Domain age question

I'd probably go for the domain with the keywords... Unless the short domain name has branding value

ottopottomouse.com sucks

Only asking really because I have noticed a difference between two very similar sites I was asked to do recently. One was brand new LLLLLLL domain name which although relevent to their business has no actual words in and one was a 4 year old never used LLLL domain name - still just random looking letters which make up the business name. The 4 year old one has got indexed faster and ended up on the first page of google with only 2 incoming links while the brand new one seemed to need me spending more time on it.

older = better

well then you answered your own question

but my experiences, it doesn't matter the age of the domain. I had domains I registered today be indexed in 24-48 hrs max.

that's besides the point.

Your point being?

Not really.
My wondering only came out of it being two very similar sites so results could be compared but I don't think a test size of 2 is big enough to know anything.

value of the domain name

older domain

Older the better, 99% of spammers reg domains for 1 year and then ditch it after that, Goog has put in place a sorta mini sandbox type deal for younger than 1 year domains.

OP is asking what gets more love from Google (older or newer name). I stated my experiences.

So I am about to sell a 9 year and a 10 year old domain. How much would those be worth?

One is 9-letter and the other is 13-letter, both are 2 words.

Depends on what they are, not every aged domain is a goldmine, only relevant ones.

girlshost.com
and
lightningfree.com

used to be freehosts.
any bids?

$10 for both.

some nice domains here

I think there's too many factors to give a valid answer to this question.
I have seen older domains pick up great traffic after a couple of years. There could be a multitude of reasons for this, though...

Old is good, keywords are better.
Best thing of course is a mix, but i would choose a high end premium keyword domain.

From my limited experience I would agree with this .

I would think older is better, but let me ask my SEO guy and I'll post an educated answer

Trust beats Age, like Scissors beats Paper.

The 'trust' can be easily spoofed (or proven) on either an old or a new domain. If the old domain has been spidered, has any type of links, and has so for a few years, then that puts the old domain a step up in trust compared to a new domain.

If you take an aged, more trusted domain, and a new domain, and do the exact same thing to them, the old one will win every time. (providing the old one hasn't lost any of its trust in the few years it's been live) When all ranking factors are equal the more trusted domain will always win. One situation where this may not hold true (and only one) is if you have the EXACT keyterm.com for your search term. A certain level of 'trust' is given to the exact domain for the term. Some may argue this but I've saw it time and time again.

Now there is ways to build trust on new domains, and its very effective, but if we did the 'exact thing' to the new domain and the old domain, the old domain would get more benefit from the trust building techniques and still rank higher then the new domain.

NOTE - Being 6 years old but always parked is a NEW DOMAIN, being 10 yrs old and redirected to a sponsor always is a NEW DOMAIN. Being dropped or having a full content shift means (almost) NEW DOMAIN.

Also, this little analogy I like to give to people to help understand why google would trust one type of domain/site more then others.

Google delivers search results, the 'truck' they use to do so has blown a transmission. They have 3 options for getting it fixed.

1. Mechanic 1, has 15 years experience, has worked on the trucks numerous times, they go way back with this guy, and trust that he will do right by them as his history has proven time and time again. (aged, trusted site)
   
2. Mechanic 2 - this guy is right out of college, fully educated in everything about the trucks, most current technologies used, and appears to be the best bet. Google has never used this Mechanic, and has little trust in him for that reason, they've been burnt by similar 'new guys' over last few years. (new site, looks like a winner, but untrusted)
   
3. Mechanic 3 - Backyard Bill, this guy claims he can fix anything, but does it in his backyard, no way will google trust their 'truck' with this guy. (hobbyist, non authoritative site)

It's pretty easy to see which Mechanic Google is going to use to get the job done. And is a great analogy for how 'trust' works. They've been shafted and taken by way to many #2 Mechanics for them to consider giving that job (search spot) to the new guy, and are to professional to use the backyard Mechanic.


Now how do you turn your #2 Mechanic/Website into a productive, trusted Mechanic #1 to google? A couple ways work real well.

For example, if Mechanic 1 told google that Mechanic 2 was indeed the real deal, and referred them to him (linked) then that would BOOST the trust to Mechanic 2 (think authority links to your site).

If a huge percentage of the 2nd Mechanic type people started linking into a certain Mechanic 2 (new site) this also would create some buzz of trust around that new site.

Use the analogy to play out 'ways' that you can build trust on your #2 (new site) and it won't take long for you to find a few ways to combat 'trust rank' and actually put your new sites into positions.

Here's the pyramid of domain SEO quality as I see it based on factors that don't change, those being age, keywords in domain, and touching a bit on extension (as opposed to PR/backlinks/competition, which changes all the time). This is based on my own experience and what discussions with others have seemed to indicate - if you're trying to rank for a particular keyword phrase:

1. Exact match old domain (i.e. the keyword phrase, the whole phrase, nothing but the phrase, and should stick with com/net/org unless it's an insanely competitive term like "free porn").
2. Exact match new domain (simply put, exact matching domain rules regardless of age, but older is better, again stick with com/net/org unless insanely competitive term).
3. Old domain containing keyword phrase (i.e. word(s) + keyword phrase you're trying to rank for - .com by far most preferable in this case but net/org still aren't bad).
4. Old domain not containing keywords (you should go with short brandable or a catchy brandable phrases if you do this, not niche keywords completely unrelated to your site, only stick with .com unless you manage to get an extremely good net or org).
5. New domain containing keyword phrase (again this being word(s) + keyword phrase you're trying to rank for).
6. New domain not containing keyword phrase.

So - aged domains take up #1, #3, and #4 with the only infiltrating new domains being EXACT match (which take up #1 and #2 and illustrates that exact match really is the best move you can make). Yet so many people go for #5 and #6...which hey, if it's a shitty term with low traffic and/or relatively worthless traffic, you might still rank pretty easily if you do the other stuff right. But going after real terms, you're better suited trying to get an exact match and/or aged domain.

As far as how much age matters, IMO there's maybe 4 tiers: 10+ years old, 3-10 years old, 6 months to 3 years old, and 6 months or newer. In a lot of cases, if you're in the teens in age, then you'll be older than most if not all of the page 1 results for the phrase you're targeting unless it's major or in a really competitive industry in which case you may still have some really old competitors.

I make a living selling domains, I target exact match and aged domains in mostly com and org, and exact match domains have been the easiest to sell, even in .org, and even if they're fairly new domains. Aged domains however have been gaining steam as people realize it only goes up over time. After all, consider this - searches/mo, competition, and even value of traffic for a term can change, but age is firm and rarity of domains regged a certain year only goes up over time, with more of them dropping and more domains being registered overall meaning the % of domains regged in an aged year vs. overall registrations is in constant decrease.