Does Domain Age Really Matter? Older is Better, Right?

Domain age is a metric that is often used to gauge the success of a website as it is an important factor that helps with determining the rank of a website. Domain age is basically the length of time the site has been registered and maintained. However, it does not automatically indicate better rankings, but it can provide valuable information which can affect how your website performs on search engines like Google. For instance, if you have a new domain that doesn’t have any content or links to other sites yet, it could take longer for Google to find it when people are searching for your niche topic. This can be crucial if you’re looking for anything from increased conversion rate to better SERP rankings or simply more traffic.

In this article, we’ll talk about what domain age means, how to calculate domain age, why it plays a crucial role in your business’s online presence, and if the older is better.

What is the Doman Age, and Why is it Important?

Domain age is basically the number of years a domain has been registered with one specific registrar. It’s important to note here that ‘domain age’ isn’t necessarily indicative of how long a website or business has existed, but rather how many months/years it’s had under its current name and extension (e.g., .com, .org, .info, etc.).

Domain age is important because it is often used as a measure of trust and authority when ranking websites in search engines. The thought here is that if someone has been online for years, they must be doing something right. While some may think older domains have more value than their counterparts, this is not always true, as there are plenty of websites out there that are able to succeed without establishing an earlier presence on the Internet. However, domain age doesn’t really affect a business’ online presence by itself but combined with other metrics like page rank, the number of backlinks, etc., it leads to a better SEO score.

In order to understand how domain age impacts a website, it is important to first go over how Google determines the “age” of a specific site/domain.

How Google Determines Domain Age

Ideally, Google doesn’t disclose its exact process for determining a site’s age. However, there are some assumptions that we can make based on what we know about how Google works and the fact that they use domain age as a ranking factor.

One of the most obvious assumptions on how Google determines the age of a domain is by looking at the “WhoIs” record. This record contains the date of when a specific website was first registered/created on the Internet, which can give us an idea of their domain age. However, keep in mind that different registrars may have varying records for WhoIs reporting and how complete they are (not all offer information about dates of creation). Furthermore, most registrars do not actually show accurate data anyway unless you pay extra to get full access – to take any numbers with a grain of salt.

Another major factor is obviously looking at Google’s own webmaster tools account, where it shows your domain registration history along with possible previous versions if there has been more than one change over time. Unfortunately, this feature does require creating an account at Webmaster Tools – which means you’ll have to be tracking your domain for at least a few months before it starts showing any significant data.

How Impactful is Domain Age

In simple terms, someone coming straight out of college with a brand new degree may not have the same impact as someone who has years of experience in their field. Similarly, domain age is just another way of describing how experienced a website or domain is in its field- you are usually taken seriously by your audience or clients when they see your domain has been around for a long time.

If you want to make an impact or be taken seriously in today’s world, this is what people expect from the sites they visit- and if it doesn’t have these characteristics, something else will take its place. It might not happen overnight, but as time goes on, websites that are newer won’t necessarily replace those that are older – their audiences may just move elsewhere instead.

In essence, yes, having a domain with more age does matter, especially when establishing credibility online- however, there isn’t one single factor that defines how successful someone will become based on their domain age. Having a website with more years under its belt can certainly help give you an edge, but it’s not necessarily the one and only thing that will make all the difference when someone decides which site they want to visit. So, in short- yes – your audience may expect older sites to have been around for at least some time. However, there are many other factors involved in how successful or impactful they become online too!

Here are the factors that usually make an older domain impactful where a newer one might lack are:

Domain Authority (DA): An older domain is more likely to have a high Domain Authority that will help it rank higher. This also means the number of backlinks already acquired which are pointing towards your website, content, and brand name.

Backlinks: Older domains are also more likely to have had the time and opportunity for it to receive backlinks from other websites that will help give it authority in Google’s eyes. On top of this, if there is some history with the domain being linked on popular sites before, this adds even further value to the domain. This is where the newer domains fall short.

Traffic History: Not only are older domains more likely to have higher Domain Authority, but they are also more likely to have a strong history of traffic coming into the website and landing page. This is extremely important because it gives Google a clear idea that the website or landing page is being visited regularly by people, and this shows positive user engagement.

Brand Awareness: Older domains are also more likely to have a strong brand awareness that has been built over time with the linking and reputation attached. This not only helps strengthen authority and traffic but also builds trust around the website or landing page that is being visited by people who wish to use it.

Content: Content is one of the biggest factors that determines not only how search engines will rank your website but also how people will react to it. If you already have content on an older domain, this can help influence Google to rank your website higher than if there was no content whatsoever.

User Experience: Old domains are also more likely to have a strong user experience because they already have years’ worth of data that has been collected from visitors, which means the website or landing page is probably easier for people to use. This all comes down to factors such as usability and engagement due to having better content on your site/landing page.

These were just some of the factors that will influence how search engines rank your domain, but there are a lot more factors at play as well.

Is Older Domain Better?

To conclude, it can be said that older domains will generally be more impactful and successful than newer ones in most cases, but this isn’t always the case. It’s important to remember that it is still possible for a website or landing page on a newer domain to perform better when search engine ranking factors are taken into account as well- but typically, it won’t happen overnight! If you want your site or landing page to succeed online, then focus on creating great content and engaging user experience rather than just worrying about how old your domain is just yet. The expert team at BigRock will help you choose the right domain and establish a well-performing website that will lead you to online success!