A long history of a domain can have a significant impact on the results achieved in SEO. However, it is not a foregone conclusion that these effects will surely be satisfactory. However, until recently, there was a conviction that the “fresh domain” is not worth much for the search engine, and any optimization attempts, at least in the first period of its operation, will not translate into any conversion. There are also supporters of the theory that the short age of the new domain is an undeniable plus, even helpful in the SEO process. How is it really? How does SEO a domain with a short or a long history to achieve results in both cases? Is it more profitable to use the age domain or maybe look for something new and unused?
Domain indexing – how to check if your website is indexed?
The main reason why this is so is because of the most mundane situation, due to the amount of data you need to analyze. Age domains, which, in addition, for a long time have been collecting information regarding, for example, inputs and views (i.e. data collected after connecting Google Analytics and Google Search Console codes), have “gone through” a lot. However, that doesn’t mean the amount of this data is a curse – quite the contrary! New websites, built on a fresh domain, usually cannot boast of any statistics. Each of these two situations has its pros and cons.
What to do if the page is not indexed on Google?
When you start SEO in a new domain, you must base your actions on experiments. React intensely to how the website is perceived by users. Bearing in mind that SEO is a long-term process, at the beginning of the implementation of activities you can allow yourself to allow for shortcomings in the campaigns and possible errors. However, the more you delve into it, the more efficiently you should be with your data. For a domain with a long history, this data is your greatest ally. When a website has been running for some time, the easier it is to repeat the successes achieved previously, as long as they were implemented in accordance with the search engine guidelines.
Does the age of the domain affect the SEO results?
Most people associated with the industry believe that the age of the domain is not the same as the effects in SEO. Perhaps the most influencing factor was the statement by a Google employee – John Mueller, from 2019, in which he laconically stated that “the age of the domain does not matter.” It would seem that this position is so clear that no one should doubt that it could be otherwise. Nevertheless, long-time SEO practitioners are certainly able to pour out of their sleeve a multitude of examples of very young websites, which, despite great optimization and a large number of good quality incoming (external) links, are not able to achieve a satisfactory position in the ranking. Unlike its older competitors. Could it be a conspiracy of a large corporation?
Perhaps this situation is influenced not by the age of the domain itself, but the amount and QUALITY of the data mentioned above. Comparing the domain, for example, with 20 years of experience, on which most of the time SEO activities were conducted in accordance with the search engine guidelines and comparing it with the annual domain, which is slowly climbing up – it is not possible for us to have a similar amount of data that inspires confidence search engine robot. The difference lies in the number, but also in the quality of the information collected – that is why it is so important to conduct marketing activities wisely. Because careless and pointless analyzes and audits may result in later problems with the visibility of the website.
Theory and practice regarding the age of the domain
On the Internet, however, we can find a multitude of articles confirming that the age of the domain is extremely important for SEO. Belief in such a state of affairs should not, however, discourage us from carrying out any actions towards our own, newly fledgling domain. For older competition, Google may prioritize them based on the fact that the search engine simply had more time to judge its quality. Some domains with a long history simply stand the test of time, but age itself is not a ranking factor and does not in itself define the quality of a website. The term “domain age” encapsulates either everything that makes it valuable (e.g. good quality backlinks, useful content, User Experience, brand recognition …), or on the contrary – low-quality content, filters imposed by Google or ill-considered and bad optimization.
What are the SEO Similarities and Differences for Different Ages of Sites?
A. An older domain, if it has been marketed most of the time, may get a better Page Rank or Page Authority on a later search engine evalsuation. Usually, a new domain does not have this option. These indicators (and many others – such as Trust Flow and Citation Flow, depending on the source we use) inform about the condition and quality of the website, taking into account over a hundred parameters related to optimization. So, the more time we have (optimization) for it, the better the overall site rating that comes with … age.
B. When analyzing the “visibility” of the new domain, we cannot expect any hints from SEO tools, eg in the context of key phrases for which it is visible. We must ourselves, based on cooperation with the client and factual analysis (using, for example, Keyword Planner, Senuto’s Keyword Database, or Keywords Explorer at ahrefs.com), create a list of key phrases relevant to the industry. For this purpose, we can also use the interpretation of the results achieved by the most important competition.
The older domain usually has any visibility, so the phrase analysis should be approached in a slightly different way. It remains to select them, not to be inspired by competition, but to compare the results and draw conclusions. Moreover, matching new phrases in the SEO process of a domain with a long history is often much easier than saving a blank page. First of all, because by using the above tools, for example, we will be able to obtain a number of results for analysis.
