Why And What To Look For In An Aged Domain?

Posted in Domain Names, SEO, WebMaster by DB

Domain names!!! How much time do you spend on an average trying to find that perfect domain name. I don’t know about you but I’ve spent a lot of time (a really lot of time) trying to find the perfect domain name. Why does it take time? Because pretty much every name you can think of is already taken. I even built an application to help me find available domain names quickly and easily.

That said, of late however I find myself using my own application less and less. Why? Not because I’ve reduced my domain registration rate but because many of the websites I’m building these days are all targeted towards organic traffic and the quicker I get my domain ranked high the more money I make.

Before you say “You lost me dude” let me explain. A brand new domain as we all know has to build trust in the eyes of the search engines (read Google) before you can get it to rank high on the SERP’s. Now depending on the keywords that you are targeting this can take anywhere from 6 weeks to 12 months before these filters are lifted. (Out of Jail or Sandbox as it is more popularly known)

This is simply too long from a ROI perspective. Let’s say I’m setting up a BANS store. Can I afford to wait that long for a competitive keyword? Heck no, I want to be able to compete and convert as quickly as possible. So what’s the answer? Pre Owned Domains of course. Now there are quite a few places where you can pick up decent domain names. Personally I’ve always found GoDaddy’s after domain market a great marketplace to find used domain names at great prices.

Again folks if you are starting a new company or launching a brand then the age of the domain is not that big a factor though some would argue otherwise. Anyway, it is the brandability aspect that is of prime importance and in many cases a brand new domain will work just fine. What I’m talking about in this post is to find and register domain names that are for one purpose only. Make money from organic traffic as quickly as possible. To do this I must try to get all the aces up my sleeve. Remember the competition is fierce and there is no love lost between competitors. Once you identify your main competitors you are constantly engaged in a battle of one-upmanship. You always go tooth and nail at each other trying to oust the other. While you can work on your SEO strategies continuously you cannot change your domain history and starting with a handicap is simply not worth it.

All right, enough of selling me the virtues of an aged domain. Tell me how I go about picking a domain name. These are a few positive factors that I look for in a domain name.

  1. Domain name must have your keyword in it.
  2. Domain Name has privacy protection turned on. (If the domain privacy protection turned on then changing ownership is kept hidden from the all important Google.)
  3. Domain Name registrar is one where I already have an account. (Keeping it within the same registrar will not trigger any alarm bells or any Google filters.)
  4. Domain Name renewal date is atleast a year away. (The further the registration renewal date, the higher are the chances of avoiding the Google filters/sandbox)

Of course it goes without saying that you do a thorough check on the Internet Archive, search engines itself (both Google and Yahoo) and verify if the PageRank if any is valid before you bid or buy the domain.

The following are good to have factors but not critical.

  1. The domain Name has a valid PageRank
  2. The domain has a website associated with it.
  3. The domain name is indexed and has a decent number of pages cached in Google along with a good number of incoming links.

How about you? What is your domain name strategy? Do you buy brand new domains? Maybe being a little impatient is a good thing? Only time will tell.

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One Response

  1. DOTMEDOMAINS Says:
    April 12th, 2008 at 8:43 am

    My domain name strategy? Playing with keyword combinations. Unknowingly, I registered a “brand new” domain related to dot me domains that will be selling this summer ( http://www.buymedomains.com ). I was just playing with KY combinations and registered it right away without making any research. It turns out that the domain has been around for at least 5 years already but was abandoned and deleted from a registrar July 2007.

    Just my luck I guess.

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