Domain Age and Value

[WhiteWebServices]

People often seem to think that domains that have been registered for a long time are worth more. Why would this be?

Unless the domain has had an active site on it, it won't get any more traffic just because it's been around for a while.

I know that there's a suggestion that domain age might be a factor that helps with Google (a "signal of quality"), but even if this is true domain age will only be a minor factor, because it's only a weak indicator of quality. This therefore won't justify the premium attached by sellers to 'aged' domains.

What seems most likely is that sellers who have invested in domain renewals charge more because they want to make that money back. However, the amount invested in something isn't what gives it its value (that's a Marxist way of valuing assets). If I were to sell my old car, I couldn't charge more than for a new one because of the servicing costs I've incurred. Why should domains be any different?

As far as I can tell, quality should determine the price of a domain, irrespective of how old it is. What, if anything, am I missing?

 

[Spade]

Although you have a logical point, what your failing to consider is the quality of domains registered goes up considerably as you go back. You also are not considering that the value of domains appreciates, where as the value of a car depreciates.

Age is sometimes an indicator of quality. (this is not always the case, but should can be a good marker for ascertaining potential value). Bottom line is that when I search for expiring domain names, I narrow my searches to domains pre 2002. You can find some real gems this way.

 

[WhiteWebServices]

Thanks for the reply. I appreciate that the better a domain, the more likely it is that it was registered a long time ago. (I just don't think that means that just because a domain was registered a long time ago it's a better domain.)

That the car depreciates in value over time supports my point: value is fixed by quality (which for cars depreciates over time), not cost to date (which goes up).

With undeveloped domains the quality (generally) stays the same over time (or if it improves, it does so whether the domain is registered or not). Quality isn't affected by registration, so value shouldn't be either.

 

[IAmAllanShore]

I hold a nice little chunk of 10+ year old domains that I find random SEO folks are prone to like, so long as they aren't "Parked". "Parked" to them basically means one of the seeq pages or SEDO pages or similar - so long as the page was created by me, no matter how much like parking it looks, they seem to be ok with it.
Just my experience to date,
-Allan

 

[Spade]

akrasia -

The issue here is marketing. Because an older domain tends to hold more value as it is likely better than a fresh registration. The idea is that "old" = Better. Is this true? No, not always. But because people need to say their names are Premium, Old is just another way of putting it.

Justin

 

[WhiteWebServices]

I'm glad you think that's all there is to it, but I've had some sellers try to justify prices by how much they (claim to) have spent on a name. We're talking about mid-$xxx bids here. Needless to say I wasn't convinced.

 

[IAmAllanShore]

I'm glad you think that's all there is to it, but I've had some sellers try to justify prices by how much they (claim to) have spent on a name. We're talking about mid-$xxx bids here. Needless to say I wasn't convinced.

Not to throw gasoline on the fire, but use domaintools advanced auction service to find today's domains expiring with 11+ years on 'em, and bid on one of the decent names (You won't be the only one, unless you pick dsjkghkhgskdjfjdskj.com or something) and watch where the bids go; I'll bet that they do end up in the low $xxx range, and if the name has any value aside from its age, it will go even higher. The one thing to keep in mind is that 2-3 years ago, 10+ years old was a HUGE deal, now, dozens expire every day that are 10 years old, so the measuring stick has been moved back again. (I've included a list of expiring names at the bottom of my post)

I have sold bad names in the low $x,xxx range because of their age - so I still say there is more to the equation than just "Older = more marketable". Whether or not the SEO folks are correct in thinking that it gives them some advantage isn't the issue, it's that there are enough of them out there for me to move older domains fairly consistently. As with all things, however, it takes time and experience - don't go randomly buying up names without a plan in place.

Yet again, just my opinion/observation.

