New or Old Domains
 

I'm currently torn between using old domains I've had stored up that are indexed with a few minor things here and there OR buying some new domains to try and get going. Which is the better strategy? Does domain age and indexing carry that much weight? What's the difference between using an '07 reg'd domain indexed versus '11 off free open market?

Aged domains do have an seo advantage, the debate however is now on how old is an "old" domain. While some will tell you 1 to 3 years is the same as 5 years, others insist that a domain must be over 5+ years to be considered "aged".

So then the question becomes, is a bad domain that is well aged, better than a new domain with better keywords?

Every so called "seo expert" you ask will tell you something different.

I say when it comes down to it, always use common sense, especially considering that we've seen time and again domains names less than a month old with no page rank at all sit in the top 5 for some decent keywords.

True, I guess the best thing to do would be to use it and see what happens. If it sucks and doesn't go according to plan then I just saved myself 5 more years of reg fees for a useless domain. Better to try than not try I guess.

correct...

well i have experience that it works better if it's older.

recently i have put to use friend's unused domain registered in 1997 and seo results were immediate as well as it went from pr0 to pr2 in few weeks.

not to mention if you're getting domains off snapnames or namejet which have old reg dates and related legacy backlinks and dmoz/yahoo listings you'll get much better than with newly registered domains.