The new website creators are always talking about beating the old, already established websites. But Matt Cutts in the latest video is giving advice on how to protect a 14 years old site.
Here’s the question asked: “I have been in business for over 14 years with my domain, and see much newer domains passing me. Any algorithms to protect older domains/sites in business from newer sites with more spam”?
Cutts said that Google is always trying to prevent spam from ranking and preferred talking about older domains versus newer domains. He suggested the site owner to take a fresh look at the website. There are instances when websites that have been into business for 14-15 years haven’t updated their templates, page layout or anything all years, which make the site look stale & some sort of an old website.
So, if you do run an old, very well established site; newer sites, more agile sites or sites with a better user experience can grow and take over, if you do not continue to adapt & evolve with time. Matt Cutts said that just because you are a well established domain that has been around for a long time, you will automatically keep ranking. Google has seen a plenty of newer domains and businesses bypass older domains.
The only advice Cutts gave to older site owners is to take a fresh look at the layout and find out if they are still providing the best user experience. If something is not as fresh as some experience you get from a new website that has a fantastic design & eventually people might prefer that user experience and end up migrating, leaving you behind.