Questions about domain names:

8 replies
Greeting Warriors,

I was wondering if the crawlers have a more difficult time ranking your page if you use '-' in your domain names. For example:

I-want-to-make-money-online.com

Iwanttomakemoneyonline.com

Which would rank better due to the actual domain name? Or does it really only matter with the .com, .org, .net, etc?
#domain #names #questions
  • Profile picture of the author oneplusone
    You always want to go with the latter when possible (without the -)

    They are much better for SEO purposes
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    'If you hear a voice within you say "you cannot paint," then by all means paint and that voice will be silenced.' Vincent Van Gogh.
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    • Profile picture of the author Pradeep Bhagwat
      As always said go for .com domain names, but there is no gurantte that you will get exact domain name. That is why trick of hyphen or dot used. Some marketer uses prefix or some other related words in the domain. Google's ranking not dependes only on `.com'. It see quality content, quality backlinking and authority of your website. Now days Google is more alert about quality of website. That is why now you can find that simple but quality website is heading the page. So, we can use any type of doamain but .com is preferable. You can use hyphens and dot in domain. Sometime hyphen may help Google scrawler to identiphy complecated domain names.

      - Pradeep
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  • Profile picture of the author Tiger_Claw
    So if I find a premium domain with the hyphen (-) and it's available while the other is not, go with that instead of just looking for a whole new niche all together? I'm running into a problem of finding ripe markets but unable to find a solid domain to fit.
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    • Profile picture of the author sbucciarel
      Banned
      Originally Posted by Tiger_Claw View Post

      So if I find a premium domain with the hyphen (-) and it's available while the other is not, go with that instead of just looking for a whole new niche all together? I'm running into a problem of finding ripe markets but unable to find a solid domain to fit.
      Go with the hyphen if it's not available without unless you find a good domain name by adding a suffix at the end of the keywords.
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    • Profile picture of the author Bill Farnham
      I was wondering if the crawlers have a more difficult time ranking your page if you use '-' in your domain names. For example:

      I-want-to-make-money-online.com

      Iwanttomakemoneyonline.com
      Matt Cutts at Goolge put out a video a while back where he used the example of "Experts Exchange" to show why it is easier for the crawlers to determine the keywords in your domain name if you have hyphens/dashes rather than running all the words together.

      In his example (a real website, btw) the domain name can be construed as Expert Sex Change.

      Ideally you want to have as short a name as possible. Keywords help, unless you have a large budget for branding. You want not only the search engines to relate to your domain name, but more importantly you want your visitors to associate the name with what it is you do.

      Google didn't start out as "worldsbestsearchengine.com", they branded their name. Same for Yahoo, Amazon, GoDaddy, Twitter, and most of the big web players.

      The .com is always a good choice, with .net and .org also being decent alternatives.

      ~Bill
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      • Profile picture of the author ClaireM
        Originally Posted by Bill Farnham View Post

        Matt Cutts at Goolge put out a video a while back where he used the example of "Experts Exchange" to show why it is easier for the crawlers to determine the keywords in your domain name if you have hyphens/dashes rather than running all the words together.

        In his example (a real website, btw) the domain name can be construed as Expert Sex Change.
        ~Bill
        This information is extremely helpful. I was wondering about this myself. This is a perfect example! Glad I am in the Warrior Forum....
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  • Profile picture of the author joshuagan80
    It would really be good to have domain name with "-" with a .com.
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  • Profile picture of the author Tiger_Claw
    Thanks. Well, it sounds like the (-) might be actually a better way to go than letting the site run all together. Thank you for advice and answers!
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