Not the same 'ole "domain with dashes" question.

[Lisa Gergets]

I have an order for a client regarding an insomnia niche phrase. I've looked up the first 50-70 Google Adwords results in Dynadot for the domain name without dashes for everything insomnia, sleep, sleeping, etc. related. Nothing that has acceptable numbers is available without dashes. Nothing.

Do you think that Google will be forced to view domains with dashes as equal to domains without dashes because of the sheer volume of relevant websites out there? There are only a finite number of domains available without dashes, and if it ends there...that's a monopoly, right?

Just looking for thought from the experienced out there...this is a subject that really interests me. Thank you!

[Steve Diamond]

My take on this may be simplistic, but here goes anyway.

I don't believe that Google gives a darn about whether there are hyphens or no hyphens. In fact I'm sure it's easier to parse the domain name and discern the separate words when there are hyphens. (This has advantages for backlinking too, I think.)

So if the main traffic sources for the site are going to be search engine traffic and links, then I think that hyphens are just fine.

On the other hand, if there will be significant other kinds of traffic that require people to type in the domain name, then hyphens should be off the table. People are likely to get that part wrong. They're much more used to typing the words all run together.

Steve

[Lisa Gergets]

Thank you, Steve. That's my thinking as well, but I wanted to get a few opinions from veteran IM'ers...

[Ryan700]

Originally Posted by TinkerAndPo

Do you think that Google will be forced to view domains with dashes as equal to domains without dashes because of the sheer volume of relevant websites out there?

I don't think it matters. I have done searches and found in the results plenty of sites with dashes between the keywords - but - I've only seen them in the second level of the domain IIRC.

[Dan C. Rinnert]

I've seen dashed domain names on page one of Google. I could be wrong, but I think I've occasionally seen them in the top position as well.

I don't think Google cares about dashes in domain names. Probably makes things easier in some cases, where two words together could be broken down different ways. The only example I can think of right now would be something like herman.dom, which could be Herman or it could be Her Man. There are no better examples, but that's the only one that comes to mind at the moment.

So, as far as Google is concerned, I don't think it matters. I think the reason you might not see dashed domains as often is because some people shy away from them, so there may be a tendency for the less discerning webmasters to grab them. So, the low rankings may not be because of the domain name itself but because the quality-minded registrants went for the dashless domains and the dashed domains were left to the less quality-minded registrants. Not that a dashed domain name owner is necessarily a less quality-minded webmaster, only that the tendency has been for the quality-minded to grab the dashless domains, so you will see a higher percentage of less quality-minded webmasters among the dashed domain names than among the dashless domain names.

But, as others mentioned, I think where you may take a hit is when people type in the domain name. People will tend to forget the dashes, so someone typing in a domain will be more likely to type it in without dashes than with dashes.

[dave147]

it really does not make a difference as long as you have your site well optimised for the SEs. I use both dashes and non, and most times the dashes do a lot better, however, if you plan to do offline marketing i.e word of mouth then you should forget about the dashes - if the .com is not available go for a .net

[Stefan Vee]

I'm with Steve Diamond here. It doesn't matter for Google, but
it does matter for your visitors. They won't remember your domain
as easily.

[MisterMunch]

From my experience it is almost the same hustle to rank for a domain without the "-" as it is for those with. It is hard to tell though, because the differences in competition on the different keywords I have targeted in the past.

I never go for dashed domains when there is more than 3 words. three words is top. Starts to look a little ugly after that. Domains without dashes looks a little more proffessional, but they might be harder to understand.

[PhiltheBear]

I frequently register both with and without dashes versions of the same domain. Then I point both at the same content. I get about 3 times more visitors to 'non-dash' domains than those with dashes. They also tend to come up higher on all search engines - Google, MSN, Yahoo, etc.

However, I've never tried putting different content on the different domains. I guess that the generally accepted default for people just trying out typing in their own guesses at domains is just to string all the words together rather than insert dashes.

[bgmacaw]

It doesn't seem to matter so far as Google is concerned. In all cases I've seen where it was dashed vs. non-dashed the winner was the older domain with better incoming links. Usually the non-dashed was the older, better linked, domain but not always.

For resell, non-dashed usually does better.

[DeePower]

Not an seo expert but... My main business site has a hyphen between the two words. What I've found is people search for the two words and our site pops up on page one.

I also have a wedding site that shows up on google page one without quotes for the keyword phrases- weddings on a budget - and none of those words are in the domain.

Dee

[Shannon Tani]

I also have a dashed site that ranks well in the SEs. I think that it doesn't matter so much if you are mostly planning on getting customers from SEO.

Love,
Shannon

[Lisa Gergets]

Thanks everyone for your replies! I really appreciate your input!