Comments on: Length of domain registration important for SEO? http://www.dmueller.com/2009/09/10/domain-names-domains/length-of-domain-registration-important-for-seo/ Dominik's blog about finance, investing and economics. Sat, 08 Oct 2011 11:15:19 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Jack http://www.dmueller.com/2009/09/10/domain-names-domains/length-of-domain-registration-important-for-seo/comment-page-1/#comment-5060 Jack Thu, 10 Sep 2009 22:14:35 +0000 http://www.dmueller.com/?p=987#comment-5060 Very interesting article and comments. Will have to follow your advice! Very interesting article and comments. Will have to follow your advice!

]]> By: Denver Web Design http://www.dmueller.com/2009/09/10/domain-names-domains/length-of-domain-registration-important-for-seo/comment-page-1/#comment-5059 Denver Web Design Thu, 10 Sep 2009 18:03:22 +0000 http://www.dmueller.com/?p=987#comment-5059 I don't think it makes a huge impact, but it's something to consider. It's one of those "tiny factors" of the 100's of things google considers to rank a website. I would focus on snagging more keyword rich domains for 2 years then less domains at 10 years. I don’t think it makes a huge impact, but it’s something to consider. It’s one of those “tiny factors” of the 100′s of things google considers to rank a website.

I would focus on snagging more keyword rich domains for 2 years then less domains at 10 years.

]]> By: Domain Development http://www.dmueller.com/2009/09/10/domain-names-domains/length-of-domain-registration-important-for-seo/comment-page-1/#comment-5058 Domain Development Thu, 10 Sep 2009 17:15:37 +0000 http://www.dmueller.com/?p=987#comment-5058 Dominik, I see you quoting what google employees are saying about this - don't believe it. ;-) We've done quite a bit of testing of the "age factor" and "renewal period" of domains over the years. Based on our results, I can tell you that domains that are "old" (I'd define this as 10 years or more) and that are renewed for 3,4,5 years or more get extra "trust" from google.com This applies to .com, .net, .org extensions only in google.com, as you could have guessed. There is a complex set of factors that google uses for their "trust" of domains but age definately has a strong impact on the trust. A young domain takes longer to rank, with more content and more back links. And I think this makes sense for google to do this. If you're a SE spammer, chances are you are using a new domain with a 1 year renewal and using the a .info, .tv, .biz etc extension with a 1 year renewal so google can tag a spammer's new site pretty easily and save us all the spammy search results. I presume the bulk of the search traffic (and spamming) is going on in google.com so that's a good place to apply these filters. In our tests, this age filter seems to apply to google.com only. If you're using a young ccTLD domain (or even new one) you can rank in the ccTLD version of google pretty quickly. [Based on our testing] And ... we've outranked .com, .net names in with a ccTLD in the ccTLD versions of google. There is a gold mine of ccTLD keyword rich domains in your favourite niches out there, go find 'em everybody. - Richard Dominik,

I see you quoting what google employees are saying about this – don’t believe it. ;-)

We’ve done quite a bit of testing of the “age factor” and “renewal period” of domains over the years.

Based on our results, I can tell you that domains that are “old” (I’d define this as 10 years or more) and that are renewed for 3,4,5 years or more get extra “trust” from google.com

This applies to .com, .net, .org extensions only in google.com, as you could have guessed.

There is a complex set of factors that google uses for their “trust” of domains but age definately has a strong impact on the trust. A young domain takes longer to rank, with more content and more back links.

And I think this makes sense for google to do this. If you’re a SE spammer, chances are you are using a new domain with a 1 year renewal and using the a .info, .tv, .biz etc extension with a 1 year renewal so google can tag a spammer’s new site pretty easily and save us all the spammy search results.

I presume the bulk of the search traffic (and spamming) is going on in google.com so that’s a good place to apply these filters. In our tests, this age filter seems to apply to google.com only. If you’re using a young ccTLD domain (or even new one) you can rank in the ccTLD version of google pretty quickly. [Based on our testing]

And … we’ve outranked .com, .net names in with a ccTLD in the ccTLD versions of google.

