Age of domain name?

[allsquare]

When it's mentioned about the 'age of a domain name' having some importance to rankings, is this the date it was registered or the date it first had content uploaded to it?

[FelixSilver]

There are 2 relevant dates, but only 'Site age' is important for SEO/ranking purposes:


Domain age: date of original registration of the domain.
Site age: date of launch of indexable content seen by the search engines (note: if a domain switches ownership, this can change)

[searchgeeks]

I have found domain age to be very important in search engine rankings, hence why I prefer to buy domain names that have been aged.

[staffjam]

This is quite an old theory and i can tell you that NoOne knows whether it's true or not.
But people i know who have a lot of experience in SEO/SEM seem to think it has a small effect on your SERP, so this being the case it's worth taking out a longer registration period.

[sirearl]

This is quite an old theory and i can tell you that NoOne knows whether it's true or not.


Google does as its in there patent.:D

Earl

[staffjam]

I don't know - maybe they don't even know ;-)

[Dominic Taylor]

This is probably more to protect against being able to register and put up a spammy site in hours, rather than to penalise a 1yr-old site against a 5yr-old site, just my thoughts though....I'm sure once you get past a few months it has a diminishing (but still positive) effect.

[Colin Parker]

We have a new site - content first uploaded 10th June - ranking near the top of Google page 2 for 'free SEO course'.

OK, there are only 850 direct competitors but it still shows that content etc., is more important than domain age - does it not?!

Colin Parker

[fisicx]

Rather than suggest one thing is more important than another, it's better to think of the ranking criteria being a collection of factors. Every one can probably find examples of sites that rank well for no apparent reason but in general a well designed site with useful content and decent inbound links that has been around for years will rank higher than a new site with the same sort of content.

The site that ranks really well within days of being indexed may well be enjoying the honeymoon period until indexing is completed.

[OldWelshGuy]

Google uses a base 5 sliding scale logarithmic algorithm with over 250 factors.

In plain english this means that every single one of those elements can affect or be affected by any single one of the other elements by plus or minus a HUGE amount. When the algo was using 100 elements a year or two ago, I was told that the system above could produce 2.5 million different versions of the algorithm. The elements now having increased to 250 it is probably in the tens if nto hundreds of miullions of combinations.

In short, the algorithm treats sites differently based on key criteria. so while one site might get away with a spammy page title, because it has links from the BBC, CNN and Sky news, another site with identical content could get nailed.

Once you get your head around that simplistic fact, it will open your eyes to the fact that SEO by numbers doesn't exist :)

To answer the original question, as stated above it is a combination of elements (again part of the 250)
1. age of domain i.e. how long it has been around
2. length of registration
3. ownership history
3. Content history

All the above will affect ranking and the overall value of the domain.

All just my opinion of course. No proof (other than the USPO patent data available to all should you have the time to read it.

[sirearl]

In short, the algorithm treats sites differently based on key criteria. so while one site might get away with a spammy page title, because it has links from the BBC, CNN and Sky news, another site with identical content could get nailed.

Once you get your head around that simplistic fact, it will open your eyes to the fact that SEO by numbers doesn't exist :)



But that is by the numbers.:rolleyes::)

Earl

[OldWelshGuy]

But that is by the numbers.:rolleyes::)

Earl

hardly Earl, as you can't buy links from those, you get them automatically. They are authority sites.

What I meant by 'SEO by numbers' is that it is not the same for every site. painting by numbers, you get a box of colours, a sheet with numbers and everyone more or less will end up with roughly the same if they follow the numbers.

As you know it doesn't work like that in SEO. YES there are basics, but there are also elements that can affect the perfomance of other elements. being on a spammy host for example! Or buying a domai that is available without checking the hsitory, only to find it has perviously been banned.

[sirearl]

hardly Earl, as you can't buy links from those, you get them automatically. They are authority sites.

What I meant by 'SEO by numbers' is that it is not the same for every site. painting by numbers, you get a box of colours, a sheet with numbers and everyone more or less will end up with roughly the same if they follow the numbers.

As you know it doesn't work like that in SEO. YES there are basics, but there are also elements that can affect the perfomance of other elements. being on a spammy host for example! Or buying a domai that is available without checking the hsitory, only to find it has perviously been banned.

So what exactly do computers do.?:rolleyes::D:p

http://www.fotolibra.com/gallery/49511/charles-babbages-counting-machine-illustration/http://www.fotolibra.com/gallery/49511/charles-babbages-counting-machine-illustration/charlie boy (http://www.fotolibra.com/gallery/49511/charles-babbages-counting-machine-illustration/)

Earl

[OldWelshGuy]

Oh behave you winder upper of Welsh people ;)