Does a domain have to be indexed by google etc to have age benefits? Is it still a benefit if you buy one say 8 years old but it has NEVER had a site on it? (Will it still skip sandbox or be treated new if new to index?) Also how does one tell if domain has been used for spam or banned? Many thanks!
i'm no expert, however if we apply a little logic here... i would say that the age of the domain is NOT HELPFUL if it's never been "online, indexed or developed." maybe i'm wrong?
Aged domains do generally sell for a bit more but unless developed you wouldn't have much of an advantage.
Good timing of this question for me. I have had a domain name for about 5 years I think and have it parked on a web site I made up one day. I have left it there for about a year I think. I checked it today and it now has a PR3.. it was a PR0 or PR1 when I left it there back then.
As far as I know "sandbox" is not related to the age of the domain, so if your pages are newly indexed and with competitive keywords the old domain name won't save them on its own. About the second question - sometimes I use Namedrive for it. When you try to add a domain name that has been banned, Namedrive does not allow you to do it and displays a message which tells that the domain has been banned from Google.
Exactly. I have a 7 year old domain and I learn this the hard way. Built a site and didn't saw any kind of difference in terms of Google Love