Search Engines and Domain Name Registration
How important is a domain name? Domain names are very important. Your domain name is your address on the Internet. And, like your street address or fire number your .com address can be a valuable piece of property. In November of last year I heard about poker.com reportedly selling for around $27 million. Your domain name might not be that valuable on the auction block but to you and your business it is very important.
OnYourMark, LLC recommends domain name registration for ten years, or domain name renewals as close to ten years as possible for many reasons.
The longer your domain name is registered for enhances your search engine results. Google and the other search engines look at domain name registration length to determine if your web site is legitimate. It appears that spam content websites tend to register their domain name for a year or two. A longer registration time tells the search engines you intend to keep your web presence on the Internet, that you have invested in your site’s future. See our October 2007 PromoSupport for more information on this.
You save money. Domain names are often cheaper per year the more years you register at a time. And just like a lot of commodities domain name prices are not likely to go down.
Avoid the scam emails and US mail spams for domain name renewals. Read OnYourMark.com March 14, 2008 Client Alert on Domain Name Registration and Keyword Spam.
Here are some additional resources for information about domain names.
http://www.seomoz.org/article/google-historical-data-patent
http://www.news.com/2100-1024-986204.html