How important is domain age?

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imagenesis

imagenesis

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Jul 5, 2006
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For SEO. Let's say I am building a pretty nice site in a very competetive niche. Home search, MLS listings. I'll do PPC and it's community oriented it's not just lp=>lead, but am i screwed if domain is new. What factors of seo factor in? I mean if it's growth is legit, how will it do? Generally whitehat methods.
 


i wouldn't worry too much about the age in your position, your better off trying to get a few keywords in your new domain and try to make it brandable & easy to remember
 
I disagree. My niche is very weak compared to other competitive niches, and I still cant rank above the 20 1998's websites above me. For ppc its no big deal, but for whitehat seo, if the gap is big, the factor is big as well.

There is one competing website, that is simply amazing in terms of content, domain age 1999. It ranks for everything in my niche. All the other sites have pretty much the same shitload of directory backlinks. I have three times more backlinks than the others, and the average PR of the sites linking to me is 5. And I still cant break through the old domains. I rank no1 for longtail, and relevant keywords.

So yes, domain age is a big factor from my experience.
 
Domain age and link age both matter. A significant amount. But at the same time, you can't really control it short of buying an old domain off the drop/from someone. So don't sweat it. Get some powerful links early on, so they get aged before the shitty ones that are sure to come later. After that, fuck it.
 
I believe, like all ranking factors, its different for every keyword, but it's definitely considered. Its a trust issue, Google trusts older domains. If it wasn't important, or a consideration, I doubt Microsoft would have a patent titled, Ranking Domains Using Domain Maturity: http://appft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph...467.PGNR.&OS=dn/20080086467&RS=DN/20080086467

You answered your own question when you said there are 20 domains ahead of you from 1998. Clearly you are battling for a keyword where domain age is a factor.

I believe how long you register your domain matters too. I went from #5 to #1 (with all those nice little navigation links under my listing) for my main keyword phrase within a week after renewing my site for 10 years. The site had been up since 2002.
 
Age is a factor for sure, but when you say "MLS" I instantly wonder how much you should be worrying about your Google rankings. For real estate related sites, and for social networks, you'd be better off with word of mouth and getting yourself in front of the people you're trying to reach on the sites they're already using.
 
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