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Internet Time Machine?! What Is The WayBack Machine?!

By
Real Estate Broker/Owner with Haven Realty & Investments BK 3177933

What is the Wayback Machine?

Recently Carol Williams  posted that she had let her domain name expire some years ago. I have experience in tracking down old websites and putting them back together, so I messaged her to see what the domain was to see if we could start the rebuilding process. 

 

First I checked the domain whois information to see if it was registered, and it was. Someone in NC owns it. To get this information I use whois.icann.org

Icann is the organization that handles all domain records. One could reach out to see if it could be purchased, but looking through the history there was some Chinese use and the domain has probably been flagged as spam. More on that in a minute. 

 

Rebuilding the domain is possible, but it can be an uphill battle getting it back to its former glory. 

Next step was the wayback machine to see if we can salvage the posts and sites to either rebuild on a current page, or if the original domain was available, rebuild the old expired domain. 

The Wayback Machine can be found at https://archive.org/web/

There is an option for you to save your current page on their homepage on the right. I did it with my website HavenRealtyFL.com just as a safety precaution. Not a bad idea as this makes them aware of your site. They also offer paid services to back up on a regular basis if you aren’t already backed up elsewhere. 

 

Looking in the last few years it looks like the sites former popularity was used in a PBN or Private Blog Network for back linking efforts. Then a Chinese owner used it, probably for the same reason, resulting in what I’d assume is a spam flag from Google. It looks like the site was picked up pretty quickly after it expired and used for a few years before being ditched all together. 

 

So whats next for Carol? 

The wayback machine has 117 saves of her old site, so she can go in and retrieve what was there and add it to her current page. In this situation I’d probably recommend leaving the old domain out of it, unless you can get it for cheap and sit on it for a while/rebuild and try and remove the spam flag, but that time may be better spent on a current page, or a new page so you are starting from scratch, not in the red. 

 

Hope this helps!

Posted by

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Comments (38)

Kathy Streib
Cypress, TX
Home Stager/Redesign

Hi Ben- I came over from Carol Williams reblog!  What good information to share with us here!!!  

Oct 03, 2018 12:45 PM
Sharon Tara
Sharon Tara Transformations - Portsmouth, NH
Retired New Hampshire Home Stager

I'm also here from Carol's reblog. So interesting. I had no idea this could be done! I'm bookmarking. Thank you!

Oct 03, 2018 01:06 PM
CJ Hays
Agent Reputation - Las Vegas, NV
Reputation Marketing & Websites for Realtors

Always good to use the Wayback Machine when buying a new domain. You want to see its history

Oct 03, 2018 04:45 PM
Greg Mona
West USA Realty - Scottsdale, AZ
Professional Real Estate Representation for YOU!

What a great story, Ben DeHaven! So great of you to offer your assistance and knowledge. What's so great about the Rain is one can learn SO much from reading the featured (and non-featured) posts. My very first thought to myself right after reading your post was "who knew?!" Good job! 

Oct 03, 2018 05:55 PM
Georgie Hunter R(S) 58089
Hawai'i Life Real Estate Brokers - Haiku, HI
Maui Real Estate sales and lifestyle info

How interesting.  I have heard of it but didn't know what it would be used for.

Oct 03, 2018 05:56 PM
Tim Ball
Post Real Estate Group - Eau Gallie, FL

I have been using for years to pull builder floorplans from their arhived websites.  A great resource many times.  However, some of the information is not always available.

Oct 03, 2018 06:15 PM
Lottie Kendall
Compass - San Francisco, CA
Helping make your real estate dreams a reality

What a wealth of knowledge you are, Ben! Thanks for sharing this with us.

Oct 03, 2018 06:16 PM
Anne Edwards Johnson
All City Real Estate - Austin, TX
Austin Realtor | HookemhomesATX (512)917-5260

Great information Ben DeHaven - but I have no idea what to do with the information. 

Oct 03, 2018 09:12 PM
Beth Atalay
Cam Realty and Property Management - Clermont, FL
Cam Realty of Clermont FL

Good morning Ben DeHaven, this is great information, I'm sure it will help many. 

Oct 04, 2018 06:22 AM
Anne Corbin
Long and Foster - Lake Anna - Spotsylvania, VA
Serving Lake Anna & Central Virginia

I'm going to check it out! Thanks so much.

Oct 04, 2018 07:50 AM
M.C. Dwyer
Melody Russell Team at eXp Realty of California, Inc. - Felton, CA
MC Dwyer-Santa Cruz Mountains Property Specialist

Wow this is interesting - congratulations on getting your post featured Ben DeHaven!

Oct 04, 2018 08:44 AM
Carolyn Roland- In Delaware and S. Chester County PA
Independent architectural histor'n - Wilmington, DE
Carolyn Roland, GRI, CRS

Great feature! All stuff was new to me! Thanks Ben.

Oct 04, 2018 12:37 PM
Mary Hutchison, SRES, ABR
Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate-Kansas City Homes - Kansas City, MO
Experienced Agent in Kansas City Metro area

Ohmy I would never think of something like this!  Useful information--and so detailed!

Oct 06, 2018 12:49 PM
Pat Starnes-Front Gate Realty
Front Gate Real Estate - Brandon, MS
601-991-2900 Office; 601-278-4513 Cell

You rock, Ben. That was a sweet thing to do to help Carol Williams out with her old domain. Way out of my technological field!! 

Oct 07, 2018 05:21 PM
Jan Green - Scottsdale, AZ
Value Added Service, 602-620-2699 - Scottsdale, AZ
HomeSmart Elite Group, REALTOR®, EcoBroker, GREEN

Thank you so much for this research and publication!  I told Carol that this reminded me of my old site, jangreenazhomes.com that I had abandoned in favor of relocatingtoscottsdale.com, then switching to azgreenrealty.com.  Ugh!  Wish I had kept the original site.  Someone told me not to include my name in my site as they don't look for me, they look for homes.  Makes good sense, except that AZHomes.com would have been great.  Lesson learned!  I also appreciate the chinese characters as that might have happened to my site as well - I looked it up a while back and saw some of that.  Thanks!

Oct 08, 2018 07:34 PM
Endre Barath, Jr.
Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties - Beverly Hills, CA
Realtor - Los Angeles Home Sales 310.486.1002

Ben, I totally missed this post and I am here because of Carol mentioning your help, needless to say kudos to you for your kindness and effort to help. Now I will have to bookmark and read more about this subject, Endre

Oct 08, 2018 10:25 PM
Brian DeYoung
also affiliated with Berkshire Hathaway Home Services Heritage Realty - Ithaca, NY
The Realtor with personal investment background

wow. Amazing information.

Thank you.

Oct 15, 2018 08:42 AM
Joe Pryor
The Virtual Real Estate Team - Oklahoma City, OK
REALTOR® - Oklahoma Investment Properties

That is incredible and you do honor to the memory of Sherlock Holmes and Mr. Peabody!

Nov 01, 2018 10:32 AM
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