There is a domain that is 9 years old and is placed #1 for the keyword that is targeted. The other domain which is one year old but just redesigned and pushed seo for almost 60 days now and up to the #4 rank. The domains that are 1/2/3 are between 6-9 years old. What else would you guys do in order to pass these domains?
Age does help a site in Google rankings, but it definitely isn't something that can't be overcome. Just keep building links, especially high quality links from trusted domains. Your goal is to prove to Google that you are both more trusted and more relevant. I recommend purchasing software like SEO Elite and analyzing those top ranked websites' backlinks. That way you can see exactly why they are ranked higher. Most of the time there are some links that you can copy.
Age does help, but dropped/expired domains with PR/backlinks help too. If it has both of those and age you will be way ahead of a hand registered domain.
I also heard age does help. I also heard that having a domain pre-paid for longer than a year benefits as well but I dont know if its true.
With Older domains you don't have the sandbox problem which you have with new domain so often. And yes old domain help you big time.