Questions to Ask Before Buying a Website
For anyone about to buy a website, a blog or a small online shop that someone else built, and deciding what to ask the seller or the broker before any money moves. The list follows the order a purchase usually takes: opening questions that settle whether to go further, then traffic, income, the weekly work, the risks and the handover. Send the first group in writing before any call, so the answers are on record when the numbers arrive.
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The questions
Each question, and why to ask it
First questions
Why are you selling the site, and why now?
Why ask it
The reason matters less than whether it fits the rest of what you hear. A seller with no time for a site that takes two hours a week has not given you the real reason yet. Ask what they will do with the site if it does not sell.
How long have you owned the site, and did you build it or buy it?
Why ask it
Someone who built it can explain every decision behind it. Someone who bought it a year ago and is selling again may be passing a problem along, so ask what they paid, what they changed and what happened to traffic afterward.
What is the asking price based on: how many months of profit, and which months?
Why ask it
Sites are commonly priced as a multiple of average monthly profit, so the months chosen do a lot of the work. Run the same sum over the last twelve months, the last six and the last three. If the price only holds up on one of them, you know which window the seller picked and why.
Can I have view-only access to the analytics and search console accounts instead of screenshots?
Why ask it
A screenshot can be cropped to a good month or edited outright. Being added as a viewer lets you choose the date range and the report yourself. If the seller will not add you, ask for a live screen share where they log in from scratch and click where you tell them.
What did the site earn in each of the last twelve months, and can you show the payouts arriving in a bank or payment account?
Why ask it
Month by month shows a slide that an average hides. An earnings dashboard reports what was credited, and a deposit shows what was paid after reversals and fees, so line the two up for at least three months. Gaps between them are the next thing to ask about.
Can you show that you control the domain, for instance by publishing a line of text I send you?
Why ask it
A listing can be put up by someone who does not own the site, and the public registration record is often hidden behind a privacy service. A short text file at an address you choose, or a record added to the domain's settings, can only be published by whoever holds the logins. Some marketplaces run this check before listing, so find out whether yours did.
Has the site been offered for sale before, on this marketplace or anywhere else?
Why ask it
An earlier listing tells you what the price was then and how long it sat. If a sale fell through, ask what that buyer found, because it is likely still there. Brokers often know this history even when the seller leaves it out.
Does anyone besides you own part of the site or hold a login to it?
Why ask it
Partners, a previous owner, a developer and old freelancers can all still have access or a claim. Every owner should be a party to the sale, and every outside login closed at handover. Get the names now so nobody surfaces after you have paid.
What has the marketplace or broker checked for itself, and what is it only repeating from the seller?
Why ask it
Some marketplaces verify traffic and income before a listing goes up, and some publish what they are given. The detail to get is which figures were checked, by what method and on what date. Find out who pays the broker's fee as well, since that tells you whose side the answers come from.
Traffic
Where do the visitors come from, and what share arrives from search, social, email, direct visits and paid ads?
Why ask it
A site fed from several directions can lose one of them and carry on. If one source sends most of the visits, the purchase is really a bet on that source staying as it is. Compare the seller's answer with the acquisition report once you have access.
Which ten pages get the most visits, and how much of the total do they carry?
Why ask it
A small site often leans on a handful of pages. Open each one and judge it as a reader would: is it current, is it better than what ranks beside it, and could a competitor outdo it in a weekend?
Which search terms bring the most clicks, and how have those rankings moved over the past year?
Why ask it
The search console lists queries, clicks and average position over time. Steady positions are what you want to see. A page drifting from third place to eighth is losing clicks every month, and a yearly total will not show it yet.
Has traffic ever fallen sharply, and what do you believe caused it?
Why ask it
Set the analytics chart to the longest range available and look for cliffs before you ask. A seller who names the drop, the cause and what they did about it is being straight with you. One who says there has never been a drop, when the chart shows otherwise, has answered a bigger question.
Which sites compete for the same searches, and has any of them gained on you this year?
Why ask it
Search the site's main terms yourself in a private window and note who sits above and below it. A large publisher, or the merchants themselves, moving onto those results is harder to answer than a rival blog. The seller's list of competitors should match yours, and a name missing from theirs is worth raising.
Is the traffic seasonal, and which months are the strongest and the weakest?
Why ask it
A gift guide site sold in January on its autumn numbers will disappoint by spring. Compare each month with the same month a year earlier, not with the month before it. Then check whether the asking price was worked out on the high season.
Which countries do the visitors come from, and do the site's ads and affiliate programs pay for readers there?
Why ask it
Ad rates differ widely by country, and many affiliate offers only pay for buyers in certain places. Heavy traffic from somewhere the site's income does not reach earns little. Put the country report next to the income by source.
