On X (formerly Twitter), someone wondered if domain age influences search rankings. Google’s John Mueller clarifies:

Tweet: “Does a domain’s age affect Google search rankings?”

SEOs have often observed that older domains tend to rank higher. However, correlations only sometimes provide a solid understanding.

Google’s Opinion about Domain Age

John Mueller from Google tweeted: “Mainly those looking to sell you older domains :-)”

And just to be clear, Mueller had tweeted before: “No, domain age doesn’t provide any benefits.”

What’s the stand of SEO experts?

SEOs have believed that domain age has played a crucial role in rankings for nearly two decades, considering it a significant factor. This belief may have stemmed from a Google patent named “Information retrieval based on historical data.”

However, the interpretation of this patent by SEOs was entirely wrong. The patent’s “Domain-Related Information” section focused on using domain data to spot spam sites, not on awarding higher ranking points based on a domain’s long registration. Identifying spam and granting ranking bonuses for domain age are different.

The patent aims to identify spam by using domain data to catch throwaway domains used by deceptive individuals. These spammers create “doorway” domains to attract traffic before being detected.

The crucial point that SEOs misunderstood is that this information isn’t employed to rank “legitimate” domains. Instead, the registration data is utilized to locate and penalize spam sites.

According to the patent, valuable (legitimate) domains are often prepaid for several years, while illegitimate (doorway) domains typically last less than a year. The statement emphasizes that the expiration date can predict the legitimacy of a domain within the context of identifying spam.

The patent discusses using DNS history information to pinpoint illegitimate domains in the same section. This involves analyzing data over time and identifying known-bad contact information, name servers, and IP addresses for predicting legitimacy.

The patent clarifies that the newness of a name server alone may not be harmful, but when combined with other factors, it could indicate a spam domain.

In essence, John Mueller’s assertion is accurate – domain age is not considered a ranking factor. No patent suggests otherwise; instead, these patents focus on detecting and penalizing spam, highlighting the importance of context in understanding their purpose.

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What’s new in Amazon Prime?

In the U.S., Amazon’s new ad-free tier will set you back an extra $2.99 per month, tacked onto the existing $14.99 monthly Prime subscription or $139 annual fee. International pricing details are still in the pipeline, according to the company.

Taking a cue from Netflix and Disney, Amazon is diving into the ad revenue game, aiming to offset the sluggish growth in subscriber numbers. However, ad-supported plans have differed from the rocket boosters they hoped for. Netflix, for instance, ditched its basic commercial-free plan in the U.S. and U.K. to amp up tier subscriptions, while Disney took the route of hiking prices for its ad-free tiers. The streaming wars are evolving!

A new experience with Prime Video

Amazon isn’t holding back on ads during live events like the NFL’s Thursday Night Football, even if you’re rocking the ad-free plan you paid for, the company clarified.

They promise fewer ads than your typical TV experience and other streaming services. Good news for your wallet: Amazon assures no price hikes for the current Prime membership plan in 2024.

While the e-commerce giant doesn’t spill the beans on exact Prime membership numbers, Insider Intelligence takes a swing, estimating Amazon Prime as the third-biggest video-streaming player in the U.S. with a whopping 157.3 million subscribers, trailing only YouTube and Netflix.

After a couple of lackluster earnings reports, Amazon bounced back in August with better-than-expected sales growth and profit, thanks to a boost in e-commerce and cloud computing—the power duo driving their success.

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The post Amazon Prime will introduce ads on Prime Video in 2024 appeared first on Tricky Enough.

Users Storm at Global OTT Market

The global OTT Video Market has made a real impact. Back in 2018, around 2.4 billion folks were into it. Skip ahead two years, and that number blew past 3 billion. Then, in 2021, it added another 300 million users. Sure, 2022 had a small dip of 82 million users, a rare blip, but things got back on track in 2023.

So, in these five years, more than a billion people joined the online video bandwagon, pushing it from 33.2% to a whopping 45.6% of the world. That’s a lot more people tuning in to watch stuff online!

Big companies like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, and Disney+ have seen a massive surge in subscribers. They’ve been throwing tons of cash at new content to get more people hooked. And guess what? All this competition has made these online videos rake in more money than ever.

What lies in the future?

They’re saying that in 2024 the Global OTT Video Market services will make around $295 billion! That’s three times more than what they made in 2018. And who’s contributing the most to this big pile of cash? The US, China, and the UK are expected to be responsible for about 70%.

The big money-spinner for these online videos is ads. This year alone, ads brought in a crazy $176.6 billion, almost 60% of all the money these videos made. That’s a lot of ads funding our binge-watching sessions!

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The post Global OTT Video Market is Projected to Reach 4.2 Billion Users by 2027 appeared first on Tricky Enough.

The motive of Google with this new ranking system is to deliver users expert, knowledgeable and relevant information. It implies on both Google News and Search, mainly on specialized topics.

What is Topic Authority, and why is it important?

Google noticed users face a common challenge while looking for authoritative content on special topics. For example, if users are looking for special commentary about world economics, they often end up with general information. Originally they should get high-level information from publications or authors who are experts in this area.

Google can leverage this feature to give users more relevant and local results. It helps the local news to get priority and ensure that readers get the right information with complete coverage.

For Instance, if elections are conducted in a user’s area, and they want to know about the campaigns, parties, leaders, etc., then Google will prioritize the local news of the particular region.

Moreover, the importance of “Topic Authority” means the news must be original, relevant to the location, and content from the surface of the situation.

Google cleared in their statement that local publishers will get priority for news events in the regional areas. However, publishers having special expertise will also get the same advantages. 

How Google Topic Authority Works?

It utilizes various paraments to identify the level of the publisher’s expertise in a particular area. Here are the primary parameters:

1. Notability for a location or topic: Google can recognize whether the publication is related to a particular area or topic.
2. Original Reporting: New ranking system analyses how the publisher uses cites for the original reporting.
3. Source Authority: Google can understand the reputation of the sources, recommendations, and reporting.

If you are a publisher and have your thoughts on “Google Topic Authority,” share them with us in the comments section.

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