getfreedomain.name

If you're new to Ahrefs and want to run your first SEO audit, the fastest path is: open Site Explorer, enter your target URL, review the Overview for a health snapshot, then dig into Organic Keywords, Top Pages, and Site Audit to find specific problems. From there, build a short prioritized to-do list instead of trying to fix everything at once.

This tutorial walks through that workflow using a realistic starting scenario, explains what the numbers mean, and shows how to turn findings into actions.

Before You Start: Pick a Narrow Scope

A common beginner mistake is auditing an entire large website on day one. The reports become overwhelming, and you can't tell which issues matter.

Instead, choose one of these starting points:

• A single important page (your homepage or a key product/service page)
• A small site (under ~50 pages, e.g., a personal blog or small business site)
• One section of a bigger site (e.g., /blog/)

For this tutorial, assume you're auditing a small business site with about 30 pages. The same steps scale up later.

You'll need an Ahrefs account to follow along. Ahrefs offers paid plans, and pricing and feature limits change over time, so check the current Pricing page for what's included in each tier before committing.

Step 1: Enter Your Target in Site Explorer

Site Explorer is Ahrefs' core tool for analyzing any website or URL.

1. Open Site Explorer from the top navigation.
2. In the search box, paste your domain (e.g., example.com).
3. Choose the Exact URL or Domain mode depending on scope. For a full-site view, use Domain or Prefix; for a single page, use Exact URL.
4. Press Enter.

You'll land on the Overview report. Don't try to absorb everything — focus on four numbers first.

Reading the Overview Snapshot

Important caveat: Ahrefs' traffic and keyword numbers are estimates based on its own data. They won't match Google Search Console or your analytics exactly. Treat them as directional, not absolute.

Step 2: See What You Already Rank For

Go to Organic Keywords in the left sidebar. This shows queries where your site appears in search results.

Sort by Traffic (descending) to see which pages bring the most estimated visitors. Then look for:

• Keywords ranking in positions 4–15 — these are often the easiest wins. A small content or on-page improvement can push them onto page one.
• Keywords with high volume but low position — potential opportunities if the topic is relevant.
• Irrelevant keywords — if you rank for something off-topic, it may signal thin or mismatched content.

Write down 5–10 of the position 4–15 keywords. These become your first optimization targets.

Step 3: Find Your Best and Weakest Pages

Open Top Pages. This ranks your URLs by estimated organic traffic.

Look for two things:

1. Your top performers — understand what topics and formats work. Can you create more content like this?
2. Pages with traffic but poor rankings — these may need on-page fixes (title, headings, internal links).

If a page gets zero traffic and targets a topic you care about, it's a candidate for a rewrite or consolidation.

Step 4: Run a Technical Site Audit

Now move to Site Audit. This crawls your site and flags technical and on-page issues.

1. Click Site Audit → New project.
2. Enter your domain and set crawl settings (default is usually fine for a small site).
3. Start the crawl and wait for it to finish.

Once complete, you'll see a Health Score and a list of issues grouped by category.

Which Issues to Fix First

Not all issues are equal. Prioritize in this order:

Ignore low-impact warnings (like minor meta description length) until the big items are handled.

Step 5: Turn Findings Into a To-Do List

You now have raw data. Convert it into a short, actionable list. Example:

1. Fix 3 broken links found in Site Audit.
2. Rewrite title tags on 5 pages with duplicate titles.
3. Improve 4 pages ranking in positions 6–12 by adding missing subtopics and internal links.
4. Remove or update 2 thin pages with no traffic.

Keep the list to 5–10 items max for your first audit. Finishing a short list beats starting a long one.

Common Beginner Mistakes

• Chasing every red flag. Site Audit flags many minor issues. Fix what affects rankings and users first.
• Trusting estimates as exact numbers. Ahrefs data is modeled, not measured from your analytics.
• Auditing a huge site too early. Start small to learn the interface.
• Ignoring search intent. A page can be technically perfect but still fail if it doesn't match what searchers want.
• Forgetting to re-crawl. After fixes, run Site Audit again to confirm improvements.

Where to Go Next

Once your first audit is done:

• Compare with competitors using Site Explorer's Competing Domains and Content Gap reports.
• Track keyword rankings over time with Rank Tracker.
• Explore backlink opportunities in the Backlinks and Link Intersect reports.
• Set up recurring Site Audit crawls so new issues surface automatically.

Your first audit isn't about perfection — it's about building a repeatable habit: enter a target, read the key reports, pick the highest-impact fixes, and act. Do that once a month and your site's health compounds.

