Factors to position a domain: SEO

Many times in the Marketing Agency we have been asked about topics related to the positioning of a domain in Google. Some of the questions have been:

Is a domain better .en or a .com for a website in Spain?
If the domain carries the keyword, is it better for positioning?
My domain is 10 years old, will that help me to rank better?
If I change hosting provider or server, will it affect the positioning of my website?

As you can see, these are very common questions when it comes to choose a domain. Let's see if we can resolve all these doubts.

Positive domain ranking factors

#1 - Exact Match Domain

Exact match domains, or EMDs as they are known, are used to classify very easily.

In case you don't know what it is an EMD domainI will explain it to you with this visual example:

However, Google cracked down on this with the EMD update .

You still get a small amount of benefit from an exact match domain. But you now have an extra layer of quality ( patent ) to please your website...

So, thanks to the EMD update, it's all better now.

#2 - Domain Keywords

A domain containing a keyword does not help you to obtain a higher ranking that a .

Although having a keyword in the domain can help searchers better understand what a web page is about, which encourages more clicks from relevant people.

#3 - Domain history

Domain history also has an impact on the performance of a website.

If the domain has had problems with Google in the past through spam links or bad it will be more difficult to classify it .

#4 - Domain age

John Mueller has confirmed via Twitter that there is no difference between an old and a new domain, and that

No will affect its classification in Google search results.

But older domains tend to have more backlinks (links), which YES has an impact.

#5 - Domain registration date

In a patent application, Google said:

The date on which a domain under which a document is registered is registered can be used as an indication of the start date of the document.

#6 - Domain renewal date

In the same patent they also said:

Certain signals can be used to distinguish between illegitimate and legitimate domains. Valuable (legitimate) domains are often paid for several years in advance. while inbound (illegitimate) domains are rarely used for more than one year. Therefore, the date on which a domain will expire in the future can be used as a factor in predicting legitimacy of a domain and, therefore, of the documents associated with it.

#7 - Country TLD extension

Having a cTLD as a domain .en assistance with the indication of geographical orientation.

But at the same time, this does not mean that they are inherently easier to classify in their country of destination.

You could position a .com in the Spanish Google just as easily.

- Negative domain ranking factors

#1 - Private Whois data

Having private Whois data alone is not a problem.

Matt Cutt originally suggested that private Whois data can be combined with other factors such as a negative signal.

But John Mueller recently clarified that it is OK to use it, especially in Europe. Private whois data is certainly used to identify patterns in blog networks, so pay attention to this!

#2 - Whois owner penalised

I can't find any official Google reference for this...

But there are a couple of examples where it appears that the owner is penalised of Whois.

Admittedly, the examples I have seen were extreme examples of abuse by 2 known SEOs and Google removed all web properties, whether they were abused or not.

However, this is far from being officially confirmed.

#3 - Country TLD extension

Where the cTLD will count as a negative signal is if you have an English domain but are trying to rank it in the Russian market. But the domain extension alone is not enough.

If you place Russian content on an English domain, it will be ranked in Russia.

#4 - Domain parked

If you have a parked domain, Google will actively remove it from its index after the update of parked domains.

#5 - Same URL parameters and same shared hosting

Two domains that are on shared hosting and have the same URL parameters, Google will assume they are the same. Make sure you have different URL parameters to avoid this.

#6 - Change hosting provider

The reasons for changing hosting provider may outweigh this negative factor.

But However, you should be aware that when you switch providers, Google will reduce temporarily your tracking frequency.

This is because it cannot yet determine what load the server can handle.

#7 - 503 Misuse of the State

If it maintains a state 503 for a few days, Google may think that the website will not work again. They will also reduce the crawl rate.

Tracking will then stop in full if a robots.txt file request is returned 503.

#8 - Google Test Zone

Newly launched websites on new domains may experience a temporary rating suppression known as a “Google Sandbox effect“ .

The Google Sandbox is a temporary filter that Google places on new web pages for a period of time. the first 3 to 6 months or more.

Regardless of the SEOThe website will not rank well for keywords during this time.

While Google has never formally confirmed the Google test environment, many SEO have conducted independent tests and found evidence to support this.