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[jon patrick Contribution Level: 2]

using traffic travis today and did the 'seo analysis' option - allows you to enter the keyword/phrase it will analyse and bring back the top results.
My Javita page is in position 8 (and I'm constantly frustrated as to WHY!).
Looking it over today, I noticed my page is pretty good, so compared to the top 7:
I have higher PR than all 7
I have more backlinks to my main page than 5 of them.
5 of them have more backlinks to the whole site than me, but many the 'Javita' section is a sub-area (like myname.com/companies/Javita)
Postion 2, 3 and me (8) have the keyword "Javita" in Title, Description and H1 tag.

So, the one BIG thing that jumps out is Age of the Domain. Mine is only a few months old, but 5 of the 7 are 1+ years.
If I'm reading this correctly, I can draw 2 conclusions:
1. Domain age has a much bigger impact than I thought and so it's best to get your domain early and hold on to it.
2. in the short-term at least, adding info on a specific company to an existing domain with many backlinks throughout the site might be more beneficial than a new site with the keyword in the domain name?

Of course, the page in position 7 is confusing.
Keyword isn't in the domain name.
Name is new
PR 1
12 backlinks, 16 for the whole site, and keyword only in title and description.

Thoughts from experts?
JP

[Contempo Marketing Contribution Level: 4]

Domain age is definitely part of the Google algorithm many in the industry have flirted with the idea and theory of the 90 day sandbox or probation of a website imposed by GOOGLE... Given that your site is just a few months old I would imply this is very true.

This is google's way of filtering the "wannabe's" Imagine if their search engine constantly changed with new results simply because a new site popped up... this would make SEO very volatile, and this is not what Google is in business for ... volatile is left for the adwords network... consistent and relevant is what the Search Network is based on.

I advise some clients to purchase aged domains if they want to get cracking ASAP, however there is nothing wrong with earning your stripes and effectively and intelligently implementing seo technique...

I have dominated nearly thousands of terms rather easily simply based on "Google Trust" my domain is over 3 years old ... so yes it goes hand in hand

[jon patrick Contribution Level: 2]

So, that makes sense AND explains the 'sandbox' theory.
In short, ALL OTHER FACTORS BEING EQUAL, Google would trust an established domain that adds a 'subpage' or 'topic' on a subject and rank it higher at least initially than a new domain that is more optimised for a keyword.
Just like you can start a hubpage or squidoo lens on a topic, and eventually slip down the rankings as other pages 'age' into the top positions.

I understand this is dramatically simplifying everything, but when I noticed the ages of my competitors, I was shocked it was THE factor that jumped out. Eye opening.
Thanks,
JP

[Edwin Andres Arenas Taborda Company: Magnetic Sponsoring Contribution Level: 2]

I think you can look at it like this (And I'm just giving a crazy guess)

Google wants the people to trust it as the place to go if you want to search for anything on the web. If people doesn't use the search engine, then there's no opportunity for them to click on the paid ads and down goes the revenue.

For that it needs to give good trustworthy results to its users.

Now, what would be more likely that a two year old or a two week old site is more trustworthy? (given all the spammers and scammers out there trying to rank quickly a site to make a quick buck)

[eimroda oiracam Contribution Level: 1]

We should not get discouraged even if our site is still new and competing against older websites. I have experienced that last year where my competitors was as old as 5 years. Just build links from websites with higher PR and continue creating posts and you will overtake the old sites in the SERP. This would take anyway some more time to dislodge the older sites. But it is still possible.

[Nathan Isaac Company: SendOutCards Contribution Level: 3]

If you wanted to build a website, you can always try and find a generic domain with high PR and a few years old.

You could have something like,

www.RedPanda.com - which could be 4 years old and a PR4

Then you could build a "Brand" around red panda

[harry den Contribution Level: 1]

Thanks alot for sharing such relevant info about the domain name age. It is useful for every one who dont know about all these things. So thanks again and i hope you will share more info in future.

[Pierre Levasseur Contribution Level: 1]

Domain age does not have as much weight as you or most people think.

Keyword in domain does not have as much weight as most people think.

In fact, most factors don't have as much weight as most people think. There are reportedly over 100 ranking factors - some say over 200. Each has their own weight. Focusing on one factor is not what you should be doing to improve your rankings. You have to focus on what is more important, those factors which have the most weight.

[Chris Brown Contribution Level: 3]

Google love aged domain names. This helps you get higher results on search engines.

[jon patrick Contribution Level: 2]

Domain age does not have as much weight as you or most people think.

Keyword in domain does not have as much weight as most people think.

In fact, most factors don't have as much weight as most people think. There are reportedly over 100 ranking factors - some say over 200. Each has their own weight. Focusing on one factor is not what you should be doing to improve your rankings. You have to focus on what is more important, those factors which have the most weight.

Well, do tell what ones we should 'focus' on? If keyword in domain and domain age doesn't have that much weight, and if 100+ factors are considered - what ones do you KNOW are the ones we should focus on?