Does Google prioritize older domains over newer ones? Does buying a new domain won’t get you any SEO benefits? These are some of the important questions that come across when we talk about domain age in SEO.
Certainly, domain age is one of the SEO factors that is considered to measure how good a website is. Notably, domain age does give authority signals to search engines, as they are older and considered more genuine. Having said that, an older domain does not directly mean higher ranking, but it may provide important information which does affect website ranking through more clicks. For example, most of the new domains do not have backlinks, and many internal links, so it takes time for Google to find the website for the specific search term.
When it comes to ranking several SEO factors can influence the ranking. Certainly, the domain factor is one of the ranking factors that can have a positive effect on the ranking of your site. In this article, we are going to talk in detail about domain age in SEO, how it can affect ranking, and how you can check the domain age of a website. So let’s start with the discussion.
What is Domain Age?
Domain age refers to the time duration the domain name has been registered on the internet. Thus it means the time length a website has been registered, which can impact the ranking of a website. So it refers to the number of years a website has been registered under a certain registrar.
However, this information is not available on front end of websites, most website users and SEO experts need to use tools to check the domain age of a website. Which we are going to discuss in detail later.
Does Domain Age Affect SEO Ranking?
Although Google does not tell exactly how it measures the domain age, or how much weight it gives to domain age as a ranking factor. But there are some things we can assume based on how Google functions.
One of the things to note is that Google looks into the WhoIs record to find out the domain age of a website. The record consists of the date when a particular website was created or registered, which tells about the domain age. However, most domain registrars do not always show complete information.
Talking about whether domain age is a ranking factor? Well, it is a highly debatable topic. So, we can say that yes domain age matters, but it is not a crucial ranking factor for sure.
In simple words, yes domain age matters while trying to build credibility online, however, it is not a direct ranking factor. Having said that, websites with older domains do outrank the new domains. So, having an older website does give a slight competitive edge, but surely it is not the only thing that will make a difference in ranking. This is to say, along with domain age, many other factors determine the ranking of a website.
How Domain Age May Affect Ranking?
Although domain age is not directly related to ranking, it does have a solid relation to other factors which correlate to the length of time a website has been registered. Notably, newer websites may have a hard time ranking on the SERPs, as compared to older domains, unless they catch up with quality content and backlinks. Here is how domain age can affect the ranking of a website:
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Domain Authority
Usually, older domains have a higher authority than newer ones which does help boost ranking. Also, this means the older websites are more trustworthy, and considered credible by the search engines.
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Backlinks
Older domains also have more backlinks coming from other websites which gives the website more authority over others. Since older domains have better opportunities and time to gain backlinks this gives them the upper hand over new ones.
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Traffic in the Past
Along with higher domain authority, older domains also have more traffic coming to their site. This is an important factor as it gives Google an idea about the genuineness of the website. Therefore it means the website is likely to have more relevant content.
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More Content
Since older domains have more content on their website it is most likely to match the search intent of the users. This helps in boosting the SEO of your website and is most likely to rank for specific user queries.
How to Check Domain Age in DefiniteSEO ?
So in case you are thinking how to check the domain age of a website then it is pretty simple. You can check it easily by using an SEO checker tool like DefiniteSEO.
Certainly using tools like DefiniteSEO is the easiest way to check the domain age of a website, which is one of the factors that can influence ranking. It is a powerful tool that helps you run a complete SEO check on your website and determine its SEO score for various ranking factors, domain age being one of them. Based upon the test results and SEO score you can optimize the website for better ranking and positioning on the SERPs.
- All you need to do is input your website URL and then click on the ‘Analyze’ button. Now the tool will do an in-depth check on the website.
- Next, you need to click on the ‘Domain Factor’ option and here you can find the results for domain age. Likewise, you can easily check the domain age of any website.
Conclusion
Although domain age is not a direct ranking factor it does have a strong correlation with many other factors that affect ranking. It does improve the authority of a website as well as the number of backlinks which directly boosts ranking. So if you are planning to build a website it is a good idea to consider a domain name that you can pursue for a long time as domain age does matter.
Here we have discussed domain age in SEO, and how you can check the domain age of any website with the help of SEO tool DefiniteSEO. Hopefully, now you have a clear understanding of this domain factor that influences the ranking to a certain extent.
Happy Optimization!