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Well ehrr... yeah. But it's only a very vague gut feeling. I would be completely unable to support that feeling with some substantial facts.
In the coming week I will be launching a "new" domain. "New"? Well, actually I have owned that domain for over two years but never used it. I wonder how that combination might affect a ranking with Google if indeed the age of a domain _does_ matter. Any ideas?
1) I've got *fresh* domains that make it into the top 4 days after registering them ... staying there since ..hmm, 3/4 year.
2) I've got 2 year old domains that are increasing positions month after month (i work on them - linkage, content ... all stuff)
3) I've got 5 year ole domains that sit in their spots and just move if i do something (new links, new content, ...) otherwise they stay at their position ... since years.
So, what do ya mean exactly?
<added>i also think that it's normal that year ole domains get more links pointing to it than a new one and thus move higher in rankings month by month</added>
I for one, changed the registrant names to include keywords for all my clients a few months ago - no use taking chances :-)
I've had a lot of success ranking very well in Google, maybe this is one little reason why.
And, can they check the ownership of domain names for cross-linking purposes?
Now, once a site gets decent PR it becomes easier to get other sites to link to it if it's reciprocal, which is good for additional PR, but that's from the PR value of the links - the math. The bonus is that once there are more links in there are more occurrences of link text. There might be a cap on how much of that does good beyond a certain point at any given time, though.
brina: only benefit from keywords in the domain is for the exact term and it seems like it only works for top-level domains. Anyone feel differently?
There's benefit from directory names also, though there's no doubt an edge with the domain. As far as exact phrasing goes, aside from domain name, that affects on-page factors and directory structuring as well. That's proximity and there can be changes with that, just like with any algo shifts. I just made some changes last night to see what that'll do in a couple of places; next month will tell (or maybe freshbot).
Sometimes I think there's an almost instinctive measuring just with the naked eye of how much to phrase or not - which can't be done with the domain name, but it can be other places. That's one of the factors that can easily be changed over time, other than the domain - things shift over time.
hunch for a little over a year that a domains registration date affects Google rankings.
I've never thought of it that way, and I'm probably wrong, but I have wondered for quite a while if there's some aging factor with Google because I've seen a few things that indicate the possibility - even with no other changes whatsoever. It might amount to the same thing, though I've seen some sites stick like glue when they shouldn't that are on free hosts, too.
If it's a possibility, it's another effective argument for opting for the long term brandable domain.
So I don't think I see the correlation, all other things being equal.
Brett did not claim a correlation between age and higher ranking. I have observed in previous posts the "pop" of a new page or domain that later settles down. He could mean an initial higher placement for a new domain. Brett, care to elaborate on your meaning?
Comparing the page optimization and link popularity with other "old" domains (with better link popularity) I have the impression that old domains are a little bit penalized. In other words "older the domain, less weight have the inbounds link".