Exact Exact Keyword Domain Name - Do Hyphens Affect This?

[forexrebates]

Ok, so I know having an exact keyword as your domain name does give benefit in the SERPs, but how does hyphens affect this?

For e.g......say my target keyword is "Big Blue Widgets"

Ideally you want <bigbluewidgets> dot com

But what happens if that is taken, and isn't being used by anyone(expired/parked/etc...)

Would having <big-blue-widgets> dot com be just as good?

What about <bigblue-widgets> dot com?

Anyone care to chime in on this?

[Gail Ogden]

If Google is still putting a high value a domain name I think that it would be unrealistic of them to exclude hyphens in their search. They know there are only so many options out there. If they decide to accept only keyword relevant domains they would be excluding almost all new marketers in some niches.

I would do a search on the keyword you plan to use and see if Google only servers up pages that have that keyword in the domain name. I think that you would find that a quality content-rich sites are more and more likely to beat out the domain name concern.

Go to Alexa and search out the top 500 sites in the US and tell me how many of them have the keyword in their domain. Even Google doesn’t have search engine in their domain name. Facebook, Youtube, Amazon, Bing, Craigs List, GoDaddy, Awebber, Flikr and Alexa are just a few that I can think of off the top of my head.


Don't spend too much time thinking about Google, do what's best for your potential customer and they will get you to the top of Google.

[Jeffery Baxter]

Hiya,

Personally I think people focus too much on exact match domains. While I admit, they do give you a little extra boost from what I've experienced, a person's focus should be on creating content and building backlinks.

Now to answer your question, it's ok to include a hyphen in there. I have sites that do well with hypens..

Jeff

[Mike Grant]

Yes, hyphens effect it.

[JamesMSpacey]

Hyphens have been less effective in the past, but domain name keyword signals are being phased out, particularly in some oversaturated niches.

[Mike Grant]

Originally Posted by JamesMSpacey

but domain name keyword signals are being phased out, particularly in some oversaturated niches.

Where'd you get that info from?

[jack jastin]

I would like to suggest, Just try to avoid hyphens as possible because there are so many factors that affects your SERP ranking.The hyphen may break your keyword that affects your ranking and search engine spiders are very much compatible now a days they don't need any separation with hyphens also.

[ibnujusup]

are you serious ..

what about if we have a long tail keyword,
is it appropriate to user ( regardless of google bot) if we use mynameismrlookinggood.com rather than my-name-is-mr-looking-good.com

please explain, i'm kind a new here...