To buy or not to buy? Domains with history..

[seanmccauley]

I am involved in setting up a new business which as of yet is to decide on a brand name.. As the availability of domain name in local tld (and ideally .com) is of so much importance, the brand naming process is inextricably linked to this. Therefore, upon finding a suggested name was available to register (without premium) there was a degree of satisfaction. However on looking at archive.org it was discovered that the .co.uk had been a sex/marital aid store back in 2004 and more recently in 2014 a travel blog / affiliate. Q is; Is the past history of what is a site with possible black hat links a reason to avoid registration? Or, does time cure all? And, is there a way in which domain health can be reliably confirmed? Thanks in advance for your input..

[julie-getonthemap]

I have used old domains as a part of a link campaign, but I think it's too risky for a long term money site.  Even if it worked for a little while, you have no idea if and when Google might tweak a bit and your new site suffers for it. I realize how hard it is to give up a name once you're keen, but my opinion is better to be safe than crying in your beer later.

[seanmccauley]

Julie thanks for your reply with which I agree mostly.  However there may be a opportunity to use good names if the passage of time and removal or dropping of all links has 'sanitized' the url.. question is how to have this confirmed...