How It All Started
I was searching for an aged domain to launch a section on the history of board games. My goal wasn’t just to find decent backlink donors—I specifically wanted a link from Wikipedia. Even though it’s nofollow, it carries trust and often attracts additional backlinks.
My budget was tiny: up to $200, no overkill. In the end, I went through four tools, and only one gave me a real “hook.” Here’s how it happened.
My Tool Route (in the order I clicked through)
1) Karma.Domains — straight to “Wikipedia”
I checked Auctions and Expired. But the main trick was the preset filter: Wikipedia Backlink.
What I used:
- Preset: Wikipedia Backlink
- Changed the “Backlink domain” field to en.wikipedia.org (I needed an English-language link)
- In Wayback, set Language = EN and keywords by niche: card game|trading cards|board game (via |, OR logic)
- Excluded domains with redirects, access errors, and CJK (Chinese/Japanese/Korean) content
- Karma Score ≥ 70
What I saw: In Expired there were about 20 domains, in Auctions about 30. One of them (I’ll change the name)—playhistoryarchive.org—had a backlink from the article “List of historical card games,” plus a clean Wayback timeline with no off-topic switches.
Quick note: all Karma filters work with AND logic. When I tried to add Semrush traffic on top of the preset, results collapsed. I went back to the single preset.
2) ExpiredDomains.net — wide net by names
Here my goal was simple: throw in as many candidates as possible, maybe something with “wiki” in backlinks. Filters: .org/.com, words game, cards, history in the name.
I found a couple of nice-looking names, but in reality—either parked domains or old club sites, no Wikipedia traces.
Still, I saved two domains to bookmarks—in case the “wiki one” didn’t pan out.
3) Spamzilla — quick donor check
I came here for the Backlink Miner. Checked playhistoryarchive.org: reviewed top donors and anchors. No “bonus/promo,” nothing adult/gambling—safe. Two alternative domains had shady directories, so I scratched them immediately.
4) DomCop — auction cross-check
Looked if there was a better-priced/name option at auction. Found one cute .com, but no Wikipedia traces and a sudden topic switch in 2018. Passed.
The Main Check: Is the Wikipedia Link Still Live?
This is easy to mess up. Tools may show “link exists,” while it’s already deleted in the article.
Here’s my method:
- Open the article on en.wikipedia.org and click View history
- Scroll to “External links” or references, check the current version
- If the link is gone, review past edits—it might’ve been removed with a comment
In my case, the link was still there. And not just anywhere—it was listed in External resources. I exhaled.
What Wayback Showed (and Why It Matters)
Karma.Domains’ Wayback reports are handy: unique snapshots + flag summaries.
I skimmed the “thick” calendar points and the green/orange markers (redirects/errors). No long-term 301s to another domain, no archive bot 403s. Content always stayed on-topic: games and club rules.
This is critical: if the domain was repurposed into something else for even half a year, the value of the Wikipedia link would be questionable.
Final “Validator Trio”
- Majestic: TF 16, CF 19; Topical TF close to Arts/Entertainment — good. Donor distribution looked healthy.
- SEMrush: No organic traffic now, but past history showed stable, not spiky, traffic.
- Ahrefs: Checked the anchor list, nothing toxic.
Purchase and What I Did Next
The domain was in Expired, so I bought it at reg-fee price through my registrar.
My plan:
- Rebuilt a small “skeleton” of 8 pages (game rules, short overviews)—exactly what was in the archive
- Added 3 new guides, but in the same theme and style, no spammy tricks
- Wait a week or two for indexing. No 301 redirect—I want to preserve the Wikipedia link’s context for this domain.
Spoiler: 9 days later, some pages indexed. And yes, that felt good.
What This Run Taught Me
- Karma.Domains is great for filtering false positives from Wikipedia—especially with the combo: Wikipedia Backlink + content language + exclude redirects/errors.
- ExpiredDomains.net is fine as a wide net, but “wiki miracles” don’t happen there—you still need forensic checks.
- Spamzilla saves time on donor/anchor validation, but without Wayback it’s incomplete.
- DomCop is useful for pricing and auction timing, but not a substitute for deep analysis.
My Filter Cheat Sheet (copy this directly)
- Karma.Domains → Wikipedia Backlink → en.wikipedia.org in Backlink Domain
- Wayback: Language = EN, Keywords: card game|trading cards|board game
- Exclude: Redirects, Access errors, CJK
- Karma Score ≥ 70
- Majestic TF ≥ 12
- Ref.Domains: 40–400
- Backlinks: 300–8000
Final Thoughts (subjective, of course)
If your goal is specifically a Wikipedia backlink, I’d start the same way again: Karma.Domains first, then Spamzilla for quick donor checks, ExpiredDomains.net for wide casting, and DomCop for auction monitoring.
Objective? Maybe not. But my little blog now has a neat section on the history of games—and that’s exactly what I wanted.
