Does domain age affect Google search rankings? SEOs have long believed that older domain names tend to rank higher, but Google’s John Mueller has clarified that domain age does not help rankings.
The belief that domain age matters likely stems from a misreading of a Google patent about using historical domain data to identify spam sites, not to give higher rankings to older sites. The patent discusses using factors like domain expiration dates to catch “throwaway” domains used by spammers, not to promote sites with older domains.
Microsoft has a similar patent about using backlinks’ domain ages to identify web farms used for spamming not rewarding site longevity.
Despite the long-held SEO belief, John Mueller definitively states “No, domain age helps nothing” when it comes to rankings. There are no Google patents suggesting domain age is used as a ranking factor. It is not helpful for rankings despite the correlation seen by some SEOs.