Does the Length of a Domain Registration Affect
Your Rank?
Does the length of your website's
domain name registration affect the search results at Google? This
question has come up recently and a lot of website owners have been wondering
about it, especially since it was mentioned in a patent awarded to Google
in April. According to the patent, "Certain signals may be used to distinguish
between illegitimate and legitimate domains. For example, domains can be
renewed up to a period of 10 years. Valuable (legitimate) domains are often
paid for several years in advance, while doorway (illegitimate) domains
rarely are used for more than a year. Therefore, the date when a domain
expires in the future can be used as a factor in predicting the legitimacy
of a domain and, thus, the documents associated therewith." According to
this statement in the patent, domains that expire in 10 years are more
valuable and legitimate than domains that will expire in less than a year.
Google, in general, is always looking for
ways to weed out the bad (spammers) from the good (legitimate) websites.
I suspect that they looked for a pattern among the good, legitimate websites
and found that most good, legitimate websites have a commitment towards
their business and their domain name-they register it for a long period
of time. In other words, the theory behind all of this is that if you register
a domain name for several years it shows Google that you're committed to
that domain name. If you register a domain name for 1 year then you're
not as committed to that domain name. A lot of spammers use "throw away"
domain names and register them for only a year. So, Google uses the length
of time that a domain is registered to determine whether the owner of that
domain name is committed to it or not.
One domain name owner I talked to recently
told me that renewing his domain names once each year was a part of his
business plan. He made a certain amount of money each year from each domain
name/website, and he didn't want to cut into the profits of each site by
renewing each domain name all at once for several years. "Renewing a domain
name for 10 years or even 2 years ahead of time means that I have to spend
more money. If I have to come up with $50 or $100 more per year for the
domain renewal fees it cuts into my profits", says John, who wished to
remain anonymous. John's website is probably exactly the type of website
that Google wishes to identify. Google is looking to identify quality,
well-established websites whose owners are committed to their domain names.
According to the statements made in Google's patent, Google thinks that
websites that have been renewed for a long period of time meet that standard.
Should you renew your domain name for a
long period of time? And if so, how long is long enough? If you want to
stay ahead of your competition, then you might consider looking at the
length of time your competitors have registered their domain names. If
your competitors have generally renewed their domain names for one or two
years, you might consider registering your domain name for 5 or 10 years.
While putting off your domain name's expiration date might help your search
engine rankings, keep in mind that this may be only a small boost (or a
"tie-breaker" among two websites) when it comes to the actual search engine
rankings. And, be aware that just because Google has a patent on the idea
it doesn't mean that they're actually using that criteria now to rank websites.
They, too, want to stay ahead of their competition (mainly Yahoo! and MSN).
I've registered the domains that I really
care about for at least 10 years. Initially, I registered these domains
for a long period of time because I didn't want to lose them-and I didn't
want to go through the somewhat-lengthy annual process of renewing them
every year. Since most domain names I own come up for renewal at different
times during the year, it seemed as though I was renewing a domain name
at least once a month-and renewing them for a few years put it off for
a while.
Expired domain name buyers are prevalent
nowadays. If your domain name expires, there's a good chance that someone
watching will register your domain name within seconds after it expires.
If, for whatever reason, you don't renew your domain name, someone watching
a 'watch list' of expiring domain names will try to capitalize on the online
business that you've built over the years. They know that there is potential
website traffic they can have simply by renewing your old domain name.
By renewing your domain name for several years, your domain name won't
expire for a while, and it won't be opened up to expired domain name buyers.
If you really want to stay ahead of the
competition, you might consider registering or renewing your domain name
for 100 years. Currently, Network Solutions (www.netsol.com) is the only
registrar offering the 100 year option, which costs $999.00. GoDaddy (www.godaddy.com),
currently offers to renew or register a domain name for 10 years, at a
discount of $6.95 per year. Dotster (www.dotster.com), another leading
registrar, offers domain name registration and renewals for up to 10 years
at a cost of $129.95.
What's the bottom line? If you're committed
to your online business, your website, and your domain name, then renewing
your domain name for a long period of time will not only stop expired domain
buyers from registering your domain name when it expires, it will show
Google that you're committed to it-and that may give you a boost in the
search engine rankings, as well.
About the author: Bill Hartzer
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