Just 0.7% of the online stores that rank on Google's first page for product searches have a domain registered less than two years ago. The average ranking store's domain is 19.6 years old, and more than half were registered 20 or more years ago.
Analysis of 2,499 online store domains ranking for 3,995 product searches · Google search results and domain registration records, September 2026
Key Findings
- 1.0.7% of online stores ranking on Google page one for product searches have a domain under 2 years old, and 4.4% have one under 5 years old.
- 2.The average online store ranking on Google page one for product searches has a 19.6-year-old domain; the median is 20.9 years.
- 3.52% of online stores ranking on Google page one for product searches registered their domain 20 or more years ago.
- 4.Websites in the top quarter by number of linking websites have a median domain age of 27.9 years, against 10.9 years for the bottom quarter.
- 5.The median domain holding Google's #1 result for a product search is 25.8 years old, against 26 years at positions 7 to 10.
Summary
A founder launches an online store with a new domain, good products and a clean website, and waits for Google traffic. When they search for their main product, page one is filled with stores that have been online since the early 2000s or longer. Their store is nowhere near it.
For anyone starting, buying or renaming an online store, that is the reality to plan around. Broad product searches are held by long-established websites, so a new store needs a plan that does not depend on beating them in its first years, and an existing store should protect the history it already has.
Just 0.7% of the online stores on Google page one for product searches have a domain under two years old, and 4.4% under five years. The average ranking store's domain is 19.6 years old, and 52% were registered at least 20 years ago.
What we measured
On September 23, 2026 we recorded the top 10 organic Google results (desktop, US) for 3,995 product searches and looked up the registration date of every domain that ranked. 3,496 page-one domains of all types had a registration date. Of those, 2,499 are online stores: websites that sell products, leaving out publishers, social and reference sites and the largest national retailers and marketplaces, such as Amazon, Walmart, Target and eBay.
Domain age is the time from a domain's first registration to September 23, 2026, so it measures how long the address has existed, not how long the current store has run on it. The median is the middle store: half are older, half younger. Linking websites, or referring domains, are the number of different websites that link to a domain, a signal Google uses to judge authority. Page one means the ten regular results, not ads or shopping boxes.
Almost no new stores reach page one
Fewer than one in a hundred ranking stores has a domain under two years old, and fewer than one in twenty, 4.4%, has one under five. The average ranking store domain is 19.6 years old and the median 20.9. Counting each store once for every page-one listing it holds, the average rises to 22.3 years: the stores that rank most often are older still.
Source: Suff Digital analysis of 2,499 online store domains ranking for 3,995 product searches · Google search results and domain registration records, September 2026
Half of ranking stores are over 20 years old
52% of ranking online stores registered their domain 20 or more years ago: 39% are 20 to 30 years old and 13% are over 30. A domain that old has had two decades to collect links, customer searches for its name and pages that Google already trusts.
The pattern differs by category. Across all page-one domains, pet searches have the youngest, with a median age of 18.2 years, and office searches the oldest at 29.7 years. Pet and kids searches leave the most room for younger websites.
Source: Suff Digital analysis of 2,499 online store domains ranking for 3,995 product searches · Google search results and domain registration records, September 2026
Older domains have more links
Age alone does not win rankings; what an old domain has built does. Among all 3,496 page-one domains, those in the top quarter by number of linking websites have a median age of 27.9 years, against 10.9 years for those in the bottom quarter. Each step up in links comes with an older domain.
Source: Suff Digital analysis of 2,499 online store domains ranking for 3,995 product searches · Google search results and domain registration records, September 2026
Position on the page barely changes with age
Once a domain is on page one, age makes little difference to where it sits. The median domain at #1 is 25.8 years old, at #2 to #3 it is 23.1 years, and at #7 to #10 it is 26 years. Old domains fill the whole page, from top to bottom.
Young stores can still reach the top. The domain playpetbrands.com, 1.7 years old, holds a #1 result, as do board.fun at 2.1 years and coody.us at 1.9. The youngest domain with a #1 result, meowpy.com, is 1.1 years old. Each wins a specific product search with a focused page.
What this means for new and growing online stores
If your store is new, do not plan on ranking for broad product searches in your first years. Target specific, lower-competition searches, such as a product type plus a feature, size or use, where a focused page can win, and build links from suppliers, press and partners from the start. Use channels that do not depend on domain history, such as paid search and email, while the domain matures.
If you are buying, merging or renaming a store, keep the existing domain wherever you can. Its age comes with the links and trust built over years, and moving to a new domain puts them at risk if any redirects are missed. If a move is unavoidable, map every old URL to its new one before launch. Working with a team that offers seo migration services keeps a store's search history intact through the move.
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<p style="font:14px/1.5 system-ui,sans-serif">Source: <a href="https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/ranking-store-domain-age">Only 0.7% of Online Stores on Google Page One Have a Domain Under 2 Years Old - Suff Digital</a></p>
Cite this study
Suff Digital. (2026). Only 0.7% of Online Stores on Google Page One Have a Domain Under 2 Years Old. https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/ranking-store-domain-age
Only 0.7% of Online Stores on Google Page One Have a Domain Under 2 Years Old - Suff Digital - https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/ranking-store-domain-age
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