There are things in this world, that are just, well, wrong. For example, this picture of a crisis help line, which happens to be “Out of Order.” Nice. Do you know what else really bugs me? “SEO Tips” which are actually bad information. One of the biggest SEO myths that I have been debunking for years is the famous:
“Google knows how long your domain is registered for and they will give you more trust and “SEO Love” if you register the domain for 5 or more years. You see, Spam sites only register for one year, so this shows Google you aren’t a spam site and are in the business for the long haul.”
Oh please. Let’s say that a domain runs $10.00 a year to make the math easy. For five years, that would be $50.00. And if we break it down to “cost per month” it’s around $3.00. And it gets worse when you break it down to “cost per day” which is just above three cents. THREE CENTS a day. Yeah, Google is going to give your domain a bump because you are spending three cents a day. Nothing says “I am not a Spammy site” like spending three cents a day.
Can you see how ridiculous this argument is?
Even though I have shown countless testing results showing this was just a myth, people kept buying into it. Finally, yesterday Google actually commented on it. Here is the summary of what John Mu who works for Google said:
Not every TLD publishes their expiration dates, but even if they did, why would the expiration date be the determining factor when comparing two similar sites? A year, the minimum time to register a domain name, is pretty long in internet time.
How do these rumors get started? Usually someone who owns, or has an affiliate agreement with a Domain Registration company and their hopes are when people register, they will do so for more years, thus, increasing their immediate cash flow. Always check out “tips” you are given and ensure they have been tested. Just because it “makes sense” in your head, doesn’t mean it is reality.
Brandon Douglas says
I will know exactly what to tell my hosting company the next time I’m on the phone with them and they try hitting me up for extra years on my domain using this myth.
Thanks for some concrete evidence!
Lance says
Thank-you Jerry, that one always had a funny smell to it for me but I could never be sure.
cheapdomain says
thank you for the information. i know that register domain for 2-3 years are ranking good with google, no need to register domain for lot’s of years.
Jerry West says
No. Even a 2-3 year registration will NOT give you any type of “added” bonus in the Google SERPs.