Hello Friends I have a very interesting observation while surfing on web from last few months. What I have noticed is that there are lot of websites which might not have done any SEO but are really up in Google Search Rankings. The major differentiation after carefully analyzing them was they were pretty old sites, some of them dating back to mid or later 90's. I have started this thread to share views of DP members about "Whether Domain Age Plays a Part in Google Search Rankings"
A domain registered in '97 that never had any content or backlinks is not much more valuable than a new domain in terms of SEO...
Domain aging starts from when google indexes content, not when the domain was registered. It's a well known fact that it (or age of backlinks) plays a role in rankings and is mentioned in the google algorithm patents. A site that has a history is less likely to engage in blackhat methods that a brand new domain.
If you have a site that has been operating for 6 years, it is less likely to engage in blackhat methods vs. a brand new $1.99 .info domain that was purchased yesterday. New domains have a "probation period" - the older the website gets, without causing any problems, the more trust it builds with google. Sure, blackhats could go out and buy an aged website, but it's generally going to be more expensive. Algorithms aren't perfect, but if in general, more problems come with new domains vs. older domains, then website age/age of backlinks is something google will factor in.
Of course age matters but, let me say, it is the age of the site that matters not the age of domain (refer to JohnSON's post). So if you want quick success, buy and expired domain name with a non-fake PR that's older than 2 years. mjewel, it can be true, however, I have a feeling that Google still closely monitors even mature sites. Things happen in life - the previous webmaster can be hit by a lorry or get in jail and then this 6 year old site gets grabbed by a bad daddy wearing a black hat... see what I mean?
Google is relying more and more on manual human reviews of sites. Any major change can trigger a review - even without an ownership change (which google also monitors as a registrar). While link age is very important, the website age is also a factor. If you have two domains with equal aged backlinks, one drops (resets the creation date), and one expires but doesn't drop, it's been my experience that the domain with older domain date will rank faster than the dropped domain, even though they both have aged backlinks. As I said, website aged isn't a guarantee there won't be problems, but a site with quality backlinks isn't going to able to be picked up for $1.99. Googles algorithms are based on percentages, not absolutes.
A domain does not have a content from 97 does not constitute a site. Its age of site is in question not that of the domain. When you have a site ,its the site age or domain age is important as google gives more values because of history/reliability. So a domain age is important in that case. But if you have site which had completely different content before, domain age hardly matters, because while recalculating your PR and reindexing your site, google will nulify all history of previous site. Now a site without any content ever should not get indexed at all, thats the basis of all search engine algorithm.
Domain age is very important but there's no magic solution to better rankings, it dpends upon, the keywords in the domain name, backlinks and the amount of on site SEO done as well. There is not enough evidence to conclude that it's just one factor, but granted Google will give old domain names more respect
The age influences the sites position in th results. Google gives more credit to the old sites. As I mentioned the old sites grow easier.