Does an old domain name give you an SEO advantage?

OLD DOMAIN


A site with an old domain name would have an advantage over Google compared to a site with a recent domain name when it comes to positioning itself because Google would place more trust in it due to its age.

The subject has been discussed for 20 years and still has not been put aside despite the answers provided by Google, which, for once, leave no room for interpretation.

 

What is Google's official position on this subject?

The question has been asked several times by Google representatives, and the latest official response is that of John Muller in a tweet dating from July 2019.

Question: Does the age of the domain name still matter today in SEO?

Answer: No, the age of the domain name doesn't help.

In the past, Google had already declared through the voice of Matt Cutts that:

The data provided by the registrar is of no importance. It's too difficult to collect and Google doesn't have access to enough information for it to be a reliable signal.

So things are clear: the age of the domain name is not an element taken into account by Google for natural referencing.

However, some SEO experts continue to advise the purchase of expired (i.e. old) domain names to be used in an SEO strategy.

 

Can buying an expired domain name to create a new site give you an SEO advantage?

You may have already heard of this type of SEO tactic, particularly widely used in a semantic cocoon strategy: creating thematic satellite sites to the main site, using old domain names that have fallen into the public domain, called “expired domains” in SEO jargon.

  1. Reserve an expired domain name with a good SEO history.
  2. Supply the new site with quality content (the semantic cocoon).
  3. Do netlinking to improve the popularity of the site.
  4. Finally, create optimized links from the satellite site to the main site to convey popularity to the latter.

The benefit of using an expired domain name to create a new site lies not in the age of the domain name but in the quality of its SEO history.

Indeed, if the old site that used the domain name had quality content and good backlinks, it could gain popularity throughout its life (the famous notion of Authority) and trust in the eyes of Google.
Reusing this domain name allows you to confer a small SEO advantage, which is above all a saving of time to properly position the site on its target keywords, compared to using a new domain name without any popularity and confidence, which will start from scratch to build his confidence.

Conversely, certain expired domain names should not be reused because they have a poor SEO history in the eyes of Google: sites that have misused SEO techniques are prohibited by Google, or even penalized. In this case, the domain name has a handicap for natural referencing which will be transmitted to the future site which could use it.

In summary, using an expired domain name with a good SEO history to create a new site saves time in building brand awareness and trust.
But this does not confer any competitive advantage for SEO nor does it make the site natively “stronger” compared to competing sites with more recent domain names.

 

Can you succeed in SEO with a new domain name?

This is the question that new entrants to a market can legitimately ask, especially when it is particularly competitive. The sites present in the first positions of Google are regularly old sites, installed at the top of the results for years, and seem indestructible.

As said previously, this result is not linked to the age of their domain name but the consequence of several years of work and investment to improve their natural referencing.

Reaching 1st place in Google is still possible over time, even with a new domain name. However, the effort required will be more or less important depending on the competitive intensity of the targeted keyword.

  • Companies working in niche or low-competition markets can hope to obtain significant results in a few months with reasonable financial resources.
  • Companies positioning themselves on highly competitive consumer products or services will have to invest heavily in natural referencing and maintain this investment for several years to hope to reach and surpass the historical players in the market.
If you want to rank your website on the first page of Google, Contact Digital Marketing Agency Lahore for the best result at an affordable price.

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