Originally Posted by inertia

I would say that the age and history of the domain plays a big part in trust. I've come across ancient front page sites which are still clinging to the top SERPs, much to the desperation of the client. When i asses the site the only conclusion i can logically come up with is that the domain has the benefits of a clean, lengthy past.

This can make it difficult for SEOs to work on a domain that has been live for many years - we dont always know whats happened in that time. Does anyone have any advice with regards to this?