Dashes in domain names...

If the keword search hits are there for that particular domain name with a dash and .com,.net,.org..i'll take it.

I honestly don't think it hurts to have a domain name with dashes if the one without is taken. Several years ago a lot of people thought it was beneficial to have dashes since they separate the keywords in the domain name but I think that train of thought has been put to rest.

Personally I don't register any domain names with dashes because I think they look spammy.

I'll grab the .org if it's available, but the hyphenated ones are okay if that is all that you can get. It will match the keywords and AFAIK a hyphenated DOT COM is still better than a non hyphenated DOT something else (other than .org). If I am mistaken please someone with proof chime in. ;-)

hmm looks like spammy rite ? but that always be an option for me :-D

According to David Viney's "Get to the top on Google", Google can read the keywords within a domain name when they aren't separated by dashes but other search engines can't.

Get to the Top on Google: Tips and ... - Google Books

Unless you can figure out a way that your customers would not have to type the domain name I stay away from dash domains myself.
And there are ways that can be done but would it be worth it is the question? How are you wanting to drive traffic?

I've usually been able to come up with a reasonable alternative in my non im niches.

It takes time to brand a domain name for the customer would 'remember' to add the dash. I think that would be true regardless of the demographic group.

An exception would be like Kael41 said: if you had a high enough keyword hit history. It might be worth it if that number was high enough. And you got a good enough return for your effort.

But generally, for most people, I'd suggest no dashes.

It all depends on your INTENTION for the domain name. Domains with dashes can still help search engines determine the intended keywords. penisland.com -- is it "Pen Island" or "Penis Land"? You want the search engines to not make this error.

If your intention is to sell the domain, you will have a much harder time selling a dashed name than a non dashed name (unless of course it has established traffic/revenue).

If your intention is to advertise it on the radio or tv, forget about dashed domains completely or you'll lose half of your potential customers to the owner of the non-dashed domain.

If I'm going for branding, no dashes. If it's a niche blog or something similar, dashes are ok with me.

Some great advice and input above, thanks! Love to hear what others have to say too.

What would be some alternatives to using a dash or two? I wouldn't fancy making a long-tail domain even longer by adding a suffix or prefix in the mix.

The domain is for a squeeze page.

Thanks again.

I try and avoid dashes in domains because it makes them harder to brand. It makes it a little harder for a consumer to remember off the top of their head and you have to remember to include the dash whenever you mention your website in a video or mp3.

Interesting...should I be using long-tail keywords designed for organic traffic FOR a squeeze page? Anybody really get much organic traffic for squeeze pages?

I own a few sites where I have *both* the regular and the dashed... now obviously things can change, but I used to get higher rankings on sites that had great keywords separated by dashes, especially from sites like yahoo and (yeah, it's an oldy LOL) - excite and altavista.

Two of my sites I bought for the name - loved them... great keywords in them, but I haven't really had either of them doing much of anything (yet - now building wordpress on them).

Interesting thing? the "no dash" domain had more visibility because I used the one with the dashes only for script testing (blocked search engines).... BUT - when you search on what the value of those sites should be if I chose to sell them? Surprisingly the one WITH the dashes was rated at a higher value.

Go figure LOL

Guess it depends on what you want to do. As was mentioned above, "pen-island" would make more sense

Amber

for me the dashes add a bit of hassle. imo, it's easier to type the address without the dash.

For me, if it is a branding exercise that I am going to promote offline, I would rather something memorable than functional.

It depends on how much traffic is going to be driven from offline.

If I am purely driving traffic online then I would rather go for a keyword optimised url because I don't care about the offline memorability of being able to type it in off the top of your head.

I am indifferent to the dashes. But once again, if I am promoting purely online, I like the dashes in some url's because they help with the clarity of the keyword definition. I think that web users look at the url now as well as the title and description in google.

Adwords has trained the marketers to use a related url and that is only because they think it is congruent with the offer and increases the user experience. If a dashed url gives more clarity to the product or service, then I think it is a benefit online.

Even if you look at the offline application, would you rather have

www.johnstowingarizona....
or
www.johns-towing-arizona...

Online, I am taking the second one. Its recognition for the skimmers.

Ideally, I own both.

But if it is a tough market, I have to agree with Kael and I would take any keyword optimised variation of the url as long as it was .com vs anything else. While there are still other supposed 'top level' domains available, .com is always going to have some benefit - it just depends on what you do with it.

Just my thoughts.

Cheers

Brad

A lot of the times, I prefer dashes in domain names to seperate keywords. It looks more professional in my opinion. I used to own an anime site called "Shinku Anime" and the domain was "Shinku-Anime.com" the reason I added the dash was because Shinku is both the name of a specific anime and also a character from another popular anime. Also the fact that "anime" is very popular amongst the younger generation. It just looks more professional than "shinkuanime.com". It looks like one word, which it's not.

I also don't understand what everybody means by the dash adding more hassle to the visitor... Most people find things through search engines now. Even the people who know VERY little about computers. At least one person taught them how to use a search engine such as Google or Yahoo. They don't have to type anything manually, and if they ever want to go back, that's what Favorites and Bookmarks were made for. That's why I think most sites should have a "Click here to add to bookmarks" link/button at the very top.

So, in my opinion, dashes should be used in specific names to look more professional. However, I do know that some "spammers" tend to overuse the dashes to separate every single word, but they do it for the keywords and it actually works for them, even if it doesn't look very professional at all.