Domain age is one factor. Is the age of the site an important ranking factor that you should take care of? Read on and find out!
SEO is a delicate topic that needs a lot of attention. “What else can I do to improve my search rankings?” Unfortunately, there are many myths, so it is very important to be able to find accurate information! With great information, you can focus on best practices.
Does domain age matter in SEO?
The importance of domain age varies depending on who you are talking to. For some, including Google’s John Mueller, domain age doesn’t matter at all for search rankings. But for others, it matters much more. While Mueller is right that this does not directly correlate with SEO rankings, he is a little misleading that domain age has an impact on search rankings. And this is important to understand.
The impact this has on your business, especially if you are a new company, makes a big difference to search results and the overall growth of your online business.
What is Domain Age?
While many people hear “domain age” and think about how long a site has been registered on the Internet, the reality for SEO is slightly different. Since Google archives sites, the age of a domain can, in fact, also refer to the time that Google saw and indexed the site, which is drastically different from the time it was registered.
What does this mean effectively? Google decides what to show people based in part on legitimacy. Legitimacy is on the rise for sites that have been around for a while and are not known to be spam, so domain age actually correlates with better search rankings.
How does Google determine the age of a domain?
The most obvious assumption about how Google determines the age of a domain is to simply look at the “whois” (or registration data) of any given website. The problem with this, unfortunately, is that it is usually not available even if you are a registrar and it varies around the world. In general, this data is scattered and not the easiest to obtain. Because of this, Google determines the age of a domain based on when it discovered it. In the vast majority of cases, Google reach occurs on the first crawl or the first time a link to a site is viewed.
You can also track and monitor domains using an online tool like the https://checkwebsite.pro/.
What is the importance of domain age, if any, for SEO rankings?
Honestly, domain age plays only a small role, but that small role can still propel your site even higher in the SEO rankings. There are many things that go into a successful SEO ranking, and consistency, longevity, best practices over a long period of time, and legitimacy are all key concepts that must be fully utilized in order to get the best rankings. In this area, age can push concepts to a higher level of authenticity and allow your site to be seen above other sites with similar practices that were created much later.
The fundamental characterization of the importance of domain age depends mainly on the meaning of the term. In other words, when Google and Yandex look at what is meant by “domain age,” they are simply looking at when the search engine crawler first stumbled upon a site, or even more literally, noticing the whois data and seeing when the site was created.
Conversely, what SEO people and web marketers mean when they say “domain age” may be something completely different. They may be referring to the fact that the site is a long-term, well-maintained site with quality content, great user experience, brand awareness, great backlinks, and a host of other qualities. In other words, the “Domain Age” marketing idea simply refers to a long-term website that consistently performs the right SEO techniques.
Do old domains rank better than new ones?
When considering a site with an older domain, it’s important not to put the cart in front of the horse. Correlation is not causal Good communication, and knowing and fully understanding the difference is very important for a better understanding of what is really going on with your site’s SEO rankings. In short, older domains tend to have better rankings, but not just because they are old. Older sites mean that sites have stood the test of time for a reason – often this means they actually demonstrate a long tradition of self-reliance SEO best practices. With a long tradition of following best practices for search results, one might conclude that this is simply because their site has been around for longer (has an older domain age). The real takeaway, of course, is that the site has been doing things right for years and minus the raw date itself.
So what exactly do the old domains do that the new domains haven’t proven yet?
Quality content
If a site is popular, then it is popular for a reason. Reddit is one simple example that’s been around for over a decade and that people keep coming back to. Reddit is a great aggregator for content of all kinds, and there are plenty of links to the site, generating great SEO rankings.
Remember, content quality should always be combined with proper text optimization and formatting to make it easy to read.
Content amount
Many long-standing blogs have great content that stretches back many years, guaranteeing them the exposure they need to rank properly by a Google crawler. It’s not enough just to have great content, but having great content in massive quantities is a surefire way to get great rankings.
Installed links and backlinks
One SEO ranking metric is how often traffic comes in and out of your site, so having links and backlinks on all of your pages is a surefire way to get more traffic for your business. Older sites have more content, and with more content comes more hyperlinks, directing the flow of newbies and veterans.
Deserved authority and legitimacy
Since the website has been around for a long time, Google knows this is not a scam, spam, or a bogus website. It is a genuine entity that has unique, original content that people will click on. This simple fact pushes websites up the rankings far more than they would otherwise.
Domain age matters, but not in the way you might think
In conclusion, the point is not that domain age doesn’t matter at all, but that things that usually come from an older site are more likely to include better SEO practices simply based on the fact that the site is still up and running. Understanding this and implementing the best SEO practices for your own website is a much more important factor than the original domain-era information. However, with the right SEO strategy, your site will end up having an older domain age anyway, as it will stand the test of time!