Best Way to Check Domain Age: How Old is a Website Really?

Last Updated: December 10, 2024

Knowing how to check domain age is one of the many tasks that domain owners should learn. The age of a domain will give its owner or its potential buyer a glimpse into the size of its backlink profile, its search engine optimization (SEO) potential, and its traffic stats. 

This article will cover everything people need to know about the domain registration date, why it matters, and how to check the domain age of any website. 

What is Domain Age?

Domain age is the amount of time a domain name has existed on the Internet or, simply, how old a domain name is. For example, if a domain was registered in 2014, it would be 10 years old in 2024. 

A domain age checker online tool provides everything you need to help you understand the exact time the domain name was created. But first, why check this information?

Why Check the Age of a Domain Name?

Domain Age

Understanding the date when the domain was first created is just one of the many factors that determine how high or low a website is ranked on search engine results. Older domains tend to get more favorable rankings because of their perceived credibility. 

There are many other important factors as to why a person would want to find out this information, be it one they own or a competitor owns. Knowing this information will give them an idea of the following website characteristics. 

Size of its backlink profile

An aged domain is more likely to have an established backlink profile because it has had a long time to accumulate many quality backlinks. Its past owner might have invested in SEO efforts to increase the website’s ranking on search, which is good news for its future owner. 

How well it ranks

As mentioned previously, how old a domain is will be a factor in its search engine ranking. A long-existing domain is expected to do well with search engines. SEOs spend a lot of time and money on making sure a website ranks high, so having an older domain can increase their chances of success.

The domain’s traffic size

An established domain will typically already have consistent organic traffic. Consistent content posting also affects a site’s traffic numbers, but long-existing names will perform better. 

The domain name’s reputation

For a brand beginning with a new domain means starting from scratch to build trust and authority along with a positive reputation within their market. Finding an aged domain with an already established positive reputation will eliminate this extra work so the owner can focus on other important things.

Possible shady history

Unfortunately, not all long-existing domain names are a good catch. There is still a chance they will come with a bad reputation. Domains that have existed for a long time might have been used for black hat SEO techniques like publishing keyword-stuffed content. Using one with a shady history will spell trouble for a business or a brand.

How Do You Check the Age of a Domain Name?

It’s shockingly easy to check the particular domain age of a website. Several free domain tools can check the age of any domain name–well, for most domains, at least. Some popular ones can’t be checked for various technical reasons.

How to Use Domain Age Checkers

Most domain age tools are straightforward to use. Users simply have to put the domain name into the tool’s search bar and hit enter to get the results. 

Here are some examples that are worth checking out. 

Domain Age Checker by SmallSEOTools

SmallSEOTools has a free tool to determine the age of the domain age of up to 10 domain names at a time. The tool can also display the exact date (day, month, and year) on which a domain was created. Other tools usually only display the domain age in years. 

To use the tool, users must type in the existing domain beginning with http:// on the text box provided in the SmallSEOTools website.

The SmallSEOTools Domain Age Checker can also retrieve the following domain information, making it an excellent analyzer tool.

  • Last updated date 
  • Domain expiration date
  • IP address
  • A domain’s name servers
  • Wayback Machine link (to see the history of the domain name)
  • Registrar of the domain
  • Was it on any blacklist

Dupli Checker Domain Age Checker

The Dupli Checker Domain Age Checker works in a similar way to SmallSEOTools’ age checker. Without needing to register with the site, a user just needs to put the URL of the domain or domains they want to know the age of.

In a matter of seconds, the tool will retrieve the results and display the information like:

  • Date the domain was created
  • Expiration date
  • Last updated date
  • IP address

WhatsMyDNS Domain Name Age Checker

The WhatsMyDNS Domain Name Age Checker provides little information but is still a helpful tool. It shows the exact date the domain was first registered and calculates the number of years, months, and days a website has existed. It only allows for one domain search at a time.

Domain Age for SEO & Google Ranking?

Domain Age for SEO & Google Ranking

There are still debates about how the age of a website or domain affects its ability to gain some search engine advantages. However, most SEOs agree that age matters, along with keyword density and backlinks, when it comes to indexing on Google.

Here are other known facts about how Google may index a website based on age.

  • A website may go unnoticed by Google for months after first being discovered.
  • There is a small difference between the website ages of six months and 12 months in terms of ranking.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) About Domain Age

Before ending, let’s answer some frequently asked questions about domain age and how domain age checking works. 

How Long Ago Was a Domain Name Registered?

 In simple terms, to lookup how long a domain has been around, use any of the free domain age checker tools available on the Internet. Try out the ones mentioned in this article, like the ones from WhatsMyDNS, SmallSEOTools, and Dupli Checker.

Which Domain Names Can Have Their Age Checked?

Unfortunately, there are domain names whose registered date you cannot access using age checker tools. Some of these websites are the following.

  • amazon.com
  • google.com
  • youtube.com
  • wikipedia.org
  • apple.com

What is the Oldest Domain Name?

The oldest domain name on the Internet is symbolics.com, which was registered on March 15, 1985. The domain has existed for almost four decades and is older than more popular names like Google. 

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