SEO Domain Considerations

There are several further aspects to consider when wondering about what might be hampering your rankings on search engines, or about how to improve SEO. The age of the domain, the time when the domain is renewed, even the domain length and structure all are taken into consideration by search engines. Though these aspects have only have a minimal effect on the ranking, they are important recommendations to be aware of nonetheless.

Age of Domain

This refers to the length of time that a domain has existed, by taking into consideration the age of a website, and how long the domain has been registered and indexed by Google.

Domain age does come into play to determine Google ranking, and the older the page, the more advantage it receives. This advantage does not necessarily last a long time, but the material point is that a brand new domain (all else being equal) will not rank as highly as one that has existed for a year or more.

Expiration Date

Factoring in expiration dates is a potential way to strength rankings on Google. If you renew your domain one year at a time, or renew only when the domain is about to expire, it communicates a signal to Google that the site is not a priority. This kind of information could potentially weaken rankings and is not advisable.

By registering a domain for a number of years at once, or at least a good distance from the expiration date (ie., within 12-24 months from the expiration), it indicates to search engines that that you are committed to sustaining the site activity and development for a substantial amount of time.

Domain Length & Structure

Short domain names and URLs are preferable over longer ones, both for usability and SEO purposes. As an example, it would be more advantageous to have the domain www.example.com as opposed to www.theexamplewidget.com.

Also, exact keyword match domains can offer great benefits. For example, if a website is about bloodhounds, it would be best to have the domain www.bloodhounds.com. This would benefit the site in three ways. First, it will make remembering the domain very easy for visitors who want to come back. Second, the domain will enjoy a fair amount of type-in traffic. Third, when linking to the website, others tend to use the URL or the name of the site in the link text, and having an exact match keyword be the URL of a website certainly won't hurt.

Having an exact keyword match domain used to be a significant factor in rankings; however, nowadays it only offers indirect ranking benefits (as noted above).

It is also important to remember, when focusing on the structure of your website, that value within a site is based on content and incoming links. URLs do play a role, but the strength of links, and content on your site will be what drives potential for possibly ranking higher on search engines.