Does Age Still Matter?

[Dave_Z]

Hi guys,

This is sort of a refresher for me. As the title goes, does age still matter?

I ask because I'm considering letting go a six-year old, 20-character, three-word domain for a plan I've since dropped. I read a few times that age is a great factor, which (sadly) is why I've been keeping it for that long.

I've never posted the name online, so it's got no PR or whatever ranking. It's just a blank as of now.

It's expiring on May 3. Unfortunately I don't foresee my plan pushing through any longer, though I'm just wondering if a domain's age still gives it some semblance of "value".

 

[Sabre]

:imho: it is only a relevant factor if the domain has been developed on. A 10 year old developed domain might have hundreds of random backlinks, be indexed across various search terms or be seen by Google as a 'quality' site. With a bit of work in the right places, the domain would allow for easier/better search engine ranking, thus, extra value.

I wouldn't pay a penny more for a 2 month old domain than a 5 year old domain if I didn't see any additional value.

 

[twomoon]

If you love each other - no

 

[lennco]

To the police it matters.
Just because she looks 18 doesn't always mean she is.

 

[GiftedDomains]

Well, obviously Domains are not Wines.
But i reckon that Google's Algorithm checks creation dates and gives old Domain Names a small Bonus.
The Logic is: if a Domain Name has been around let say over 10 Years and never dropped, it might be more trustable than freshly registered Names. For instance Spammers and Scammers change Domain Names and delete the old Ones pretty fast.

On the other hand, there are VERY good and valuable Domain Names in Pending delete Status dropping daily, and all of them will lose their age when Snapnames, etc. dropcatch them. So not all Names with new "creation date" are Crap. Also sometimes you find dropped Names which are good.

I guess no one really knows exactly how it works, but i heard from Developers and Seos that they feel like age matters and old names rank faster.

 

[.X.]

Aged domains can be good, And bad.

I always check to see what the previous owner did with the name if it has age on it. In some cases you will find that an aged name has a bad past, Was used in negative ways. That making it less desirable to me personally.

 

[GiftedDomains]

Good point about bad usage in the past.

Happened to me once, i think it was DVD * Sal0n d0t com.
Found out later that it was used in a bad way and Google banned it.

So always Google for the name , and look up Archive.org etc.

 

[wellparked]

Good point about bad usage in the past.

Happened to me once, i think it was DVD * Sal0n d0t com.
Found out later that it was used in a bad way and Google banned it.

So always Google for the name , and look up Archive.org etc.

That's good advice. It can be the devil's own job to persuade Google to behave decently, and stop hating on a domain because of what someone else did in the dim and distant past.

Having said that, they do seem to be getting a little better at reacting to ownership changes, when they are unambiguous (i.e. not just a domain owner friggin with the reg details).

No idea how they do this - perhaps they look for a change of registrar / registrant combined with an IP move.

As for whether domain age matters - I'd have to say that commonsense dictates that two domains, being equal in all other ways, will be differentiated on *any* remaining criteria, including domain age. It may not be *that* important, but you can bet it's in there somewhere....

 

[alien51]

I have seen 10 year domains that have changed hands from domainer to domainer all this time just parked or blanked. So 10 year domain with no backlinks, no traffic, no nothing. But it's a BRANDABLE domain that is perfect for an "end-user". I think it's brandable enough that i suspect the various domainers who held it were keeping it hostaged for boatloads of money, that most likely turned-off potential end-users.

Then i showed up one day (i'm an end-user), saw the domain on the drop pool. Then grabbed it for reg fee. Now i'm using it for e-commerce projects. And yes, i earned my traffic from my content efforts, and not because the domain is aged.

 

[Adrian98]

well, nowadays it is being said that age does not matter but still i have seem people running behind an aged old and good domain!! So it does!

 

[alien51]

well, nowadays it is being said that age does not matter but still i have seem people running behind an aged old and good domain!! So it does!

There's basically two situations why people would want "aged" domains:

1. Accumulated Value - A 40 or 50 year old former Senior Manager, has a lot more experience you can use if you hire him, compared to some 20s guy who just graduated from college. So if a domain is heavily "used" for many years, naturally you would be looking for backlinks and traffic that YOU can use for yourself. That's putting the YEARS of experience or value to work for you.

2. Speculative Value - The mantra of every speculator is that if some guy had "thought" about it years ago, then perhaps some other guy will think about it AGAIN. So maybe you can SELL it to THAT guy, and make money. If there's no interest on the domain, nobody would have grabbed it anyway. Speculation is the gambling version of the word "investment".

 

[Kate]

Sometimes people want an old domain to look 'established' ie you have a domain that was created in 1995 as per whois - you can pretend to be an Internet pioneer
It's basically the same reason why people would buy aged, off the shelf corporations rather than incorporate a new entity.

 

[Keith]

Thank you for not titling this thread, does size matter :lol:

Typically speaking, aged domains are of higher quality thus the draw. Savvy investors can spot a deal no matter the age or extention though. Success boils down to time spent on research and willingness to learn from others mistakes IMO.

 

[wellparked]

Thank you for not titling this thread, does size matter :lol:

ROFL!

@ Dave Zan - instead of just letting it go, why not offer it up on Flippa? Or here? Maybe someone will pay *something* for it - better than just letting it go, because I bet it will get picked up anyway if you drop it...