Which domains can I check?** Any domain: expired, in an auction, pending delete, one you are thinking of buying from someone, or your own. It does not have to be on our list. Archive and backlink data do not depend on the extension; registration status is shown only for extensions whose registry offers RDAP (such as.com,.net,.org,.io,.co,.de,.uk,.fr and.nl). **What does the “We would not list it” verdict mean?** It means we would have rejected the domain had it come up in our daily scan. The report states why: a spam period in the archive, a blacklist entry, a very short or empty history, a weak trust profile, spam anchor texts and so on. The verdict is a recommendation; you read the report and make the final call. **Does the report show Google penalties?** No. Nobody can see Google's manual actions or algorithmic penalties from the outside; only the domain's owner sees them in Search Console. The report gives indirect signals: whether pages are still indexed, whether there was a spam period, whether the link profile looks natural. Check Search Console yourself after you get the domain. **Does checking the same domain again use another check?** No. If the same domain is requested again within 7 days, the existing report opens and no check is used. If a check cannot be completed for a technical reason, it is not counted either. **Do I buy the domain from you?** No. hunter.domains does not sell domains; it gives you the report. If the domain is available, the report links to a registrar; if it is in an auction, you bid on the auction site. ## Take a minute before you buy. Fixing a domain with a bad history takes months; checking it takes a minute. Check a domain