Serp affected by... domain age?

[Twigg]

Hi guys,

I made a website in 2013. Did seo right, unique content, unique images, unique videos, share on social media etc. In short time, it was in top 3 google search for some keywords and remain there until last year (2017) when it start to slowly lose positions.

I continue with seo done right, unique content and unique images, just like before. But nothing can't stop it from going to second page and worst, 3-rd page where is right now. I don't have bad links or anything else.

I'm thinking about a "rotation", maybe Google don't allow a website to stay more than 5 years in top.

What do you think?
thank you!

 

[fisicx]

Domain age is a strong ranking signal.

Maybe there is nothing wrong with your site but your competitors are just doing it better. You mention social sharing for example, this won't help you ranking. Nor will posting video on the site.

If it's the site in your profile there are a whole load of things wrong with it.

 

[ukbf0001]

Have you checked your site for mobile friendlyness, site speed etc , gtmetrix.com and pingdom are good places to start along with page insights by Google
If you've done all these things right , then take a look at the competition websites
I use spyglass to get competitor's link ,
http://www.link-assistant.co.uk/seo-spyglass/
This is purely just to chase after the same quality links as they have, it also shows you the links to avoid. If you do that for the top 3 sites, you'll be ahead of them soon enough.
Also write your own quality content
Domain is a ranking factor but only to a much lesser degree compared to mobile,speed , content etc
Ps sat in Luton airport typing this, waiting for a flight

 

[BustersDogs]

No not penalised, my website has been at the top of organic listings since 2009.

 

[Twigg]

uh, many thanks for answers. One more thing: bounce rate is higher than last year. Could be a reason for google to replace?

 

[fisicx]

Possibly. Is this the site in your profile?

 

[HostXNow]

If it's the site in your profile it doesn't have many backlinks at all. SEMrush and the like have thousands of them. That alone is a reason your site is losing traffic to sites with similar tools.

Also, rather than someone using all those tools on your website which is very time-consuming to do others prefer to use a website like SEMrush, Ahrefs which checks everything automatically. You can see why many have stopped using single SEO tools now.

 

[Twigg]

No, is not that site. I removed anyway from profile
Many thanks guys!

 

[StevePoster]

Unique images, content and videos are not the basis to affect your SERP but for the domain age its only one of the ranking signal compared to engagement metric that is most considered and really affects your SERP.

 

[Cube Digital]

Compare the site declines with the timing of algorithm updates. If there are any noticeable correlations dig into those update.

Just one thing that you said in the original post - SEO has been done right - this cannot be the case if you are experiencing lower rankings and traffic.

 

[freakyinnovators]

I would like to suggest you to analyze the website and compare it with your competitors. As you know that SEO has many ranking factors so you have to check everything properly. You need to also check recent algorithms released by the Google. You have to check from where your keywords were start declining from serps. A detailed analysis will surely help you in getting some points where your website is lacking and need improvements.

 

[justinaldridge]

Domain age is not a strong ranking factor, it's just that older domains have had more time to build up some trust and perhaps authority. But just because you have a domain that is a few years old it doesn't mean it deserves to rank well.

It sounds to me like your website has become less relevant for the search query you are monitoring. I see this all the time now as AI is having a huge influence in rankings. What was relevant 5 years ago may not be as relevant now, and in that time other websites may be offering something more, better and fresher.

Look at what you are offering, how does it compare with the top ranking sites? User experience is very important. Be critical....do you really have the best, most relevant, most up to date, most useful and most engaging website for the search query?

If you've been demoted then possibly not....

 

[Matt1966]

Domain age is not a ranking factor. Read more https://www.seroundtable.com/google-domain-age-23697.html

@justinaldridge seems spot on with what he's said.

What I would also add to his comment is, you say you have no "bad links".

Someone said to me earlier "I have non-spammy links, like forum posts and blog comments". My jaw dropped. What you define as good, might not be Google's definition of good. I'd get a professional to really look through your backlink profile if there's been a significant drop.

 

[Simon.P]

Domain age is not a ranking factor.

I thought it was well documented the first time Google indexed a domain would go in its favour which is why people use time machine to check it wasn't a spammy site before buying. Thought i read something by SEO by the Sea or Matt Cutts some time ago.

 

[justinaldridge]

I thought it was well documented the first time Google indexed a domain would go in its favour

Nope. Why should it? Google's algo is based on surfacing results based on popularity (links), content (quality), user interest and search intent. The age of a domain doesn't come into it, it's only that older domains may have had more time to develop some trust and authority.

It's the same as in the physical world, just because a company has been around a long time it doesn't mean they still deserve to be successful. Look what happened to Nokia and Motorola....they just became less relevant in their marketplace.

It's actually often easier to rank a new domain with a clean history and no legacy "issues" than an older domain with less than perfect history.

 

[Matt1966]

You have to think, Google search is a man-made algorithm. Their main objective is to serve the best results possible. They literally pump BILLIONS into studying user behaviour, making slight tweaks on a daily basis to stay in front of the rest.

An aged domain does nothing to prove that their information/service/product is any better than the new kid in the block. It makes no logical sense to use it as a ranking factor, and thankfully it's not. As @justinaldridge says, an established business will normally have a bigger site, more information, more natural links, more everything. So... more often than not new businesses will always have to play catch up. It's the same with SEO.

There's an awful lot of porkies in the SEO world, and unfortunately, most would actually do better thinking it didn't exist. Scroll down the SEO section on this forum and 95% of them are legitimately ruining their website.

 

[Simon.P]

Thank you Justin and Matt. Makes sense what you are saying. You learn something new everyday

 

[comperio]

I'm thinking about a "rotation", maybe Google don't allow a website to stay more than 5 years in top.

What do you think?
thank you!

There is no such rotation, which would not make sense as aged high ranking sites like wikipedia and a plethora of others would lose their rankings significantly (as your site did), an this is not happening.
From reading your post, is seems that some competitors have emerged and taken your top ranks. Then you reacted in a way that made things worse. So at this stage, what is recommended is to have professional SEO eyes do an audit of your site, so they can make a judgement as to what happened and what could be done to save the day.

 

[Richard Patey]

what is your domain authority vs competitors?