Starting way back in 2005, Google started to use domain age as a factor for the way it ranked pages in search results. This means that domain age is one of the many elements of SEO that Google and other search engines use when they figure our search results. While this isn’t a new change, it had some webmasters worried then, and it has some webmasters worried now when they hear about this. They wonder how big of a deal domain age really is, and they fret about whether or not this consideration is going to hurt their search engine optimization efforts for their young site.
Is domain age a big problem?
Domain age is only one of many factors that the goes into the equation that figures out where pages will shake out in search results. Keywords, backlinks and more all influence SEO, and many of these are factors that you have more control over. If you already have a young website, stop worrying about something you have no control over. Work on a full, comprehensive SEO campaign, focusing on the other elements of SEO to give your site a boost above the competition.
You can make your site older.
There is no magic wand at your domain registrar to turn back time, but you can add future age. The whole point of taking into account domain age was to give more weight to established, legitimate sites that would hang around a bit longer and bury sites run by scammers who would cut out after a year or less. If you renew your site or register it for a time longer than a year (or even much longer), you are showing to Google that your new site is in it for the long haul.
Buy an old domain if it’s that big of a deal.
Lots of people buy domains and don’t do anything with them. Some just want to park them to make money off the ads. Others intended to make a site and just never got around to it. These domains won’t give you the backlinks and other benefits of an old and active site, but you will have a domain that has been registered some time ago, which is a plus with Google. You could also buy an old domain that was active, or even still is. Businesses and websites go bust, and there are some that were built up just for the purpose of selling it off. These sites will have backlinks and other SEO efforts built in, and this will give you an extra boost in addition to the extra age.
Conclusion
Domain age is just one SEO element, but it is a small one, and it definitely isn’t a deal breaker. If you are concerned about domain age, you could purchase an existing domain or renew your site for a slightly longer duration than usual. No matter what, don’t forget about other SEO efforts. The right keywords and link building activities will be much more beneficial to you and your site, especially in the long run.
David Jones is a web-enthusiast, flash templates designer, who is interested in films, music and new technologies
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