GetFreeDomain.name is a directory site that lists free domain names and free short subdomains you can register and point to any host you like. According to the site, the listed options come with DNS support and no injected ads, and registration does not require buying hosting or other paid services. It suits people who want a no-cost domain or subdomain for a personal site, project, or developer tool and are willing to accept non-standard suffixes. It is not a registrar itself — you still register each name through the provider linked from its table.

What the site actually offers

The homepage centers on a table of free domains and subdomains. Each row describes a suffix and its properties, and the site says you can hover over the header labels for explanations or check its glossary for details.

Columns and signals visible in the table include:

• Suffix — the domain or subdomain ending, such as .is-a.dev, .com, or .us.to.
• Our Rating / User Rating — the site's own score plus a visitor score.
• Extra Suffixes — additional endings offered by the same provider.
• Free Domains — how many free names are available.
• Years Active — how long the provider has operated.
• Geo-targetable — whether the suffix can target a country or region.
• Is Indexed? — whether names under it tend to be indexed by search engines.
• Is TLD? — whether it is a true top-level domain rather than a subdomain.
• Supports IDN — whether internationalized domain names work.
• Notes — requirements or caveats, e.g. "Be a developer."
• DNS Records — which record types the provider supports, such as A, AAAA, CAA, CNAME, DS, MX, NS, SRV, TXT, and URL.

The site's stated position is that these names work "exactly like dot-coms" for practical purposes, despite looking different. It also warns that some advertisers only give a "free" domain if you buy their hosting, and says its list avoids that condition.

Free domains vs. free subdomains

The list mixes two different things, and the distinction matters for how you use them.

A subdomain like yourname.is-a.dev is not a domain you own — it is a slice of a domain the operator controls. That is usually fine for a portfolio, a demo, or a dev project, but it is a poor fit if you need to move the name later or want long-term control.

How to get a name from the list

1. Open the table on the homepage and scan the Notes and DNS Records columns first — these tell you whether you qualify and whether your host's setup will work.
2. Pick a suffix whose requirements you meet. For example, .is-a.dev is noted as "Be a developer," so it expects a technical use case.
3. Follow the provider's registration flow for that suffix. The site presents the list; registration happens with each provider.
4. Add the DNS records your host requires — for example an A record for an IPv4 address or a CNAME for a hostname — using the record types the provider supports.
5. Verify by resolving the name after the records propagate, then confirm your site loads at the new address.

The expected result is a working name that points to your chosen host, with no ads injected by the domain provider.

What to check before you commit

• Continuity. The site's own news section shows how fast this space changes: it reports that Freenom, the registry behind .tk, .ml, .ga, .cf, and .gq, exited the domain business, and that since mid-January 2023 those domains were down and unavailable for new registrations. It also notes that OpenHost Registry (.pride.ngo and similar) stopped accepting new registrations as of December 2025. A free suffix can disappear.
• Record support. If your host needs a record type the provider doesn't list, the name won't work for your setup.
• Indexing. The "Is Indexed?" column exists because some free suffixes are poorly treated by search engines. If organic search matters, check this before choosing.
• Requirements. Notes like "Be a developer" are real conditions, not decoration.
• Ownership limits. A subdomain is not an asset you can sell or transfer freely.

Who should use it

GetFreeDomain.name is a reasonable starting point if you want a zero-cost name for a personal site, a side project, a development environment, or a link you don't need to keep forever, and you are comfortable managing DNS records yourself. It is a weak choice if you need a name you can hold long-term, transfer, or build a brand on — for those, a paid registration under a standard TLD is the safer route. The site is best treated as a frequently updated index to compare options, not as a guarantee that any given suffix will still exist next year.

GetFreeDomain.name is a directory that lists free domain names and short subdomains you can register at no cost, with no ads injected and full DNS support. To use it, open the site, pick a suffix from its table, and register directly with the provider behind that suffix. The catch is that the list changes: some entries require you to be a developer, and some registries have stopped accepting new registrations entirely.

What the site actually offers

The homepage describes itself as "the most extensive, up-to-date list of free domains and subdomains on the Internet," and states that every domain on the list comes with DNS support and no injected ads, so you can host it wherever you prefer. It also notes that, despite looking different, these domains "work exactly like dot-coms" for practical purposes.

The table is the core of the site. Each row is a suffix, with columns covering:

• Our Rating and User Rating — community and editorial scores
• Extra Suffixes — additional endings available from the same provider
• Free Domains — how many free domains the provider offers
• Years Active — how long the provider has been running
• Geo-targetable, Is Indexed?, Is TLD?, Supports IDN — capability flags
• Notes — requirements, such as "Be a developer"
• DNS Records — which record types you can create

The site says you can hover over the header labels for explanations, or check its glossary for more detail.

