Does Server Age Matter for a website When Ranking in Google?

[pradeep89]

Does server Age Really Matter? for a website when ranking in google? and what we can get fast ranking using old server space?

[tstolber]

Server age doesn't matter - domain age does.

You can't magically get ranked just because you are on an "old server space" you have to establish authority and trust and that takes time. The longer you have good valid links to your site, and the longer your site is in a trusted position, the better you will rank.

[realityhack]

No, Possibly, No
Basically NO

Google *Might* take domain and server age into account along with hundreds of other indicators. Just changing those will have almost no impact.
If you had a spam site it might be one of the many factors google takes into account to determine that.

[pradeep89]

thnx for your great information.

[fathom]

Server age doesn't matter - domain age does.

Even domain age does not matter based solely on the age.

Older domains tend to have longer exposure and promotional time to build a link profile than newer domains... but remove all the links from the equation and they will equally rank poorly. You seem to suggest a 15-year old domain does not need any links to beat a 1-year old domain.

[giggity]

Even domain age does not matter based solely on the age.

Older domains tend to have longer exposure and promotional time to build a link profile than newer domains... but remove all the links from the equation and they will equally rank poorly. You seem to suggest a 15-year old domain does not need any links to beat a 1-year old domain.

What about age of links? Do they get stronger the longer you have them <- I've heard this a lot! Don't buy it myself.

[tstolber]

You seem to suggest a 15-year old domain does not need any links to beat a 1-year old domain

Do I? I don't know how, but I didn't mean to suggest that.

All things being equal an older domain would win over a newer domain. (A brand new domain - a fly by night domain wouldn't beat a 15 year old domain if everything else was equal)

Older domains tend to have longer exposure and promotional time to build a link profile than newer domains

Absolutely

[fathom]

All things being equal

That never happens.

All other things can never be equal.

A brand new domain - a fly by night domain wouldn't beat a 15 year old domain if everything else was equal

Facebook is 9 years old,

Youtube is 8

Twiter is 7,

Pinterest is 4...

Seriously age is immaterial to this discussion.

[KernelPanic]

I just got a new client with a domain that was registered in 1998. They have zero links and zero ranks. If they got 1 good link in 1999 and held it all that time would they be ranking over a newer authority rich domain? I don't think so... I dunno, I only knows whut I sees.

[realityhack]

That never happens.
All other things can never be equal.

But that IS what we talk about when we ask if something has ANY effect under X circumstances.

Seriously age is immaterial to this discussion.

IIRC Age IS the discussion (OP)

[giggity]

Just dropping this in here: How does Google determine domain age, and is it important for ranking? - YouTube

[fathom]

Just dropping this in here: How does Google determine domain age, and is it important for ranking? - YouTube

Doesn't really answer the question though.

What does Matt mean by... "you don't really need to worry about that"...

1. We don't use it.
2. We use it, absolutely! But we don't want to hint at that because we fear you will manipulate it.
3. "Get outta here"... "Just make a great website - that's all you need to do because IT ALL FREE!"

[giggity]

Doesn't really answer the question though.

What does Matt mean by... "you don't really need to worry about that"...

1. We don't use it.
2. We use it, absolutely! But we don't want to hint at that because we fear you will manipulate it.
3. "Get outta here"... "Just make a great website - that's all you need to do because IT ALL FREE!"

I took from it that Google judges a site's age on the links that are pointing at it and not the WhoIs data.

Therefore it has to do with the links and not the domain's age.

But no, there's not much to takeaway on what Google actually does with that data!!

[fathom]

But that IS what we talk about when we ask if something has ANY effect under X circumstances.


IIRC Age IS the discussion (OP)

A while back Rand Fishkin reported some testing about age of links and made a strong case that older established links had no more impact due to their age of establishment.

I bit the bullet and pulled 400 solid links from a domain that had been there for more than 6 years and moved them from where they were to completely new locations. Thus simulating old links vs. new links ordered ranks comparison.

In a matter of weeks ranks plummeted (as lost links were de-credited) but slowly over 4 months ranks recovered to exactly where they were prior to the link removals (as the new link credits were crawled/discovered).

What would your guess be "of age difference" if it was indeed an important factor?

6 years X 400 X [PR4, PR5, PR6 page links] = 2400 value points vs. 400 X [the same PR4, PR5, PR6 page links] value points? No difference in real world results anyway.

That was but one test and possibly a fluke... of course Rand's original and completely independent findings makes for a strong case (2 independent studies) ... age is almost certainly immaterial.

[realityhack]

Fathom,

1. How did we go from server age (OP) which almost certainly makes no difference, to link age?

2. In your test did it actually take Googlebot 4 months to crawl the links? or is it possible that it didn't give your site full credit for a little while, maybe because it saw a big block of new links or whatever?

Anyway we all know that age is far from the most important factor in ranking. In fact it is so low as to be something you can ignore.
I would argue however that it is unlikely that Google would not use an easily obtainable signal in some way. It may have zero effect unless X, Y, and Z are also true, but then become a bigger factor. That tends to be how complex algorithms work. So for any normal site it doesn't matter, but it helps determine spam, or flash in the pan type sites.
Who knows.