A Domain, the unique name that identifies a web site, comes up for renewal at regular intervals, commonly every year or ten years. Recent findings suggest that the world’s largest Search Engine, Google, rate the legitimacy of websites on a number of factors – including the time before the Domain expires. This information came to light by way of a patent awarded to Google in April, which states;
“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 which a domain expires in the future can be used as a factor in predicting the legitimacy of a domain.”
Although this may seem like a generalisation it is likely that Google conducted some research into the commonalities of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ websites and found that bad websites are more likely to operate on a 1-year registration. ‘Good’ sites on the other hand were more likely to make a long-term commitment to their business and their Domain name. They recognise the value of their website name and want to safeguard it.
In order to give your website the best chance of success in the major Search Engines we suggest you register your Domain name for periods of time longer than a year. Although there are opportunities to purchase Domain Names for upto 100 years this shouldn’t be necessary – commonly a 10 year registration would be adequate.
This is only one of a significant number of tactics which can be used to improve your Search Engine ranking. Arkom run a monthly half-day course – Search Engines Uncovered – which demystifies the strategies for Optimising your site in order for it to perform well in Search Engines.
If you want any more information on this call us on 0114 282 3444 or click here to contact us.