How bad for rankings is a dash in the URL?

[Bulldozer]

Rankings-wise, is red-tomatoes.com worse than redtomatoes.com?
If yes, why?

If it doesn't matter, then why are people always trying to get URLs that don't have any dashes in them?
Is this just a common misconception?

[Gussieboi]

redtomatoes.com would be better for ranking then red-tomatoes.com.If the domain name does contain a dash it usually means it is an older domain name that has more credibility with google. It wouldn't make that much of a impact on ranking if it contains a dash so its nothing to really worry about.

[Bulldozer]

Interesting. So the bottom line is that it doesn't matter?
I guess people buying non-dash domains is just a trend that makes no sense?

[Vlad Romanov]

Obviously Google will not release any 100% information, but from what the folks are saying it doesn't matter if you have a dash or not. The bottom line is that it is extremely hard to eliminate all variables when it comes to these things. If you manage to eliminate all possible variables then possibly the domain without the dash would rank better...

The rule of thumb I use is: Get the EMD (exact match domain like redtomatoes.com) if I can't I will try and add a word to the domain: yellowredtomatoes.com Some may argue this method and go with a dash instead, but you can argue for each one until the end of time...

Best of luck,
-Vlad

[Bulldozer]

If there's no difference, I would go with a dash - makes the URL more easily readable.

[Hein George]

Site name without dash shows more near and accurate results in Google than sites with dash URLs, we even do not use dash while searching on Google. This is the reason so not having dash but even you may get if site with your required name in not available.

[Kay King]

No difference - and I use both. I'd rather have a dash and the keywords I want than to add additional words to avoid a dash.

A couple of IM products some time ago came up with the idea that google dislikes hyphens (dashes) in domain. Lots of folks believed it - I ignored it. No difference at all that I've seen in dash or non-dash domains in traffic or profit.

I'll take domain-name.com over mostprettydomainname.com every day

[Bulldozer]

Originally Posted by Kay King

No difference - and I use both. I'd rather have a dash and the keywords I want than to add additional words to avoid a dash.

A couple of IM products some time ago came up with the idea that google dislikes hyphens (dashes) in domain. Lots of folks believed it - I ignored it. No difference at all that I've seen in dash or non-dash domains in traffic or profit.

I'll take domain-name.com over mostprettydomainname.com every day

Yeah, this is what I though too.
To me red-tomatoes.com looks much better than redtomatoes4u.com and I think the dashed variant would rank better because it is focusing only on the chosen keyword combo, without any additional filler bullsh*t that creates a whole new keyword combo.
Google would mark redtomatoes4u.com as an URL that is primarily targeting a slightly different keyword, not the one that we are after.

[Billy Rey]

its a preference thing.

emd will always be easier, but that doesnt mean the dash url wont rank for it. IT definitely can.

dashed urls and urls with the keyword with extra crap letters/word at the beginning or at the end basically gives the same results for me.

[fortony]

If it makes any difference, it is so small that you probably could have made it back and more by doing a bit of good content creation or backlinking in the time it took to ask the question.

[xzlana]

I always thought URLs with dashes are better..

[markw89]

from my point of view, as someone who has been long enough in the domain marketplace, domains with hashes or numbers are not preferred, so try to add another word to along with your basic keyword like: today, now..etc

[clou]

It's easier to remember domains without dash

[Glowpakistan]

If it makes any difference, it is so small that you probably could have made it back and more by doing a bit of good content creation or backlinking in the time it took to ask the question and do you'r SEO strong,,,

[smd10]

I don't like dashes in domain names. I find them more difficult to remember. Love dashes in full urls though. In this case it would make it more readable.

In the eyes of a search engine however, it makes very little difference.

[mrgood]

I think it doesn't matter, but also I think that if someone can do a test with same domain names with and without dashes, better results would achieve "no dashed" domains...

[The Wizard of Oz]

I found these replies really interesting, coz I always thought that dashes were a last resort for a domain name. Ya learn sumthin' new every day on the WF!

[seabro]

Originally Posted by Gussieboi

If the domain name does contain a dash it usually means it is an older domain name

I'd have to disagree with this.

[C Rebecca]

Dashes in URLs acts as separators... In your case, Google will rank you for red and for tomatoes as well.
You should see this Matt Cutts video about Dashes vs underscores
GoogleWebmasterHelp's Channel - YouTube

[eurekapsycrille]

So the bottom point is putting dashes or not in the URL's is not really a big issue. How you optimize your site is what really matters.

[Wiz Khalifa]

I think the dash might make a difference. But not much of a difference as long as you build some nice backlinks

[36burrows]

It doesn't matter ranking, only reason I think is that its easier to tell people the domain name and easier to remember.

Imagine hearing an ad on the radio that said "to learn more, visit: Your dash Best dash Health.com!"

Everyone would be like.....umm, no.

[mrgood]

Some of the things expressed here are correct, and some are not. For example, I have a Wordpress site (in my signature) and when I write the new post, the post title automatically would be translated as url, but if there are spaces in post title, Wordpress puts dashes - (like this one) instead of spaces. For example, if the post title is: "ConvertXtoDvD tutorial", the url would be ConvertXtoDVD Tutorial | No 1 Tutorials . So I think that Google unterstand the dashes as a space, nothing more...
I have a site in my native language (Croatian) for a year now - Tutorijali broj jedan - savjeti,trikovi za kompjuter,seo,zanimljivosti,kompjuteri,ra , and I never noticed any bad rankings because of the dashes in urls.

[warrich]

Yes you are right, I don't see any difference in the rankings between a dashed domain and a non dashed domain. If you have done your SEO properly then any of them could outrank the other.

[pilatospoonfork]

Technically speaking, there dashes have nothing to do with the ranking. So whether you put it or not, it's not a big issue.

[John Moore]

For repeat traffic having a dash in your URL is not ideal, and often times you will be sending them back to your competitors, I try to avoid them where possible. Rankings wise, it is a null effect unless overused in the URL. Too many dashes in a URL are often perceived as spammy sites too.