Step-by-step: registering a free domain

1. Open the table on the homepage. This is the list of free domains and subdomains. No cash, points, or referrals are involved — the site explicitly says it's "no cash, no catch, no hassle, no ads, no points, and no referrals."
2. Filter by what you need. Check the DNS Records column for the record types your host requires (for example, A, AAAA, CNAME, MX, TXT). Check Is Indexed? if you care about search visibility, and Geo-targetable if you want a country-specific signal.
3. Read the Notes column before committing. Some suffixes carry conditions. For example, .is-a.dev is listed with the note "Be a developer." If you don't meet a condition, pick a different row.
4. Check the provider is still open. Cross-reference the News section (see below) — a suffix can still appear in the table while its registry has stopped taking new registrations.
5. Register with the provider. The site doesn't register domains itself; it points you to the registry or service behind each suffix. You register there.
6. Point your DNS. Once registered, set the DNS records your hosting provider gives you. Because the site states these domains come with full DNS support and no injected ads, you can host them at any provider you choose.
7. Verify. After the records propagate, confirm the domain resolves and that your host recognizes it. If it doesn't resolve, recheck the record values against what your host specified.

Known limitations and dead entries

The News section is worth reading before you pick, because several providers have shut down:

• OpenHost Registry (.pride.ngo and similar) stopped accepting new domain registrations as of December 2025.
• Freenom, the registry behind .tk, .ml, .ga, .cf, and .gq, announced in February 2024 that it had resolved its lawsuits and would exit the domain business. Since mid-January 2023, all Freenom-based domains have been down and unavailable — the site reported "application for new registrations is temporarily out-of-order," and said several existing domains stopped working due to DNS resolution issues.
• Amazon launched .FREE in April 2025, per the site's news feed.

The site also notes that ICANN has been releasing New gTLD application resolutions, with more expected weekly.

A realistic example

Suppose you want a free subdomain for a personal project and your host requires A and TXT records. You scan the table, find a suffix whose DNS Records column includes A and TXT, confirm the Notes column has no requirement you can't meet, and check the News section to make sure that provider hasn't shut down. You register at the provider, add the A record pointing to your host's IP and a TXT record for verification, then wait for propagation and test that the domain loads.

Practical cautions

• Free suffixes are not dot-coms. They behave the same for hosting and DNS, but they are a different namespace, and some may not be indexed or geo-targetable.
• Availability is not permanent. Freenom's collapse shows that a free registry can disappear and take existing domains with it. Don't build anything you can't afford to move.
• The site is a directory, not a registrar. Any account, terms, or limits come from the individual provider you register with, not from GetFreeDomain.name.
• Check the Notes column every time. Developer-only suffixes and similar conditions are easy to miss if you only look at the ratings.

The domains and subdomains listed on GetFreeDomain.name are real, usable, and come with full DNS support and no injected ads, but "reliable" depends on which entry you pick. The site itself warns that some registries have shut down or stopped accepting new registrations, and it flags that free domains "look a bit differently" from paid ones even though they work like dot-coms for practical purposes. Treat the list as a starting point, not a guarantee, and check each suffix's status before you build anything permanent on it.

What the site actually offers

GetFreeDomain.name is a directory, not a registrar. It publishes a table of free top-level domains and subdomains, and you register directly with whichever provider runs the suffix you choose. According to the site, every entry on its list includes:

• DNS support, so you can host wherever you prefer
• No injected ads
• No cost, no points, no referrals required

The site also states that it does not require you to buy hosting or other services to get a free domain — it explicitly contrasts itself with advertisers that bundle a "free" domain with paid add-ons.

How to judge a specific entry

The table gives you several columns designed for exactly this reliability question. Hover over the header labels on the site for definitions, or check the glossary. The useful signals are:

A suffix with a long "Years Active" figure, a high user rating, and support for the record types you need is a safer bet than a new entry with a thin track record. The DNS Records column matters most for hosting: if a suffix only supports a narrow set of records, you may not be able to point it at your chosen host.

Known limitations and shutdowns

The site's own news section documents why free domains carry risk:

• Freenom (.tk, .ml, .ga, .cf, .gq): The registry announced in February 2024 that it had resolved its lawsuits and would exit the domain business. Since mid-January 2023, all Freenom-based domains have been down, with new registrations "temporarily out-of-order" and some existing domains failing due to DNS resolution issues.
• OpenHost Registry (.pride.ngo and similar): Stopped accepting new domain registrations as of December 2025.
• Amazon .FREE: Launched in April 2025, so it is new and has a short track record.

The pattern is clear: free registries can disappear, and when they do, your domain can stop resolving. That is the core reliability risk, and it is not unique to any single provider.

