Aged .com domain or brand new .co.uk for UK site?
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Should i buy a 2 year old .com domain or brand new .co.uk domain for a site i am making for UK (google.co.uk optimisation).
I am struggling to find good aged .co.uk domains, there are loads of nice .com's that are old,
any thoughts?
thanks
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For UK searches, google will recognise that a .co.uk site is probably more relevant than a .com if you were just comparing by that factor alone, but there are many, many factors that are more importance than this which make up a ranking.
Also, it's worth bearing in mind that if you transfer a domain to a new registrant and the site from a content perspective wasn't existent before or the content is changed dramatically in the process (or around the same time) then the domain age will most likely have very little impact. In fact factors such as how long you renew the domain for will probably have more impact. For example if you buy the domain for 4 years it will look less spammy than a 1 year renewal.
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Make this a business decision rather than an SEO decision. Think about which domain is right for your business in the longer term. Consider your brand. These considerations should outweigh any potential gains (minimal) on the SEO front.
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In my experience the age of a domain has absolutely ZERO value. If you have a 10 year old domain vs a brand new domain, if all other factors are equal the domain rankings will be identical.
If an older domain currently has links which are related to your site, that can certainly have value for the domain. If the domain name has a user base who may visit the site and you are prepared to handle that traffic, that can add value as well. The age itself is not a factor.
My advice would be to pick the best domain name you can find irregardless of the age.
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