Have you ever paid for visitors, through ads, promoted posts or a traffic service?
Why ask it
Paid visits are fine when they are declared and counted as a cost. Undeclared, they make a site look busier than it is in the months before a sale. In the analytics, look for a jump in direct or referral visits that leave within seconds.
How many email subscribers are there, how did they join, and how many open what you send?
Why ask it
Opens and clicks matter more than the size of the list, so look at the reports from the last few sends. A list people joined on the site is worth far more than one that was imported or bought. Whether it can pass to a new owner depends on the privacy rules where you and the subscribers live and on the email provider's terms, so check both.
Which social accounts, groups or channels send traffic, and do they come with the sale?
Why ask it
A site can depend on a page or a group that sits inside the seller's personal profile. Find out from each platform whether the account can be handed to someone else, and how. If it cannot, take the visits it sends out of your estimate.
Income
How does the site make money, and what share comes from each source?
Why ask it
Display ads, affiliate links, the site's own products, sponsorships and subscriptions each behave differently and take different work. Get the split in writing with a dashboard behind each line. One source carrying nearly everything is not a reason to walk away, but it is the thing to price.
Which ad network and affiliate programs pay the site, and will I have to apply to each one myself?
Why ask it
Many programs tie an account to the person who opened it, so a buyer often has to apply fresh, and the site may earn nothing from that source until the approval comes. Each program can tell you how a change of owner works there and whether the current rates carry over. Where the seller deals with a named affiliate manager or a direct advertiser, have them introduce you by email before closing.
Which single page, product or partner brings in the most money?
Why ask it
Follow up with what happens if it goes: the product is discontinued, the merchant ends its program, the page loses its ranking. If one thing accounts for a large share of the profit, look at how long it has held that place and what the seller has lined up behind it.
What does the site cost to run each month, line by line?
Why ask it
Hosting, the domain, themes and plugins, email software, writers, editors, tools and payment fees all belong on the list. Some of those the seller may get cheaply or free through an agency account or a bundle with their other sites, and you will pay full price. Profit is what is left after your costs, not theirs.
Have commission rates, ad rates or earnings per thousand visits changed in the past year?
Why ask it
Traffic can hold steady while the money per visit falls. Divide each month's income by its visits and look at the line. If a program cut its rates recently, only the months since the cut tell you what you would earn.
How much income was refunded, reversed or charged back, and is that already taken out of your figures?
Why ask it
Affiliate commissions can be reversed when a customer returns the purchase, and product sales come with refunds. You want net figures, with the report that shows the reversals beside them. A high refund rate on the site's own product is also a comment on the product.
Is any of the income from sponsored posts, sold links or one-off deals?
Why ask it
One-time payments lift an average and may never repeat. Have them listed separately, with who paid and for what. Sold links are a risk in their own right, since search engines publish rules against them, so find out which pages carry them.
The work
What do you do for the site in an ordinary week, and how long does it take?
Why ask it
A list of tasks is more use to you than a number of hours. Sellers tend to quote a quiet week and leave out the time spent answering email, fixing things and planning. Put a price on those hours, yours or a freelancer's, and take it off the profit.
Who writes and edits the content, and would they keep working for a new owner at the same rate?
Why ask it
If the seller writes everything, you are buying a job or a hiring problem. If freelancers do, ask what they are paid per piece and whether you can speak to them before closing. A writer who knows the subject and the house style is worth more than any handover notes.
Was any of the content written with AI tools, bought in bulk or adapted from other sites?
Why ask it
You are asking what you would be maintaining, not for a confession. Paste a few sentences from different articles into a search engine, in quotation marks, to see whether they appear elsewhere. Where reviews claim hands-on testing, ask who actually handled the products.
If nobody touched the site for a month, what would happen to the traffic and the income?
Why ask it
Some sites coast for a long time and others sag as soon as publishing stops. If the seller has ever taken a long break, find those weeks in the analytics and see for yourself. That stretch tells you how passive the income really is.
What does the site run on, and what would I need to know to keep it working?
Why ask it
Get the platform, the theme, the list of plugins and anything built to order. Custom code with no documentation means paying a developer every time something breaks, so ask who wrote it and whether they can still be reached. If you could not update the site yourself, add that cost to the monthly figure.
If the site sells anything, who handles orders, stock, suppliers and customer messages?
Why ask it
Skip this for a site that only shows ads. For a shop, ask how many customer messages arrive in a week, who answers them, and whether the supplier agreement is with the seller personally. Then ask who fulfills the orders placed in the days around the handover.
