subject: New Domain Names vs. Old Domain Names [print this page] New Domain Names vsNew Domain Names vs. Old Domain Names
If you are starting a new website and want to ensure that it gets as much traffic as possible, one route to consider has nothing to do with the website itself, but rather to do with the domain name that the website is using as its address. There are many reasons that a domain name can help your website (memorability, SEO-friendliness, and others), but the one we'll be talking about here is the age of your domain name.
When you set about the domain name registration process, it may not be immediately apparent whether the domain names you're searching through are new or old. For the most part, they are likely to be new. An old domain name you will probably get from a webmaster who is holding it (or you can have your UK web hosting company contact the webmaster to procure the domain for you).
At any rate, an older domain can be a very valuable for the success of your website because the search engines seem to give preference to domain names that have been in existence longer. If a domain name is old, it implies that the website has been in existence for quite awhile, and therefore the people who own it are experienced in that particular topic area and have had some time to really develop the website. Presuming this, Google believes the website to be particularly useful to searchers, and so may favor that websites about similar, younger sites in search results.
However, it is important to note that just because a domain name is old does not mean that it will necessarily be very successful right off the bat. Here are a few factors that may slow down the web traffic you get with an old domain name:
Past problems. If a domain has been penalized in the past, its integrity may be uncertain, so you may want to choose a different name just to be safe.
Improper management. An old domain name won't just do the work for you. You'll have to populate the site with content that is relevant to the web address.
Uncommon keywords. Just because a domain is old doesn't mean it is search engine friendly. Just as with new domains, popular keywords and a short domain address are both essential.
So when beginning the search for domain registration and domain hosting, UK customers would do well to consider not just new, cheap domain names, but also older, established domain names, too.
