Is Google's Matt Cut Lying? Q: on Aged Domains

I would like to hear from some experienced practitioners please - those who have tested.

Is it true that all things being equal 1)domain age (say around 2000) make a difference in fast ranking?

I want to know if it's true that if you launch new websites on an old domain (let's say even a blog for fast spidering) can you start ranking quickly say for medium competition words?

Also if you buy an expired domain (say to launch an affiliate blog) to be able to start ranking for the keywords would the new blog's subject matter have to be related to the old domain (example the old domain was a video website and you launch an insurance blog).

I have a stock of 'aged domains' (200 I think), most a few years old (up to 2004).

What I have done is park them - not so much for any revenue (though that is nice), but being parked they get indexed by the search engines.

This means that they escape the Google 'sandbox' (when new domains get indexed but not in the results for up to 6 months), when I 'bring them to life'.

So in my experience, yes - using an aged domain (suggest 1 year old min) would all things being equal mean you get indexed and in theresults faster.

What I would suggest though is that your design should be similar to the parked template, and then over a period of time, change your template to your desired template. Search engines sometimes don't like sudden change - best to make gradual change.

Re subject matter ... Yes, it would be best - if nothing else for future rankings. What you can do is your best to connect them ... videos on insurance claiming, filling in forms etc etc ...

Hope this helps ...

I agree with everything that VSC said above.

In addition, regarding expired domains, within the past year it seems that Google has gotten much better at detecting domains that were dropped - even those you might pick up from somewhere like Snapnames that did not technically drop. The domain might maintain its PR, but the domains are not likely to score any natural SEO traffic from Google. If you are looking at a short-term test then an expired domain might be fine, but if you are interested in building a substantial long-term site you are better off purchase an aged domain or just starting from scratch in my opinion.

Thanks for the reply guys. I guess to be more specific, I was wondering if I bought one of the domains here:

hvvp://www.seodomains.org/domains.php

hvvp://vintagedomainnames.com/


***Also have you had any experience like the guy from the Earner's Blog:

http://www.earnersblog.com/aged-domains/





If I could set up a blog on the domain and start getting at least some long tail traffic. Also, have you read this earner's blog thread - what's your experience on this?

Don't have experience of the two links you gave ... when I'm shopping for domains I use hvvp://www.dnforum.com, hvvp://acorndomains.co.uk (they have coms as well), hvvp://tdnam.com ...
Nothing wrong with your choices though. What I would do though, before buying is confirm their PR rankings and Alexa rankings are correct by checking independently.

PR ... I personally don't get hung up with PR. I have some sites with low PR that do really well. My personal choice is to choose domains with good keywords with the name (with or without hyphens - I don't get hung up over that either!)

Earnersblog --- no experience, and seems straight up.

Getting a domain with existing traffic is always preferred - you're getting a head start - as long as the traffic is appropriate.

The best thing - as domains are relatively cheap, is to buy a few, set up some sites and test. If you haven't already, get a Reseller Hosting account so you can host multiple sites (though once you get going get several - hosting related domains on different accounts).

Sometimes - despite all the planning, experience, testing ... it's the domain/site you last think of that does well!

One book that's a bit old now, but I find still works is "Revenge of the Mininet". It's about building your own small network of sites gathering traffic to send to your main domain. I've used this over the years to good effect. Recommend read.

Apologies for going on a tangent!

Hope this helps

I'm sure old domains help. But I have a site where the domain is about 6 months old. Right now its ranking on the first page of very competitive keywords in my city. I just passed our local newspaper domain.

I did lose a couple new domains cause of building links to quick.

Recently it has been mentioned that 4 months may be the magic number for aging a domain. At least in regards to google.

From Here

"There?s been widespread claims in the SEM world that people who have had Google accounts for years have a significant advantage (in terms of lower click costs) over newbies who are just starting out.

Now, one of the presenters actually got some answer out of Google regarding account history, and Google claims is takes only 4 months to overcome the disadvantage of having a new account.

So presumably there?s no benefit between someone who?s had a Google account for 1 year vs 5 years, once you?ve had your account actively running for about 4 months you?re on a level playing field - according to Google. "

Well, this is a good question, and I actually tested it (am still testing) 2 sites, same keyword, one on a domain that was 7 years old had a pr3, that a guy was selling. not related, but "brandable" the other brand new. I put fairly similar text on each one, have done similar backlinking. (Not too much effort as this is an experiment) and the new one is ranked 542 for the keyword and the old one 42 for the keyword. To me that says conclusively that an old domain has value. Hope that helps with that part of your question.

rliddle said:

Well, this is a good question, and I actually tested it (am still testing) 2 sites, same keyword, one on a domain that was 7 years old had a pr3, that a guy was selling. not related, but "brandable" the other brand new. I put fairly similar text on each one, have done similar backlinking. (Not too much effort as this is an experiment) and the new one is ranked 542 for the keyword and the old one 42 for the keyword. To me that says conclusively that an old domain has value. Hope that helps with that part of your question.

Click to expand...

I'm beating domains that are many years old with a high pr, with my 6-9 month domain pr of 1. First page of in google. But like I said it took 6 months.

No doubt Rusky you are correct. It can happen, and happens all the time, but all things being equal. age wins. That was the purpose of my experiment, and I think it does prove it out. Good job though on getting it up there like that.

if you have old domains with PR, you link them to all the crap profiles you create to build backlinks to your money site...

these are great tips. thanks

Age does matter when it comes to ranking and indexing. There is no doubt about that

Not really into domain parking. Just does not generate enough revenue to be worth the hassle.

You make me laugh guys, why would Matt Cutts from google not tell you the truth, all you have to do is pay attention and implement their tos and you'll be okay

HA HA. Why would I listen to him when his protecting the g algorithm, and Im trying to crack it. I'm just saying age of a domain helps but can be easily be outranked by someone whos determined.