Aged domains - any benefit?

[FLAUK]

When launching a new site, is there any seo benefit from buying and using an old domian on sedo for example, over registering a new domain?

 

[Big Pete]

http://www.ukbusinessforums.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=149033


read this thread on the subject

 

[securians]

Aged domains will not be any useful unless the website was not done SEO earlier..

 

[FLAUK]

http://www.ukbusinessforums.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=149033


read this thread on the subject

Had a read of this thread but it is dealing with aged websites rather than aged domain names.

If all other things were equal would buying an old domain that has never been used out perform a newly registered domain name?

 

[Ali-v-8]

IMO: domains are only good if they have been used.

 

IMO: domains are only good if they have been used.

I think there may be a small benefit ,but not sure on that .?



as you say a domain that has been live is a great benefit in most cases.

Earl

 

[webmojo]

No, an old domain that has never been used will be just like a new domain.

 

[webmojo]

To add to the previous post I do remember an article saying that if a domain changes owner and host in a short space of time it may take a large hit in the serps even if it has been in use for a number of years

 

No, an old domain that has never been used will be just like a new domain.

Not quite

http://www.searchenginejournal.com/domain-age-how-important-is-it-for-seo/7296/

Earl

 

[myvirtualofficeclub]

No, an old domain that has never been used will be just like a new domain.

I second you. Thats why you always should host at least a single page after buying any domain name.

 

[david8765]

Remember domains have other aspects to them unrelated to SEO. Make sure you look at all the pros and cons of possible domain names new or otherwise.

 

[eukhost]

Website age (and its backlink profile age) is what really matters. If its a old domain but no backlinks, its of no use.

 

[franchiseshop]

Website age (and its backlink profile age) is what really matters. If its a old domain but no backlinks, its of no use.

Speculation, as far as i am aware domain age does matter but is only a small factor. The length of a domains registration contributes also so a domain registered for 1 year would have marginally less authority than a domain registered for 2/5/10 years. My main domain is registered for 10 years to extract any benefits from this.

I could be wrong but this is my take on it and as always all these points are debatable.

References:

http://www.webconfs.com/age-of-domain-and-serps-article-6.php
http://www.searchenginejournal.com/domain-age-how-important-is-it-for-seo/7296/

 

[webmojo]

we are all doing a little educated speculation here. From experience, all things being equal an aged domain will outrank a younger domain. (I know keyword rich domains buck this rule but that's another discussion)

 

[franchiseshop]

Matt Cutts, Google engineer Quote:
"over 200 signals that we use in determining search rankings."

Domain age is just one of them..

I mix and match, if I find a decent aged domain with my keyphrases in it I will buy it and throw up a site on it. If cannot find one with my keywords then I buy new.

You can strike gold by buying an old domain name, with existing backlinks, keyword rich and registering it for 3-10 years. That's the ideal scenario.

Example: I bought the domain franchisesireland.com - it was about to expire and I fully expected the owner to re-reg it at some point which they never did. I waited for the grace period to be up and bought it for £10 despite it being worth closer to £1000 or more. It had PR3 and a tonne of backlinks and was registered first many moon ago. It currently sit's number 3 in Google for the phrases "franchises ireland" and is an excellent little site that I have done minimal SEO work on and brings in good quality website traffic.

Had I gone and bought the domain franchises-for-sale-ireland.com /.ie /.co.uk /.net etc the same results would not have been achieved without some decent SEO work.

So at the end of the day a good domain with all the benfits can save you time and money.