DIY SEO: Domain Age and Registration Length

OK, this is going to be a very short post. But there are two things that a lot of small business people don’t associate with search engine optimization. The date of registration plays a role in determining how old your domain is. Domains that have been around for a long time are given more emphasis than those that were just registered yesterday. This makes sense because the older the domain is, the less likely it is someone trying to get a quick ranking. So if you have been hanging on to some domains but haven’t done anything with them, they could actually be used to strategically support your online presence (something that we really enjoy doing at Yardstick).

The other factor that plays in your search engine optimization is the length of the registration period. If you have your small business website domain set to renew on an annual basis, you might want to consider renewing it for three years at a time. Google may or may not put more emphasis on domains that are registered for multiple years (see the comments below provided by Philip Renich). But is does signals that the domain owner is committed to the domain and is not looking to get a quick hit and then discard it. And unlike domain age which you just have to live with, you can actually change the registration period for a nominal cost of a few bucks a year.