-Allan


Domain Auction Date Age Yahoo! DMOZ
New-Earth.com 2007-03-20 12 yrs - -
AsB1.com 2007-03-19 11 yrs 1 -
FhAc.com 2007-03-19 11 yrs - -
Four-D.com 2007-03-19 11 yrs - -
HinCor.com 2007-03-19 11 yrs - -
HomeDevCo.com 2007-03-19 11 yrs 4 -
HybridProducts.com 2007-03-19 11 yrs - 1
LanRex.com 2007-03-19 11 yrs - -
LexIcs.com 2007-03-19 11 yrs - -
M-C-E.com 2007-03-19 11 yrs 7 -
PgTech.com 2007-03-19 11 yrs - -
Pro-C.com 2007-03-19 11 yrs - -
Reda-Intl.com 2007-03-19 11 yrs - -
RMax-PrEm.com 2007-03-19 11 yrs 5 -
RPsResource.com 2007-03-19 11 yrs - -
SNrGY.com 2007-03-19 11 yrs - -
800NetSpace.com 2007-03-20 11 yrs - -
AbsCg.com 2007-03-20 11 yrs - -
AccessMis.com 2007-03-20 11 yrs - 1
ChampionAuto.com 2007-03-20 11 yrs 1 -
CoasTalo.com 2007-03-20 11 yrs - 1
CuiC.com 2007-03-20 11 yrs - -
DentalAssoc.com 2007-03-20 11 yrs - 1
Ellinwood.com 2007-03-20 11 yrs 10 -
FillmoreLaw.com 2007-03-20 11 yrs - 1
FxCoughlin.com 2007-03-20 11 yrs - -
JackDiamond.com 2007-03-20 11 yrs 2 1
JPsystem5.com 2007-03-20 11 yrs - 1
LikeThat.com 2007-03-20 11 yrs - -
PaCmAg.com 2007-03-20 11 yrs 1 1
PhilExport.com 2007-03-20 11 yrs - -
RentalGuideUsa.com 2007-03-20 11 yrs - -
RussHerd.com 2007-03-20 11 yrs - -
SlInc.com 2007-03-20 11 yrs - -
SportPaK.com 2007-03-20 11 yrs - -
SyNagen.com 2007-03-20 11 yrs - -
TechInfinite.com 2007-03-20 11 yrs - -
ThinkAlong.com 2007-03-20 11 yrs - 1
TrialForHire.com 2007-03-20 11 yrs - -
Vega-Atlantic.com 2007-03-20 11 yrs - -

 

[WhiteWebServices]

The domains in question were more like 5 years old.

However, perhaps when you get to >10 years old there really is a significant SEO benefit, and so my assumption that domains don't get significantly better just by being registered over time was wrong.

Interesting sample of domains. They don't strike me as of particularly high quality based on the names themselves.

 

[gazzip]

However, perhaps when you get to >10 years old there really is a significant SEO benefit, and so my assumption that domains don't get significantly better just by being registered over time was wrong.
.

It would be nice to know for sure if age does make any/much difference regarding SEO - I personally doubt it would, after all...it is still very possible to get a brand spanking new domain to the top of Google.

One of the worst things about buying in the drops (apart from the prices !) is alot of the time you loose the record of the domains age.

I just got one that shows records in urltrends dating back to Aug 1996 - Now the whois shows it as Feb-2007

I don't think quality or value can be purely determined by the age but it is more likely the better names were registered first.


.

 

[name idol]

It would be nice to know for sure if age does make any/much difference regarding SEO...

It does, trust me!

- I personally doubt it would, after all...it is still very possible to get a brand spanking new domain to the top of Google.

I hate getting into an argument with fellow domainers, so let's just say the above statement is highly controversial.

If you don't believe me, ask Danny Sullivan (the living legend of the SEO industry) how long it took him to take his new domain out of the Google sandbox.

One of the worst things about buying in the drops (apart from the prices !) is alot of the time you loose the record of the domains age.

Spot on!

 

[AdoptableDomains]

The only advantages I see to age is that "in general" they are probably better since the choices were better back then. They "might" have some SEO links even if they are parked.

Probably one of the main reasons I see some extra value in an old domain is that the buyer will know the seller is in for the long haul. It could be said that a domain just registered a year or two ago might be dropped in a year. One owned by several years shows the persistence of the owner as a long term investment, and probably the only way to get it will be to buy it. Basically it shows whether the seller invests long term or short term, and also shows they have the financing to hold a name and wait for the right seller. It's really more of a perception of availability for purchase rather than an actual value to years ownership, in my opinion.

 

[gazzip]

I'm not a seo wizard so I am not disagreeing with you on anything I am self-taught so there's loads of stuff I have absolutely NO IDEA about.

It does seem strange that a relatively new name (and extension) can still get to number 1 in the search engines without having loads of incoming links -High PR & age etc.

It can happen - I have two that are number one but I take it that the fact that the domain has the keywords in it has alot to do with it.

MSN - Type Channel Ferries - My .eu site comes up number 1 & 2 and has done for almost a year out of 153,802 results (crap result in Goggle the last time I checked)

Google - Type Arabian Rivera - My site is number 1 most times (but not always) out of 332,000 results.

It does seem Google is getting much harder to rank high in compared to a couple of years ago.


.

 

[accent]

Another side to the story is spam email addressed to old domains. I have several domains that go back to 2001. I have owned them about a year. The Archive shows they have always been parked.

I plopped them atop my business website and opened email for them. I quickly had to shut it down, they were getting tons of spam.