methodology / Trust & Reputation / #17
Domain age (RDAP / WHOIS)
#17 · Recommended · Web Quality · weighted · Trust & Reputation · weight 2% · impl implemented · method v1.2.0
Web Quality factor
This factor is part of Web Quality — the weighted 0..100 score that sits above Web Standards. Its weight depends on what kind of site is being measured. Web Standards items take priority; this factor only enters the score once Web Standards passes.
- Base weight
- 0.3 applied to every site type unless overridden below
- Why this weight
- Domain age is a weak signal at best — penalises legitimate rebrands. Held low intentionally.
Per-site-type overrides
| Site type | Weight | Δ vs base |
|---|---|---|
| E-commerce | 0.5 | +0.2 |
| News / Publisher | 0.4 | +0.1 |
Site types not listed inherit the base weight.
What this means for your business
First-time visitors and fraud-detection systems both treat brand-new domains as suspicious by default. A domain registered yesterday tells the same story to humans and to spam filters.
Plain title: How long your domain has existed
What we measure
Older domains earn more trust from Google and visitors. A 15-year-old domain is treated very differently than a 6-month-old one.
How to improve your score
This is just a function of time. Don't let the registration lapse.
Facts
Scoring
Scoring formulas are versioned with the methodology. The current method (v1.2.0) maps raw measurements to pass, warn, fail. Factor weights determine how much each contributes to the composite — see the methodology index for the full table.
Version history
| Version | Change | Date |
|---|---|---|
| v1.2.0 | Factor introduced. Status: live. Scoring impl: implemented. | 2026-04-25 |