I’m trying to find out if the rumor that Google came out and confirmed that private domain registration doesn’t hurt search engine ranking, is true or false.
Does anyone have evidence that Google actually released such a statement?
Thus is a great question Nick. I don’t know but will monitor this post to find out. My domains are not private. I don’t see the point.
From 2008… http://www.webpronews.com/the-private-domain-registration-google-dilemma-2008-09
The only real concern is lack of contact info if your site get’s hacked.
Just another reason to get your name and contact number on the Home page, or better yet… every page!
See the header at:
www.jrjconsultants.net and www.OwatonnaHomeInspector.com
My domains are private, and will stay that way.
In the last year, my first domain Alexa score changed from 4,000,000 to 363,000 and my second from 18,000,000 to 974,000. Working on my sites overcome any negatives from being private or other such rumors. Also quality links and not a lot of crap on my sites.
I do not miss dealing with all the crap I would get in emails when they were not private, and I still get some, but only about 1/10th of what I used to get (and most of that is from mining the Nachi site). 
True - It doesn’t hurt, at least from my experience.
I had a private registration for the last year and remained in the top spot for Cincinnati, in the top 3 for Dayton and on the first page for “home inspection companies”.
I am not sure about any statement from Google.