Like some good oPort wines, aging makes a domain tastier on Google’s eyes. If you think a little, it makes a lot of sense. Imagine any niche and a forum or an info page about that topic. Either the author has been there first, or it has been there “since”. Of course, content has to be good.
So, when was the domain first registered and more important, when was that first indexed by SE?!
More, if the page was the first to introduce content on that topic, it must have earned a lot of links to it back them. When where the inbound links first noticed by the SE?
But don’t go thinking you could grab an old domain, put you content up there and grab all the SE authority as before.
SE check if the domain always held a specific topic and language or if it was used for a different topic earlier. Links go the same route. Are they for the old or the new content?!
The best domains to buy are ones that are valuable but aren’t seen as such by the current owner. All domains you can buy fall under one of the following categories.
Go for domains containing a website and are more likely to have some SEO value, but do the current owners see that yet. Look for websites that are using old software, old layout (not web2.0 = small fonts, fade colors, etc) and look at the bottom of the page for this: “Copyright 2002”. Gotcha!
Registered but unused domains don’t have any value, except the one I’ll talked before on the Aging topic.
Domains about to expire, in the redemption period, are a good place to search. Owners are not interested on those anymore and will sell cheap and if you’re able to reach a deal and still avoid the drop, you could maintain some value on them. However, you’ll be hit with the changing owner (whois data) SE hammer. Google is a certified .com and .net registrar, so they can do unlimited whois lookups. This way they track all changes in the whois records and see owner and dns server changes. Microsoft has just recently become a certified registrar also.
In cases like this, do the things real slowly. Change each item over time making it look like you’re just doing small adjustments. As you know, SE are only programmed to detect and punish typical and abrupt changes. It has always been like this and it will always be like this. Imagine checking every little change everywhere! Use time on your side: don’t change whois, content and links overnight. Before the domain is totally yours you must change a couple of things. To make sure Google doesn’t raise red flags, don’t do them all at once. Keep some time between them and if possible change the owner after everything is done. Change first the content, them the hosting and only in the end the whois data.
There are tons of things still to be said on this. Keep visiting here and I’ll keep you informed.