I like 'em old.
Posted Thursday, September 15th, 2005. Filed under Google, Internet Marketing Tips, Link Building.
When leads come in, I review them and often attach a small note like "since 1999" or "since 1997" to Todd — not the PageRank or link count, but the year, which means the most to me.
Looking at the top 10 sites in Google for "blue widgets," I found sites registered from 1993 to 2003, averaging around 6 years old, with the newest being just over 2 years old and already showing hundreds of thousands of backlinks. Trying to rank a site registered in 2005 for a competitive phrase can be done, but it will probably take a few years of hard work creating content and gathering links.
New sites need time for rankings. In 98% of cases, you won't see competitive rankings for what I believe is 6 months to a year and a half, and if your site is less than a year old, chances are you'll see almost no traffic from Google no matter what you do. The age of a website along with the age of its backlinks plays a large role in rankings — trusted authority sites don't spring up overnight; they come with age and years of constant new links.
To find a domain's registration date, use whois.sc or Network Solutions. For a more accurate sense of a site's "birth," check the Wayback Machine, since if the Internet Archive found your site back then, Google probably did too. Older sites have the advantage of gaining links within a community over years; the key is links over time.
September 21st, 2005 at 12:05 pm
Jim, I did a similiar survey of 10 search terms and the top 10 ranking sites and found the same thing - avg age was 1999 for 100 sites.
BTW - I need to read this blog more regularly. You’ve got great stuff here.
October 27th, 2005 at 11:34 am
I am working with a client in travel and their site is 6 months old.
My advice to them so far is to buy a on topic domain, as the budget is too low to develop their current domain.
Totally agreed, Rand. This blog is really readworthy.
Kim
October 27th, 2005 at 2:36 pm
[...] Ebenfalls lesenswert zum Thema ist der folgende Blog-Eintrag von Jim Boykin: I like ‘em old. [...]
October 28th, 2005 at 8:50 am
Hey Jim,
Great piece but a small typo in the linkdomain url - You have a double http in there and funnily enough (at least in my install of FF) it ultimately sends you over to MSN
Cheers mate
JasonD
October 30th, 2005 at 5:44 pm
[...] In case you didn’t hear, I like em old….but in case you misunderstand, the "I" is Google. [...]
November 4th, 2005 at 1:10 pm
[...] Mehr dazu: Internetmarketing-News: Google bevorzugt alte Domains Netztaucherbrille: Problemlösungsstrategien Suchmaschinen News: Google Sandbox und Google Filter Jim Boykin’s Blog: I like ‘em old weitere Artikel zu: GoogleRanking, SEO [...]
November 5th, 2005 at 11:36 am
Google Sandbox Effekt vermeiden
Jörg hat mich eben per Mail gefragt, ob ich ein Rezept für den Google Sandbox Effekt habe. Dazu sind mir folgenden Maßnahmen eingefallen:
1. Valiierung des Linktextes
Nicht immer mit dem gleichen Linktext verlinken!
2. Anfangs keine hartumkä…
November 7th, 2005 at 4:29 am
[...] I like ‘em old lautet die Quintessenz von Jim Boykin [...]
February 6th, 2006 at 10:53 pm
Jim, I like using a dns tool on http://www.dnsstuff.com to get whois info and a whole lot more:-)
February 24th, 2006 at 2:15 am
I managed to get a 1998 domain recently so it’ll be interesting to see if SEO comes easier now.
April 8th, 2006 at 3:18 pm
[...] So I can either try to get rid of that prospective SEO client caller (who has the new site) ASAP (which I so often do)….or I can explain all of this and add…ya know, there just might be a related site that’s been abandoned or someone who might sell you their old (related) website….and if we do it right, you might have related ranking traffic a lot sooner. (what would you do?) (I’ve only done that a couple of times….I’d rather have someone for a client where we’re working on their site they called my about…which basically means, if your site is less than 2 years old, I probably don’t want to work with you). [...]
August 5th, 2007 at 7:23 pm
Jim I must be doing pretty good, I managed to get my website in the top 5 for the keyword website design in 5 1/2 months. I did not pay for one link, accept for directory sponsored links.
When i first started I didn’t even have money to buy links :).
August 5th, 2007 at 7:25 pm
Another thing jim I totally agree with you on domain age, I had some guy the other day trying to tell me that domain age had no part in ranking and i was thinking you are crazy.
The thing is I had a client I was doing custom programming for his domain was dated back to 1996, he had krap links but they were sooo old so you could consider them valuable, anyways he is ranking for very competitive keywords and owns 3 ware houses and is the largest reseller for hallmark ornaments the guy is banking, just off his site.
He don’t even realize why either, he don’t even build links to it hardly. Its just been setting for so long and hes done some link building, but not considerably like you would a new site to get it going.
September 28th, 2007 at 9:17 pm
I’ve heard that age is important before, but this post is very descriptive, I liked it.
November 1st, 2007 at 9:29 am
I do agree with this post, only i do believe it is still possible to get higher ranking with a young site than with an old one. Only you must work a little harder