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

by Lisa Gergets
13 replies
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!
#domain with dashes #ole #question
  • Profile picture of the author 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.

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  • Profile picture of the author Ryan700
    Originally Posted by TinkerAndPo View Post

    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.
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    • Profile picture of the author 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.
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  • Profile picture of the author 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.
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  • Profile picture of the author 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.
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    • Profile picture of the author 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.
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  • Profile picture of the author 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
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