There is a gold mine of ccTLD keyword rich domains in your favourite niches out there, go find ‘em everybody.

- Richard

]]> By: andrew http://www.dmueller.com/2009/09/10/domain-names-domains/length-of-domain-registration-important-for-seo/comment-page-1/#comment-5057 andrew Thu, 10 Sep 2009 16:51:00 +0000 http://www.dmueller.com/?p=987#comment-5057 In a video interview, Cutts said that it was in the patent but it was not in the algorithm, at least yet. That was back in February I believe. so it may play at some time, but not much now. In a video interview, Cutts said that it was in the patent but it was not in the algorithm, at least yet. That was back in February I believe. so it may play at some time, but not much now.

]]> By: Dominik Mueller http://www.dmueller.com/2009/09/10/domain-names-domains/length-of-domain-registration-important-for-seo/comment-page-1/#comment-5055 Dominik Mueller Thu, 10 Sep 2009 14:13:08 +0000 http://www.dmueller.com/?p=987#comment-5055 Excellent comment, Victor! My developed domains I usually renew for a couple of years in advance, because 1) I don't want them to expire by accident and 2) I feel it might have some effect on the websites' search engine positions. I agree with you about keywords contained within a domain name: I have made the same observations and that is why generic domains are not only good investments for type-in traffic, but they are also a great advantage when it comes to ranking well in search engines. In fact, I believe this is one of the major benefits of owning a keyword domain name as an end user. Excellent comment, Victor!

My developed domains I usually renew for a couple of years in advance, because 1) I don’t want them to expire by accident and 2) I feel it might have some effect on the websites’ search engine positions.

I agree with you about keywords contained within a domain name: I have made the same observations and that is why generic domains are not only good investments for type-in traffic, but they are also a great advantage when it comes to ranking well in search engines. In fact, I believe this is one of the major benefits of owning a keyword domain name as an end user.

]]> By: Victor Pitts http://www.dmueller.com/2009/09/10/domain-names-domains/length-of-domain-registration-important-for-seo/comment-page-1/#comment-5054 Victor Pitts Thu, 10 Sep 2009 13:43:41 +0000 http://www.dmueller.com/?p=987#comment-5054 From the research I have done online and in person, the expiration date is listed as a ranking factor within Google’s Search Algorithm Patent. They do not have to use that data even if listed in the patent. Nor do they have to disclose the weighting that they place upon that factor. Most SEO experts I have spoken to feel that it is a small influence at best on search results. Much more influential is the search term match within the domain name. If the search keywords are contained within the domain, the site will have a higher trust factor. If it is an exact match it gets a big bonus and will likely skyrocket ahead of the even the best worked on SEO sites. Secondary to the search term match is the creation date, which is considered by most SEO experts as a factor. However, it is less significant than back links, relevent content, and several other attributes. Creation date is probably a top ten factor. Although the expiration date's importance is not considered to be as significant, it is still a factor within the control of the domain owner and it is a low cost method for the site/domain owner to nudge the site up a bit in the search results. This would mean more traffic to the domain/site owner and so should be done. ~VP From the research I have done online and in person, the expiration date is listed as a ranking factor within Google’s Search Algorithm Patent. They do not have to use that data even if listed in the patent. Nor do they have to disclose the weighting that they place upon that factor. Most SEO experts I have spoken to feel that it is a small influence at best on search results. Much more influential is the search term match within the domain name. If the search keywords are contained within the domain, the site will have a higher trust factor. If it is an exact match it gets a big bonus and will likely skyrocket ahead of the even the best worked on SEO sites. Secondary to the search term match is the creation date, which is considered by most SEO experts as a factor. However, it is less significant than back links, relevent content, and several other attributes. Creation date is probably a top ten factor.

Although the expiration date’s importance is not considered to be as significant, it is still a factor within the control of the domain owner and it is a low cost method for the site/domain owner to nudge the site up a bit in the search results. This would mean more traffic to the domain/site owner and so should be done.

~VP

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