How do I estimate the value of domain age?

[mhdoc]

I have many domains coming up for renewal with creation dates three or four years ago. Most are not great name since they have hyphens and/or are not dot coms.

For example, Automobile-Repair.net was created in 2006 and I never got around to putting a site on it. I am not really looking for an appraisal of that particular name. What I hope to get are general comments about the importance of age to the value of non-premium domains.

 

[Spade]

Frankly, a 4 year registration age is hardly worth noting. I put no value on age in this case.

 

[HappyBunny]

Age will not add any value to your domain, unless you are selling to someone who does see age as an indicator of value.

For example, if Love.com dropped today... Would it make the domain less valuable because it had lost its age?

 

[exsedo]

The only relevance of domain age to domain value is the number of years you have renewed it, and that would be implemented in the price you would sell the domain for. :imho:

 

[BizBot]

Some domainers believe the age of a domain gives it a higher relevancy score at Google. To me, relevant content and inbound links are more important. Some search engines may appear to favor older domains because they are established sites with more back links.

Age does not increase value of a domain name. I would not buy a bad domain name just because it had an older registration date.

 

[NetOctave]

Age gives an added advantage while selling Hosting related domains. Many buy the name with age to start their hosting businesses since the name gives an (false) impression that the business was there for long time...

And I've seen many hot deal forum posts where they see the whois and says the company giving the deal was created only last year, so be careful etc...

 

[infosec3]

Age will not add any value to your domain, unless you are selling to someone who does see age as an indicator of value.

For example, if Love.com dropped today... Would it make the domain less valuable because it had lost its age?

Very well said. Great domains drop and are picked up everyday and that does not make them less valuable.

 

[SpareDomains]

Aged domains may have a slight advantage but that is only a bonus to a good domain where a 10 year old clunker is still a clunker. I have hundreds from 2006 but that amount of age doesn't hold as much weight as my 1999-2000 registered domains. Put your focus on the domain strength itself over age as renewing a clunker is just another year of renewal fees wasted if the domain isn't strong on it's own.

 

[raceway]

I think of an aged domain as an added bonus, if you are buying for development. For resale value, it does not matter how long it has been registered providing it is a good domain name.

 

[mhdoc]

Thanks for the responses. I have started seeing it show up as a desirable feature on some of the internet marketing squeeze pages that seem to roll in constantly. It's touted as a way to improve the recognition of a new site because it's difficult to game.

 

[gemstar]

Age means nothing but nostalgia. Value means traffic and pageviews.:wave::sold::talk::tu:

 

[Ray]

The only value of age in a domain name is to let the end user know that the company has been around for a while. This is very important when it comes to the web hosting industry. Must experienced users check the domain age to determine if they will use their services.

Now, if one is seeking to create a start up service, and wants to whitelabel a company based off of a age of a domain for that purpose, there might be some value.

 

[htmlindex]

Try selling your aged domains over on DP, there seems to be a lot of fools over there that love aged domains, even for totally crappy names. They seem to value aged domains better than quality.

 

[mhdoc]

They seem to value aged domains better than quality.

I presume most are looking for keyword domains on which to build AdSense sites. If all your traffic is going to be coming from search, most of the qualities of a "good" domain are irrelevant.

I think the assumption they are taught/make is that G's ranking algo includes domain age as one of it's components.

 

[Timewarp]

As I understand it Google doesnt care about domain age but it does value aged links...so an aged domain is only worth more if it has aged links pointing to it.

 

[mhdoc]

As I understand it Google doesnt care about domain age but it does value aged links...so an aged domain is only worth more if it has aged links pointing to it.

I had not heard that take on things. Thank you.

More and more I am reminded of what I think lawyers call "Shelf Corporations". They set up fully functional corporations, keep minutes, have meetings, follow all the rules, file tax returns, etc. Then when a client is in need of a "clean" corporation with some age on it they can just pull it off the shelf.

It looks to me like a collection of say ten blogs on more or less related subjects that linked to each other in a reasonable way could acquire significant value over time.

 

[tq104B]

I have many domains coming up for renewal with creation dates three or four years ago. Most are not great name since they have hyphens and/or are not dot coms.

For example, Automobile-Repair.net was created in 2006 and I never got around to putting a site on it...

Google's Kw Tool is showing decent volumes for the related searches to this domain words even in hyphenated format; and advertisers are paying a lot for the phrase.

While I am not an expert in domain valuation (and frankly, I believe a lot of domain valuations are overhyped with perhaps a small number of exceptions) I would not recommend relinquishing this particular one you mentioned in your example. Unless you want to sell it and, if that's the case, try to get as much as you can for it.

If only there is available resources, I can envisage the domain being developed to host a network of automobile repair shops, providing ratings of the good, the bad, the ones to avoid at all costs, etc. zSuch a site will also provide info and articles for DIY,..., and should eventually find a way to get featured on cartalk.com... Just imagining!!!

If renewal fees total amount is large and part of the doubt to renew or not to renew, you may want to transfer some of them now to a different registrar. First, some registrars are offering specials on transfers at this time. Second, this allows you to "renew" in chunks and rather than doing all renewals at the same time. This is why some people have recommended not to synchronize renewal dates.

 

[duia]

Uually, the age of domains can only add little value to your domains.
In fact, you can find some useful tools to calculates the value of your domains.

 

[MasterShifu]

If the name is great the age factor can be neglected.
There are many free as well as paid tools to calculate the value of your domain but i dont trust them.

 

[DubDubDubDot]

One of Google's search patents was posted online some time ago, and it cited checking domain age. Unfortunately only Google knows what kind of weight age has and at what age bonus points stop at.

I have nothing to back this up, but I think the most SE value is gained simply after the first renewal since it's a signal that the site is probably legit and sticking around.