Google Search does take into account the age of a webpage when determining its ranking, and since a business owner’s goal is to attract as many clients as possible, getting on or near the first page of Google is important.
Is There Proof That Age Matters?
In the SEO game, every factor counts. Admittedly, some page elements count more than others, but as any good athlete knows, every edge over the competition can mean the difference between winning and losing. In the case of a physician, a higher-ranking website can mean that a person seeking a surgical procedure will find you before they discover your competition.
There has been some controversy in the SEO world as to whether or not the age of a website makes a difference. Rather than depending on opinions, the owner of the SEO-Hacker.com website did an experiment to determine if a new site with the exact same SEO elements, including content, ranked as well as an older site. The results were not surprising. The older site ranked better in the Google search results, proving that domain age matters when it comes to improved website visibility in search engine results.
An Older Site Can be a Gold Mine to a Serious SEO Professional
To further prove that domain age is an important issue in the world of rankings, SEO professionals will often pay dearly for aged, abandoned websites that have good statistics from GoDaddy Auctions and similar domain name registrar sites. These gurus know that they can rank certain older website higher in the Google search engine results than if they were to create a new site.
Older Sites Have Other SEO Advantages
Older sites often have higher page authority, which is another important ranking factor. An SEO webmaster is always on the lookout for older available website with other good metrics related to the niche he is dealing with. Backlinks can be sent from this older site to the physician’s newer site to give it page-ranking “juice.”
Search engines also take into account the number of visitors a site has experienced. Under normal circumstances, an older site would have had more visits over its longer lifespan than a newer site.
How to Discover the Age of a Website
So how can you determine the age of a website? WhoIs, the authorized protocol used to access various databases regarding domain information, is the most reliable source for domain-related information.
When you go to the official Whois.ICANN.org website, you are immediately presented with an input box for the domain name you are investigating. Enter the full domain name and click on the lookup button.
This is some of the information that will be displayed:
- The contact information of the person who is currently in control of the domain name
- The domain name registrar
- The name of the company that’s hosting the website
- The domain age, as determined by its created date
If a domain owner has purchased the privacy option when they registered their domain, less information will be displayed.
Conclusion
A business person should think twice before abandoning a domain name and website to start a new one. If it is related to the business in any way, it can be used to the company’s advantage. SEO experts have proven that the age of a website does matters when it comes to appearing closer to the top of search engine results pages.
In this internet age, ranking a website high using SEO principles is one of the best ways for any business owner, including plastic surgeons, to get their company’s information in front of people who are looking for their type of service.