Is it worth it to buy an aged domain?

Hi Tim. There's no 'set in stone' answer to that old dilemma, so you're bound to get a good split of responses from folks on both sides of the fence.

Personally, I'd say go with the brandable domain. That's the direction SEO is moving in, and it's obviously more beneficial with regards to most other considerations.

You're better off asking Matt Cutts -search Youtube for "How much does a domain's age affect its ranking?"

Short answer is - it doesn't. Content is the most important factor.

You'll find plenty of people who'll disagree with Matt though :-)

It matters a lot. It matters way more than content infact. I have seen the same writer write content which doesn't make it to top 1000 searches with a recent Wordpress website while the same guy with a free blogspot blog which has aged is able to reach the first few pages without any seo or traffic generation. For similar keywords. Aged domains mean a lot. And both domains are pr0 with 0 backlinks in this case.

I've bought a bunch of both. Usually, I buy aged domains because they're EMDs or brandable. On the rare occasion that I find a brandable or EMD that isn't already registered, I'll buy those.

I think you have to consider what you're trying to accomplish with the domain. If you're planning on a long term site with loads of content, it may be slightly quicker to buy an aged domain. But, if you're adding quality content regularly, I believe a new domain will be fine.

If you're looking to use Adwords, banner/text adds, etc., a new domain works just as well.

If you planned on targeting that niche ALREADY, for GOOD REASON, then yes, I'd say buying an aged domain is a smart thing.

If you're just buying aged domains to have them, thats another story. But that doesn't sound like what you're doing. One of my clients was a waterproofing client. So I had him buy an aged domain (he had the money and a business already established for many years offline). That site ranked really fast compared to my own waterproofing site, which I'm still trying to rank. So yes, I think aged domains are definitely worth it.

An aged domain would be great if you plan on ranking it in the search engines. Aged domains carry more trust and you'll likely avoid penalties from backlinking when you have an aged domain vs. a brand new one.

Of course this all depends on if your goal is to rank it in the search engines. If you just want to set up a landing page then that's different.

We sell hundreds of domains a week and develop a lot ourselves. Given the choice between two different domains - one an aged one and one a brand new reg - with all else being equal, the small benefit the aged one will bring is worth it. That said, if you are building for the long-term, it's more important to have the most appropriate domain for what you want to do.

Good luck!

I've heard that with aged domains you've got to be careful about their background---what did they promote in their "active" day? Might be worth checking into that aspect too a bit so you don't end up with a "banned" site just because it used to be something Google didn't like a while ago.

Sorry I have just read this post, and not really taken the time to read all the responses, so I may be repeating some of what others have already said...

In my opinion you can completely ignore the discussion about "AGE" of a domain. I buy fresh domains all the time and turn them around into profitable websites without any issues whatsoever.

If anything a NEW domain pushes you to do more than existing websites in the same market. This should of course be something you should do as a matter of course, but maybe it will give you a little rear kicking that will help you on your way.

Best regards
Arran Wood

P.S. I am sure I will get slandered by those in opposition to my opinion, but all I can say is I have 300 websites that are ALL in the top 10 on Google for the keywords I want. So make of that as you will.

Go aged! You can blast it with more links without sandboxing it.

<sigh>Just to clarify, Matt Cutts works at Google. He has built several of the algorithmic filters that Google uses to rank sites, including Safesearch. He is currently Head of Webspam at Google. He says domain age doesn't matter. Look it up</sigh>

I know a lot of IM is delusional, but seriously...?

Do you actually think that Matt Cutts releases all of the information, and is completely honest with what is most important? He tells you want he wants you to believe. There are many case studies that have shown an aged domain is easier to rank. That doesn't mean that you can't do the same thing with a new domain.

Matt Cutts is a lying sack of rat droppings. He purposely puts out misinformation to curtail people from doing SEO all together.

SEO Rule #1 Do not ever listen to anything Matt Cutts says.
SEO Rule #2 Do listen to tested, proven SEO trials by professional SEO's verifying with evidence, the results they obtain from their tests.

I normally don't ever pursue aged domains.

Why? They usually cost to much and if you know a bit of seo and website optimization, then you can dominate the serp's just the same as with a brand new domain.

But, if you can get a great price for an aged domain that is relevant to your site, then snatch it up.

Aged domains do hold more weight in Google. Is it worth it? Unless its already pulling in traffic for a very profitable keyword then no.

Let's cut through the heat and emotion and look at this from a hard-nosed, analytical viewpoint. This is a business, so let's judge it on that basis.

Google needs to provide relevant responses to its customers. Otherwise, it won't survive and will go the way of Altavista, Lycos et al. That's a fact - if you can't give your customers what they want, they go elsewhere. Google knows this, that's why they constantly update their algorithms to ensure they return the most relevant results. Panda, Penguin and the rest of the zoo that will surely follow are intended to weed out the crap that lazy, quick fix "marketers" throw at it(!). Why? - to ensure that Google stays relevant to its customers and that its customers will continue to use it. Otherwise, advertising "voice" falls (voice = numbers of listeners = rates you can charge).

So, if you're Google, how do you ensure results are relevant to the search the customer has entered? You already know the answer - content, content, content and what other sites think of your content. And it needs to be relevant to the search query. That's it.

So now let's consider the age of a domain in all this. Let's get back to being Google - why should the fact that a domain is older than another domain make it more relevant to a search? More trustworthy? More "established"? No, Google deals with both those factors by assessing links. But an older site would have more backlinks? Possibly, but those links are not a factor of its age, they are a factor of its relevance and authority - and that's all Google measures.

Google was asked this question and their answer is that age is irrelevant. Content is what matters - and good quality links from other sites. If you're happy to disagree with a public statement from Google, the source of approximately 70% of your search engine traffic, then your judgement is not being driven by business but by emotion. In which case, good luck with Bing, and Yahoo.

There is a big difference between an aged domain and a new register domain. The age of a domain give you a trust fact in the search especially when the domain has be index and has some good backlinks to it, unlike new registered domains. Although you can still start a business with a new registered domain with a good SEO practice you would also do fine......