What would you do next if you were keeping it?
Why ask it
Listings often describe growth opportunities the seller never took up, so ask why not. Lack of time is believable. An idea that is simple, profitable and still undone deserves less weight in the price.
Risks
Has a search engine ever sent the site a manual action or a warning?
Why ask it
Manual actions and security issues each have their own page in the search console, and both should read as clear when you look. Notices that were lifted may no longer show there, so the question still needs asking. A cleared penalty is not fatal, but you want to know what triggered it and whether that practice has stopped.
How did the site get the links that point to it, and were any bought, swapped or built through a network?
Why ask it
Run the domain through a backlink tool before you ask, so you can compare the answer with what you see. Links in bulk from sites with no connection to the subject, all with the same wording, suggest a scheme. That kind of history can cost rankings long after the seller is gone.
What was the domain used for before you owned it?
Why ask it
An address that once hosted something unrelated, or was bought at auction for its old links, carries that history with it. Look at archived copies of the site across the years. A sudden change of subject is worth a question even if the seller was not the one who made it.
Does the site's name or domain include anyone else's brand or product name?
Why ask it
A brand's owner can object to a domain built around its name, and some affiliate programs forbid such domains in their terms. Read the terms of every program the site earns from with the address in mind. If the name sits close to a trademark, that is a question for a lawyer before you make an offer.
Do you hold the rights to every article, photo, logo and video on the site, and can you show the licenses or contracts?
Why ask it
Images are the usual gap: pulled from a search, or licensed to the seller in a way that may not pass to you. With freelance writing, the point is whether anything was signed about who owns it. A lawyer can tell you what a transfer of those rights needs where you live.
Have you ever had a copyright complaint, a takedown notice or a letter from a lawyer about the site?
Why ask it
Read the letter and the reply yourself instead of taking a summary. One settled complaint about a photo is ordinary. A run of them, or anything unresolved, should be dealt with in the sale agreement before money moves, and that is a point for your own lawyer.
Has any ad, affiliate or payment account tied to the site ever been suspended or closed?
Why ask it
A network that removed the site once may refuse it again under a new owner. You need the account, the date, the reason given and whether it was reinstated. Some networks will tell an applicant whether a domain is in good standing, so put the question to them as well.
Does the site owe anything to anyone: sponsors who paid ahead, members with time left, writers not yet paid?
Why ask it
A sponsor who paid for a year of placement, or a member three months into an annual plan, will expect you to deliver what the seller was paid for. Have each commitment listed with its end date, and count the cost of honoring it in your offer. Agree in writing that invoices for work already published are the seller's to settle.
Has the site ever been hacked, flagged for malware or taken offline for a long stretch?
Why ask it
A hack matters less than the cleanup: who did it, how, and what changed afterward. A site that was compromised and never fully cleaned can carry hidden pages or links. Search for the domain together with words that have nothing to do with its subject, such as casino or pharmacy terms, and the obvious cases will show up.
Do you run other sites on the same subject, and will you agree in writing not to start a competing one?
Why ask it
A seller who knows exactly which articles earn could rebuild the best of the site in a few months. Their current sites matter too, if any of them links to this one or shares content with it. How far a non-compete clause holds depends on where you both are, so get advice on the wording.
Handover
What exactly am I buying: the domain, the content, the email list, the social accounts, the product files, and what else?
Why ask it
Get this as a written list and attach it to the agreement. The things most often forgotten are the logo files, the original images, paid themes and plugins, the email software account and the spreadsheet where the seller tracks everything. Anything not on the list, assume you are not getting.
Is anything the site relies on shared with your other sites or staying with you?
Why ask it
Shared hosting, one analytics property covering several sites, a plugin license bought for a whole portfolio, an inbox used for the affiliate logins: each has to be separated or replaced. Settle who does that work and by what date. Splitting things apart after the sale is slower than doing it before.
How will the payment be held and released, and can we use an escrow service?
Why ask it
With escrow, a third party holds your money until you confirm you have what you paid for. Three details to agree: who chooses the service, who pays its fee and what counts as delivery. Be wary of a seller who pushes for a direct transfer to save the fee.
Who keeps the income earned between signing and the handover, and the payouts still owed for earlier months?
Why ask it
Ad networks and affiliate programs often pay weeks or months after the income is earned, so money for the seller's months may arrive after you take over, and the reverse. Pick a cutoff date and write down who receives each payout on either side of it. Without that line in the agreement, a payout that lands in the wrong account is a favor you have to ask for.
Is there an inspection period after the transfer, and what happens if the numbers do not match the listing?
