Domain Age: How to Check and its Importance

There are many criteria that can determine the value of a domain name. One of which is the age of a domain name, as it can indicate several positive and negative features of the domain itself. In this article we will cover some reasons why you might be interested in domain age, along with how to check domain name age.

 

WHAT IS DOMAIN AGE?

Domain age is the time that has elapsed since a domain was first registered. The recorded first crawl of a website by Googlebot is considered its initial birthdate. While domain age is usually expressed in years, it is occasionally listed in days. Domain age is one of several factors used to determine the overall quality of a domain name, which brings us to our next point…

 

WHY CHECK THE AGE OF A DOMAIN NAME?

If you’re considering acquiring a domain name from an aftermarket, domain age can be an important signifier to determine the domains reputation and to understand a domains history. Here are some of the reasons why you may want to check:

 

• Older domains are more likely to have a history of existing content and a backlink profile. Older domains tend to have more links pointing toward them, which is an important criterion for determining the quality of a domain.

 

• Older domains tend to have a previously established Domain Authority (DA). This metric indicates how a domain is perceived by search engines online (often a measurement to compare one site with other sites on the internet).

 

• A domain's age isn't always an indicator of its quality but rather an indication that it may have been around long enough for users to engage with it over its history (leaving reviews, comments about the site online, having a reputation). This engagement may have a lingering effect on the domain name itself (which can be positive or negative).

 

 

HOW IMPORTANT IS CHECKING THE AGE OF A DOMAIN WHEN IT COMES TO SEO & GOOGLE RANKING?

A common misconception is that age of the website or domain does not affect SEO. The truth, however, is that it has an indirect impact on your rankings.

Domain age is a contributing ranking factor. Domain Authority refers directly to how authoritative a page might be when content is being evaluated to be placed on search engine result pages (SERPs) compared against competing pages on similar topics. Any domain that has previously been used will have some authority.

This authority is determined by many factors which search engine crawlers use to determine value. This includes page content, referring domains/backlinks, and a site’s technical performance, which are all evaluated to gauge search engine placement. Older domains are likely to have some persisting backlinks and even can maintain some authority, which can make them valuable for SEO.

 

WHAT IS A WHOIS SEARCH?

“Whois Search” or “Whois lookup” (also known as “domain age checker”) is a tool that helps you find the age of a domain name, along with other important details such as registration date, expiry date, etc.

 

HOW TO READ A WHOIS SEARCH TO GET DOMAIN AGE INFORMATION

A typical example of a Whois search/domain age checker report looks like this:

 

As you can see, there is useful information in your domain age checker report that you can utilize for your business, such as:

• Registry domain ID;
• Registrar WHOIS server;
• Registrar URL;
• Domain status;
• Registrar Abuse Contact;
• Registrant Name (Owner);
• Admin Name;
• Registry Tech ID;
• DNSSEC;
• URL of the ICANN Whois Inaccuracy Complaint Form;

 

The report will show the status of your website’s domain name, information if there are any issues with your site URL (such as possible abuse or phishing scams) and will also display some other useful information like when the site was first registered with ICANN (the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers).

To find the age of your domain name, you’re looking for ‘Creation Date’, which will list the date the domain name was first registered.

 

WHY SHOULD YOU CHECK THE DOMAIN AGE OF YOUR COMPETITORS?

Knowing your competitor’s domain age can help you gauge one component of their level of competition, along with determining how old their backlinks are. This will help indicate how difficult it will be to rank your website on search engines compared to their content.

Things you can find out through age report about competitors:

1. Level of competition - The first reason why you should check the age of your competitor domains is that it can help assess the difficulty of ranking certain content versus your competition.
2. Age of your competitors - This means that if someone comes along with an identical or similar product as yours but has only just started their business recently: they might not be able to compete effectively against those who have had a long time on their side building up their authority through years of experience.
3. Domain authority of your competitors (DA) - When competitors are not aware of your presence in the SERPs, you can take advantage of it by assessing gaps in content or discovering other opportunities.
4. Backlink profile of your competitors, including links from authoritative sites. Getting quality backlinks the same as your strong competitors may lead to great success.  This will increase your DA also!
5. Overall security of their business – you can attain information about this business and any problems with phishing, scams, etc.

 

HISTORY OF DOMAIN AND ITS IMPORTANCE

The importance of knowing domain history cannot be overstated: Having more information about the domain you wish to buy can only help make a better, more informed decision. It’s also helpful when trying to predict future problems of the business. Understanding past mistakes allow us to avoid them in the future. Whether you are selling and buying domains at the auction or planning to buy an already taken domain, understanding who and what kind of history the domain has can be very beneficial.