C. The difference between the new and the old domain in SEO is primarily the issue of content. The old domain usually already has some content, whether they are descriptions of categories, products, information pages, and often even a blog, or something else like that – news. Even if the content is not perfect and written in terms of SEO, it still creates content to some extent suitable for search engines. At least enough for the domain to be found after any passwords (perhaps even good, industry-specific and competitive).
Thus, the optimization of a domain with a long history usually includes changes, corrections, implementation of key phrases, often adding new content or news or updating them. Optimization of a fresh domain, on the other hand, usually means creating content from scratch, and thus – more intensive cooperation with the client. New content must implement the company’s marketing plan, be written for the client, but also should be designed for the Google robot. It is important in these three aspects to base on a previously created list of key phrases and to create conversion-generating content.
D. An old domain with many subpages, usually is also characterized by a large number of errors that may not be visible and obvious at first glance. Therefore, you should carefully analyze the Google index in order to look for unwanted links, as well as Google Search Console and the errors indicated there, usually difficult to analyze for a person not related to SEO. Previous changes to website templates (including links in the menu), redirects, but also 404 errors and many other optimization elements, important in the assessment for the Google robot, should also be taken into account.
A new domain usually means fewer problems. Usually, because it can be created in some no-programming virtual wizard or placed on a server that causes it to load slowly. It may also have a template folded on only one side – the main side, the so-called one-page layout, which usually makes SEO difficult. Therefore, after completing all activities related to the creation of a new website and launching the final version, a comprehensive audit should be carried out, indicating any problems that are invisible at first glance, which may determine the subsequent SEO results.
E. History verification is important for both the new and the old domain. For a website with a long history, analyzing data from various sources will help us define an optimization plan and eliminate past mistakes. We should do the same verification just before buying a new, fresh domain. There are cases when the previous owner used it to create, for example, a link farm, or the domain was, for example, a blog or was used for spamming activities. In the first and second cases, verification of the domain’s history will protect it from unwanted filters imposed by Google or the effects of updating the algorithm. The saying that “nothing is lost on the Internet” turns out to be quite accurate in SEO.
Some of the many free or paid domain history verification tools that you may find useful are:
– https://who.is/ – here you will find current information about website registration, historical data, server name, former or current owner, DNS and others. The tool also offers to send you emails about the domains you want to track where something has changed.
– https://archive.org/web/ – is a kind of time machine for domains. It records appearance and information, most often from the time they are registered. Thanks to this tool, you will see what the domain looked like before and what was on it. After entering its name, you can select a specific date included in the history of the tool.
– https://ahrefs.com/ – a tool that allows for a comprehensive analysis of the link profile of a given domain. Ahrefs analyzes connections between pages in the form of external (but also internal) links. Thanks to this analysis, you can confirm or exclude whether the domain has had any problems with spammy linking in the past or, on the contrary, it was linked in accordance with the search engine’s guidelines. The tool has many other functions important for SEO that are helpful in the optimization process. Additionally, you can use them to analyze key phrases and create a list of them.
F. In general, it has been assumed that the SEO of the old domain is much easier than the new one, as long as we have optimization capital in line with the White Hat SEO principles on this age-old domain. However, it is not that fresh domains are in a lost position. On the occasion of this topic, the concept of Fresh Site Bonus should be mentioned. This is some kind of new domains bonus that causes your site to appear high in search results for an indefinite period of time. Which key phrases are displayed depends on their competitiveness. Unfortunately, but after the bonus expires, the domain most often drops in visibility. In the meantime, having this knowledge, we should use it and correct as many errors as possible on the site and implement the best quality optimization. Perhaps then, the effects of a sudden loss of visibility will not prove to be permanent and will be less painful. The downside to domains with a long history is that Fresh Site Bonus only applies to new websites.
Common point of optimization
Regardless of whether a domain with a long history or a completely fresh one is optimized, the goal of each of them in the positioning process is to achieve good results and the best possible visibility. At some point, both the old and new domains meet somewhere in the middle of the optimization process. Ultimately, we’ll start doing the same SEO activities on each of them. Especially when encountering search engine algorithm updates that impose a certain order of activities. It is true that when you compare the positioning effects of these two types of domains, you can immediately see a significant difference in favor of the older version. The main thing is to maintain the achieved results and maintain the most promising positions of key phrases. Because only carelessness and thoughtless action can benefit the fresh domain, where the Fresh Site Bonus privilege has been fully used. Both types of domains have the same chance of achieving good positioning effects, the difference lies in the arrangement of an appropriate optimization plan.
