Did I get lucky with a 25-year-old domain?

I’m working on a project using keyword.agency mainly for content marketing. While working on it, I realized keyword[dot]net was available, so I registered it. When I checked the Wayback Machine, I saw the domain dates back to 2000.

For the last 25 years, it was just parked or redirecting to a big news site from 1995. It only became available for registration last week. It has less than 10 backlinks. Of course, I’ll use this domain instead of keyword[dot]agency, but I’m curious if having an older domain like this gives any noticeable SEO boost?

Older domains can help, but mostly when they’ve built up good niche backlinks. Age alone isn’t that useful if the domain hasn’t hosted much meaningful content.

Trevor said:
Older domains can help, but mostly when they’ve built up good niche backlinks. Age alone isn’t that useful if the domain hasn’t hosted much meaningful content.

It’s like a bottle of wine aged 25 years but with no real ingredients in it. It’s just water at this point.

@Miltan
Guess I need a miracle. Maybe I should add a cross to the footer or something?

@Miltan
I like that analogy. The bottle might look old and fancy, but there’s nothing valuable inside.

Since it was parked and has under 10 backlinks, it probably won’t help much for SEO. Domain age doesn’t count if there wasn’t active use.

It redirects to keyword.com, so it’s a different site. I once got an old domain with some traffic and SEO history, but starting from scratch was still unavoidable. Don’t expect too much.

@letstalkaboutit
Maybe the original poster owns keyword[dot]com and set up a redirect?

Edit: Just realized they mentioned ‘keyword’ is just an example.

@letstalkaboutit
I updated the post to clarify that it was just an example, not meant to link anywhere.

Domain age by itself doesn’t matter. Once you buy it, it’s a clean slate. Historical DNS is easy to find, but it doesn’t add value unless there’s a solid history.

From my experience with a 20-year-old domain that had decent content but lacked strong backlinks, it doesn’t do much for SEO or domain authority.

Old domains can help if you’re doing a site migration.

Age might slightly affect rankings, but the domain extension doesn’t matter for SEO.

If it was that easy to grab, there’s probably little to no benefit.

Aged domains with little activity don’t have much value. Check backlinks using multiple tools since no database is perfect.

The only thing I’ve noticed with old domains is that new sites built on them tend to get indexed faster by Google.

I experimented with one and got it ranking for key terms in two months. Normally, it would’ve taken longer with a fresh domain.

So if quick indexing is what you want, go for it. Don’t worry too much about the domain’s past.

Just a thought—keyword[dot]net doesn’t say much, but keyword[dot]agency feels more descriptive. You might want to rethink the name altogether if visibility is your goal.

As for the SEO boost? I wouldn’t count on it.

@WriteWandererWes
I’m not redirecting it yet. Since ‘keyword’ isn’t super competitive, I’m considering using the new domain for a more niche-focused site. Having both could give me a slight edge.

Curry said:
@WriteWandererWes
I’m not redirecting it yet. Since ‘keyword’ isn’t super competitive, I’m considering using the new domain for a more niche-focused site. Having both could give me a slight edge.

If it has decent backlinks, it might be worth using in a private blog network.