When buying a domain, it is a good idea to check if the domain has previously been used and if so who the previous owners of the domain were. Domains that previously have been banned by the search engines can often be hard to get to rank for anything. To lift a previous ban often involves contacting the search engines and explaining the situation, it is a process that is better avoided unless the domain name itself is very nice. Also previously registered domain could be a legal hazard; even if the domain has been abandoned by another party this does not mean that you are free to use the domain name for a competing business. Often companies forget to renew domains, and they might fight to get it back.

Here is a process that could be followed:

1. Search for the domain in as many of the search engines as possible, not just Google and Yahoo. Also search for the domain with different TLD’s. A website will often be mentioned on another web site and this is one way to find out.
2. Search for the domain in The Wayback Engine. If there are no results for the domain chances are pretty good that there never has been a web site hosted on the domain.
3. There is also a paid service that enables you to search for old WhoIs entries; it doesn’t cost anything to check for old WhoIs entries just to view them.

So what if the domain has been owned previously? Well that is something that should be judged on a case to case basis. Having done your home work beforehand makes it much easier to claim to have acted in good faith if you run into trouble down the road.
[tags]domain names, The Wayback Engine, Intellectual Property[/tags]