Why ask it
Some marketplaces give the buyer a set number of days running the site before the seller is paid. Its length matters, and so does what you are allowed to check and what the route is if earnings fall well short. Get those terms from the marketplace itself, in writing.
Where is the domain registered, and how do we move it into my name?
Why ask it
A push between two accounts at one registrar is usually the quickest route, and a move to a different registrar can take longer or be blocked for a while after recent changes. Ask the registrar how it works there. The domain is the one asset you cannot rebuild, so see it in your own account before the funds are released.
Who moves the site to my hosting, and who pays if something breaks on the way?
Why ask it
Agree on one person responsible for the migration: the seller, the broker's team or a developer you hire. You want a full backup of the files and the database in your own hands before anything is touched. Check the moved site page by page against the old one before the old hosting is closed.
Will there be a written sale agreement, and who drafts it?
Why ask it
A marketplace may supply a template, and a private sale may have nothing unless you ask. It should name the assets, the price, what the seller states to be true about traffic and income, and what follows if it is not. Have someone qualified where you live read it before you sign.
How long will you stay reachable after the sale, and for what kind of questions?
Why ask it
A few weeks of email support is a common offer, but the length matters less than what it covers: a call when you need one, a fix for something they set up, a reply within a day or within a week. Put the period in the agreement, since a seller who has been paid has other things to do.
Is there a written record of how the site is run: logins, routines, templates and supplier contacts?
Why ask it
Ask to see it before closing, even with the passwords blanked out. If nothing exists, make writing it a condition of the sale, or record a call where the seller walks through a normal week on screen. You will want it most in the third month, when the seller has stopped answering.
How to check a website before you pay for it
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Checking what you are told
Choose the dates yourself
Once you have view-only access, set the analytics to the longest range it offers before you look at anything else. Then compare each of the last twelve months with the same month a year earlier. A listing shows the window that flatters the site, and the full chart shows what happened on either side of it.
Match the dashboards to the deposits
Take three months, not all in a row, and trace each one from the earnings report to the payment that arrived. Ask for the statement as a file from the bank or payment service, or watch the seller open it on a call. Where the two figures differ, the deposit is the one that counts.
Look at the site from outside
Search for the domain name and for a few of its article titles, read archived copies from past years, and run the address through a backlink tool. None of this needs the seller's permission. It gives you something to hold their answers against, and sharper wording for the Risks group.
Count your time as a cost
Write down every task the seller does in a week and price it at what you would pay someone else. Subtract that from the monthly profit, along with the costs the seller gets for free. The figure that remains is what the site would actually pay you.
Deciding what the site is worth to you
Run the sum on your own months
If the listing uses a three-month average taken during a peak, redo it over twelve months with your costs in place of the seller's. When the two answers are far apart, the gap is your case for a lower offer, and you can show the seller how you got there.
Price the weakest point
Work out what the site earns if its top page, its main program or its biggest traffic source disappears. If the honest answer is close to nothing, you are buying one ranking or one contract with a website attached. Pay accordingly, or ask for part of the price to wait until the first months have gone as described.
Keep money back for after the sale
The first month under a new owner often earns less than the listing did. Program applications take time, something breaks in the move, a writer leaves. Hold enough in reserve to cover the running costs for several months with no income from the site.
When to slow down or walk away
Access that is always coming tomorrow
A seller with nothing to hide can add a viewer to an analytics account in a few minutes. Repeated delays, a screen share that keeps being rescheduled and statements that arrive as cropped images all point the same way. Set a date, and stop if it passes.
Pressure on the clock or the payment method
Another buyer who is ready to pay today, a discount if you skip escrow, a request to pay a personal account outside the marketplace: each of these takes away your chance to check. A real competing offer does not stop you asking for a week.
A story that changes between tellings
Keep the seller's answers in one document as they come in. When the reason for selling, the weekly hours or the source of the links shifts from one message to the next, ask about the difference directly. One slip is human, and three is a pattern.
The handover in order
Agree on the sequence before anyone pays
A common order is money into escrow, then the domain and the site moved, then your checks, then release. Whatever order you settle on, write it down with a date beside each step and the name of whoever does it. A step with no name beside it is the one that gets argued about later.
Change every password and recovery address on the first day
That means the registrar, the hosting, the site's admin users, the email software, the social accounts and the analytics. Remove the seller's own user accounts once the support period no longer needs them. Check the recovery email and phone number on each account too, since those can undo a password change.
Leave the site alone for the first month
It is tempting to redesign, switch hosts and rewrite the top pages straight away. If traffic then falls, you will not know whether your changes or a problem you inherited caused it, and it gets harder to show the seller that the numbers were not as described. Run it exactly as the seller did until you have a month of your own numbers.