Old is Gold? SEO & Age of the Domain
Posted by sumedhinamdar on June 13, 2008
They say wine tastes best when it’s old…
Even Google thinks so!
Why should it matter? If I think I just started afresh and I am god damn better than the old hacks using the same boring methods for 10 years, why shouldn’t Google rank me higher…sadly, Google doesn’t care about the beauty of your website…it is as blind as justice! 
Statistically, a site that is up and running for a lot of time, would be better than an average newbie…
There are several related factors here -
- Domain Registration Period - If you are serious about your business, you will register the domain for 5 years…and not let-us-try-out-for-an-year…
- Domain Age - Google puts new websites in a sandbox (This is not stated officially by Google…but this is true about a lot of things ), so older domains might be better if you want to ramp up traffic quickly. Of course, buying second hand domains would not be as cheap.
- Website Age - What’s the difference? The website is defined by it’s content. A lot of domains are parked by the likes of GoDaddy…that is not really content, and Google clearly figures that out (I have NEVER seen a parked page appear on Google’s first SERP. It only happens on spelling mistakes).
Now…the most important question is, How important is it? And honestly, I don’t know exact answer…
Logically, it should be important only if the domain has lived some good active life so far… …If you are getting a second hand domain, that has been barred by Google a couple of times for Black Hat techniques…why risk with it? Why not start with a clean slate? If you can build quality backlinks in 3 months flat using your great industry contacts, you don’t need borrowed goodwill!
August 30, 2008 at 1:19 pm
A very good question, I have a large number of domains that I have purchased to experiment with new and old. The challenge is that any old domains that come onto the market tend to have been abused by blackhat as you as. In an ideal world, where you could get keyword rich domains that have age and relevant backlinks heck they are worth $1000’s.