Do both have equal relevance when determining SERPS? i have a site with relatively low PR but its an established domain that i have always used for art over the last 5 years. i get good results among much higher PR sites. Your thoughts?
I never looked at it that way, i dont think they have much impact on that like boby said, i never really cared for domain age lol
I think it would be pretty stupid to use "age" as a factor. The internet is suppose to provide new info quick. A site shouldn't have to wait a year or two to be treated fairly
My genealogy blog started getting good results with Google almost immediately after I started it. What really counts is good, unique, frequently updated content. Danny is right.. age shouldn't matter - quality content should.
Some very interesting responses. i agree that unique interesting content should be first priority, especially as G is introducing LSI (Latent Semantic Indexing) but i think as mjewel says G does give some weight for domain age, it shows some kind of trust that your domain is here to stay so to speak, I'm sure a lot of new site don't last more than a year. ultimately the proof is in the pudding, my site it up amongst a lot of higher pr site with more back links than me. Maybe the amount of content on my site is also a contributing factor, maybe i am better at seo than i give myself credit for. Kathryn.
I used to believe that google gave higher serps to older sites but i dont believe they do now for the following reasons: Age doesn't determine the quality of a site Age can mean that the information is outdated - if it has not been updated Domains with age can been easily purchased For these reasons alon it is not logical for google to place any emphasis on the age of a domain. Notting
Using an older domain doesn't mean you are going to rank well - but I'm positive it still has a lot of weight with google (SEO experts like Aaron Wall believe google currently gives domain age far too much weight). There was a study on some of the most competitive keywords in the industry (like mortgage loans) where the average age of the top ten sites were over 10 years - at the time, no site older than 1996 ranked in the top 10 even though many other "major brand" sites had far more "quality backlinks" and on paper should have outranked them.) Domains with age CAN be purchased - but not as cheaply as a new domain. Google also knows when a domain changes owners or sectors, so that could also be a factor. Personal experience - I have about 60 sites - some in a very competitive sectors. Some I have owned since 1998 and they rank between #1 & #3 for keywords with an overture of 200K+. The older domains, without exception, outrank (by far) 2-3 year old sites even though on paper, there is absolutely no reason other than google gives the older sites some pretty heavy weight for their age. The older sites have lower PR and far fewer backlinks. Can a newer domain rank well? Of course. Will buying an old domain mean you will rank well? No - but if you buy an established site (not a parked domain name which will get sandboxed upon ownership transfer) and keep the content in the same sector (i.e. don't turn a music page into a bike shop) you will have a much easier time ranking well (all else equal). There is a reason people are paying hundreds and even thousands for older domains that have a history.
yes Mjewel has stated very useful points. Domain age does have its own role to play and its weightage does have impact while calculating page score of any site in the serps.
In my opinion domain's age helps with SERPs. Sometimes is very difficult to overtake older domains even if you have thousand os quality backlinks. Agree with mjewel.
Tha way I look at it: Getting an old domain is not a bad idea because you already some links to it. Ofcourse, you must keep the subject of the site the same otherwize Google spam filter will get you only bought it for the PR.
Age helps with SERPs but only in a minor way as one of many factors. PR helps also helps...in short there are many factors all of which have some bearing...