Is Domain Age An Important Google Ranking Factor?

No, not in isolation.

Having a ten-year-old domain that Google knows nothing about is the same as having a brand new domain. A 10-year-old site that’s continually cited by, year on year, the actions of other, more authoritative, and trusted sites? That’s valuable. But that’s not the age of your website address ON IT”S OWN in-play as a ranking factor.

A one-year-old domain cited by authority sites is just as valuable if not more valuable than a ten-year-old domain with no links and no search-performance history. Perhaps Domain age may come into play when other factors are considered – but I think Google works very much like this on all levels, with all ‘ranking factors’, and all ranking ‘conditions’.

I don’t think you can consider discovering ‘ranking factors’ without ‘ranking conditions’.

Other Ranking Factors:

1. Domain age; (NOT ON IT”S OWN)
2. Length of site domain registration; (I don’t see much benefit ON IT”S OWN even knowing “Valuable (legitimate) domains are often paid for several years in advance, while doorway (illegitimate) domains rarely are used for more than a year.”) – paying for a domain in advance just tells others you don’t want anyone else using this domain name, it is not much of an indication that you’re going to do something Google cares about).
3. Domain registration information was hidden/anonymous; (possibly, under human review if OTHER CONDITIONS are met like looking like a spam site)
4. Site top level domain (geographical focus, e.g. com versus co.uk); (YES)
5. Site top level domain (e.g. .com versus .info); (DEPENDS)
6. Sub domain or root domain? (DEPENDS)
7. Domain past records (how often it changed IP); (DEPENDS)
8. Domain past owners (how often the owner was changed) (DEPENDS)
9. Keywords in the domain; (DEFINITELY – ESPECIALLY EXACT KEYWORD MATCH – although Google has a lot of filters that mute the performance of an exact match domain in 2016))
10. Domain IP; (DEPENDS – for most, no)
11. Domain IP neighbours; (DEPENDS – for most, no)
12. Domain external mentions (non-linked) (I have no idea in 2016)
13. Geo-targeting settings in Google Webmaster Tools (YES – of course)

Google Penalties For Unnatural Footprints

In 2016, you need to be aware that what works to improve your rank can also get you penalised (faster, and a lot more noticeably).

In particular, the Google web spam team is currently waging a PR war on sites that rely on unnatural links and other ‘manipulative’ tactics (and handing out severe penalties if it detects them). And that’s on top of many algorithms already designed to look for other manipulative tactics (like keyword stuffing or boilerplate spun text across pages).

Google is making sure it takes longer to see results from black and white hat SEO, and intent on ensuring a flux in its SERPs based largely on where the searcher is in the world at the time of the search, and where the business is located near to that searcher. There are some things you cannot directly influence legitimately to improve your rankings, but there is plenty you CAN do to drive more Google traffic to a web page.

Chuck Reynolds
Contributor