How to Determine the Age of a Website

There are many ways in which knowing how old a website is would be beneficial to you as someone in the digital marketing industry. This is because, the older the domain is, the more likely it is that there will be an extensive backlog of content on the site and it will also have a solid backlink profile, typically. This is especially important when it comes to determining the quality of the domain and not just its age.

An older website is also likely to have a domain authority established already, which is a metric that indicates how the domain is looked at by search engines. This is done, generally, to compare one website with another, which is great if you’re carrying out competitor research. With those things in mind, let’s talk about how you can find out the age of a website as easily and as efficiently as possible.

Look in the footer of the website

This is perhaps one of the easiest ways of working out how old a website is. Sometimes, the developer will leave an age at the bottom of the site. It will either display an ‘established’ year or it might indicate a spanned timeframe, such as ‘year – year’, with the first year displayed being the year the site went live and the second year being the year it is right now. 

On the other hand, it might only display the current year for copyright reasons and also to show the reader that the site has been updated recently. If this is the case, then there are a few other things you can try to determine the age of a website.

Scroll through the blog or news page to find the earliest entry

This isn’t necessarily the most accurate way of determining the age of a website, but it’s definitely a good start. This is because, sometimes, a website isn’t always built with a blog or news page. Blog and news pages can be added after the fact, which is why it’s not usually the best way to work out an accurate date on which the site was published. 

If you’re not looking for accuracy and would rather have a round-about idea of a website’s age, then this is the best way to do it. If you need to know the age exactly, then try the following two  methods.

Make contact with the site administrator

This is a great way of receiving an accurate date of publication, but it might take some time. You might have to contact a fair few people before you get to speak to the person you need to, so factor this time into your research. While it’s not the most time-efficient method for determining the age of a website or a domain, it’s most certainly one of the most accurate ways. 

This is because the information is coming straight from the person who published it in the first place and not through word of mouth or guessing using the blog or news page. If you’re looking for perfectly accurate data, and have the time to acquire it, then consider making contact with the site administrator. 

Use the online resources that are available

There are most straightforward ways of accurately determining the age of a domain or a website. Most of those methods are available, for free, online in the form of an easy-to-use tool. There is a site called the ‘Wayback Machine’. This is an internet archive that allows the user to see a website through the ages, from when it first went live to present day. 

There are usually some points that lie in between the publishing date and the present date, so you’ll also have the opportunity to see how the website has changed, if at all, over the years. In addition to helping the user determine the age of a website, the ‘Wayback Machine’ is used for a variety of other things, including:

• Retrieving historic information, including page content 
• Saving a website page on demand, regardless of its age
• Determining the layout of a website page across the years 
• Identifying areas that need to be updated as you’ll be able to see what’s changed on the website and what hasn’t

Kumo is an innovative, forward-thinking digital marketing agency with over two decades of experience in the industry. We have SEO specialists, PPC professionals, dedicated website developers and designers and meticulous content writers at the helm of everything we do, ensuring your business stands out from the crowd. No matter what you need to propel your website into the spotlight, you’ll be able to count on our knowledgeable team for exceptional marketing services. If you would like further information about how we can help you today, get in touch with a member of our friendly, expert team today – we’re based in Nottingham but are proud to serve clients throughout the UK.