Practical limitations beyond uptime

Even a working free domain differs from a paid one in ways that affect what you can do with it:

• Appearance. The site acknowledges these domains "look a bit differently" from .com. Some audiences read an unusual suffix as less trustworthy.
• Indexing. The "Is Indexed?" column exists because not every free suffix is treated the same by search engines. If organic search traffic matters, verify this before committing.
• Eligibility rules. Some entries carry conditions. For example, .is-a.dev is noted as "Be a developer," meaning you must qualify to register.
• Subdomain vs. TLD. Many entries are subdomains (like .us.to or .my.to) rather than true top-level domains. You are renting space under someone else's domain, which adds another party who can change the rules.

How to use the list safely

1. Pick from the table at GetFreeDomain.name, filtering for suffixes with a solid "Years Active" figure and a user rating you're comfortable with.
2. Check the Notes and DNS Records columns to confirm you meet any eligibility rules and that the record types you need are supported.
3. Register directly with the provider for that suffix — the site links out rather than registering on your behalf.
4. Test DNS resolution by pointing the domain at your host and confirming it resolves before you invest time in content or branding.
5. Keep a backup plan. Because registries can exit or fail, avoid making a free domain the only address for anything you can't afford to lose. If the project matters long-term, budget for a paid domain.

Bottom line

The free domains on GetFreeDomain.name are genuine and ad-free, and the site gives you the ratings, activity history, and DNS details you need to compare them. But reliability varies by suffix, several registries have already shut down or paused registrations, and free domains may face indexing or eligibility limits. Use the table's signals to choose carefully, test before you commit, and treat any free domain as a temporary or low-stakes option rather than a permanent foundation.

GetFreeDomain.name lists free domains and subdomains in a table with columns for our rating, user rating, extra suffixes, years active, geo-targeting, indexing, TLD status, IDN support, notes, and DNS record types. To compare them, read those columns as trade-offs rather than scores: a high rating with a short "years active" figure is a newer service, while a long-running suffix with fewer DNS record types may limit what you can configure. The table is the primary decision tool, so hover over the header labels for definitions or check the glossary before choosing.

The comparison dimensions that matter

The table's columns answer different questions, and mixing them up is the most common mistake.

Reading the DNS record column

The DNS records column is the most practical filter, because it decides what you can actually do with the domain.

• A, AAAA — point the domain at an IPv4 or IPv6 address. Needed for almost any self-hosted site.
• CNAME — alias one name to another. Common for hosting platforms that give you a target hostname.
• MX — email routing. Without it, you cannot receive mail on the domain.
• TXT — verification and records such as SPF. Often required by hosting and email providers.
• NS — delegate DNS to another provider. This is what lets you "host them wherever you prefer," as the site puts it.
• SRV, CAA, DS, URL — service records, certificate authority authorization, DNSSEC delegation, and redirects. These appear on some entries only.

If an entry lists only A, AAAA, CNAME, MX, NS, SOA, and TXT, you can run a normal website and email but should not expect advanced DNSSEC or service-record setups.

Worked example: choosing between two entries

Suppose you need a domain for a developer project with email forwarding and a static site on a hosting platform.

1. Filter for entries whose DNS Records column includes CNAME (for the hosting platform) and MX (for email).
2. Check the Notes column. An entry marked "Be a developer" requires you to demonstrate developer status, so it is not open to everyone.
3. Check Years Active. A figure like 6 indicates a longer track record than 1.
4. Confirm Is TLD? if you care whether the address is a true TLD or a subdomain.
5. Confirm Is Indexed? if you want the site to appear in search results.

Only after those filters should you weigh Our Rating and User Rating.

Limitations the table does not hide

The site's own News section is part of the comparison, because it shows how quickly free suffixes disappear:

• Since December 2025, OpenHost Registry (.pride.ngo and similar) stopped accepting new registrations.
• Freenom, the registry behind .tk, .ml, .ga, .cf, and .gq, announced in February 2024 that it was exiting the domain business. Since mid-January 2023 those domains have been down, with new registrations "temporarily out-of-order" and some existing domains failing DNS resolution.
• Amazon launched .FREE in April 2025.

A suffix with a strong rating today can become unavailable, so treat "Years Active" and the News section together rather than trusting a rating alone. Also note the site's claim that these domains "work exactly like dot-coms" for practical purposes — that is a statement about function, not about permanence or search treatment.

What to check before you register

• Whether the entry is a TLD or a subdomain — subdomains depend on the operator continuing to run the parent domain.
• Whether IDN support is listed, if you need non-Latin characters.
• Whether the Notes column imposes conditions such as developer status.
• Whether the DNS records you need are actually supported, especially NS if you plan to use your own DNS provider.
• Whether the suffix is geo-targetable and indexed, if visibility matters to you.

The table is updated over time, so re-check the entry before committing, and read the glossary for any column whose meaning is unclear.