In the online business, the number of website hits is of utmost importance. Especially among SEO websites; these website hits usually lead into conversions (from the site visit to actual purchase of product). If we discuss Domain Aging, it is also important to discuss Google’s PageRank. Google is the foremost search engine on the web.
Getting hits every day, Google has become part of the everyday life of an online citizen and much more for online businesses. SEO or Search Engine Optimization is the method at which online businesses work on getting hits on Google by increasing the keyword content of the website as well as the website structure itself. PageRank is Google’s algorithm for determining the order at which it presents websites on its results page. Businesses striving to get more hits will always want to show up first or at least on the first page of Google’s results page because rarely anyone visits the second page.
Domain aging is poorly understood and is often called a myth as people online cannot determine its weight on PageRank. Google doesn’t reveal its algorithm to the general public and most knowledge on PageRank is from observations on the top websites. Even so, many people determine that domain age has a strong effect on it PageRank.
Mysterious Significance
In the SEO business, PageRank is the determining factor for a successful venture. Most of the time, content only comes second as the primary factor for increasing the PageRank of a website is its keyword density (which Google is doing steps to try and curb it) as well as the proper linkages within and outside the website. These two elements make up the bulk of the weight of PageRank. The case of domain age was a mystery which was noticed on observing the behavior of search page results to the domain’s age. The domain age basically refers to how long the website (domain) has been around on the web. After a few years, users and site owners online noticed something else besides the age at which the domain came online.
For the domain age to be important in the business, especially with respect to search engine Google, it’s not only the time the site has been online but how early it was indexed by Google. In other words, no matter how old the website is, if it has not been indexed or recognized (imagine indexes in a library) by Google, then the domain age doesn’t matter. To be more accurate therefore, the domain age that one must always remember is the time it has been recognized and indexed by Google, not the time that it was put up on the web. An example to this is that if a website has been around for 15 years, Google will not present it in its search results. Therefore that website will not be 15 years old for Google, but will be X years old depending on the date it was indexed.
Like Wine
The age of the domain itself is not the only factor which encompasses “domain age”. This also includes the age of the content itself. Being first on the search results list (with respect to the domain age) requires a little bit of early establishment as explained earlier.There is nothing a web designer or owner can do to make the content of a domain to look older. The only way to achieve this is to let it age on its own or buy a portion of already established domains. In the fast paced SEO business scheme, most of the time, the first ones get the better pickings. Hence, it is important to remember that when establishing a domain name, it is good to check and immediately register your desired domain in order for it to get recognized by Google sooner (with the proper content of course).
The content must not only look old, but the actual website has to be registered earlier. As mentioned above, search engines, especially Google, will tend to favor earlier registered domains than new ones; therefore, the earlier the domain, the better. Google tends to also favor websites that get constantly updated and have the appearance of longevity. Websites that look like they could disappear in a couple of months are most often ignored and are ranked lower. In relation to all the factors mentioned, changing domain names could be very detrimental. Changing names will tend to reset the rank but to combat this, simply put more content and register it at a longer period of time and most importantly, let other website link to the new domain name.
Treat the domain like wine; take care of it and improve the quality of the content and let it age. And just like good wine, watch it get income for the business.
