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Do dashes ( - ), or prefixes like "the" help rank in SEO?

by lorenzmac
16 replies
  • SEO
    • |
I'm am in the process of buying a domain for a website and i was just curious as to what helped rank in google better.

Would a website with a dash - or a prefix rank better in terms of SEO?

Lorenz
#dashes #prefixes #rank #seo
  • Profile picture of the author rusty1027
    In my experiences, dashes neither hurt nor help your SEO rankings. The risk you take however, is that if your domain name without the dashes is already taken, you may lose some visitors. As long as people are clicking on a link, the dash is irrelevant. But if you're giving out your URL in a video and you want people to remember it, they may forget the dash. If you can get the same domain without the dash, I'd go for that instead. I don't have any first hand experience regarding the use of "the", so I can't comment on that one.
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  • Profile picture of the author AdiPurush
    Using dash is not a good idea. you can use prefixes like "the" only when domain you want is not available.
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  • Profile picture of the author dave147
    Dashes (hyphens) neither help nor hinder your results, it's your complete SEO on the site that will determine your rankings
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  • Profile picture of the author QuinNguyen
    Dash and the are google stop keyword so google will ignore it
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    • Profile picture of the author abdulquddus
      Its not recommended to use ' - ' in the domain by many SEO Professionals
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  • Profile picture of the author Ethan Ooi
    no effect but go for the no dash one...unless it is unavailable....recently i saw many website even go to the extreme.....used double dash -- because the domains with dash were unavailable too...dunno when they will start to use triple dash --- ....haha
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    • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
      Banned
      Originally Posted by seowebempire View Post

      recently i saw many website even go to the extreme.....used double dash -- because the domains with dash were unavailable too...dunno when they will start to use triple dash --- ....haha
      This is utter nonsense.

      Consecutive hyphens have never been allowed in any domain-names, and they still aren't.

      (Call me pedantic, but these are hyphens, people, not dashes: the "dash" is an entirely different punctuation-mark).
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      • Profile picture of the author Ethan Ooi
        Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post

        This is utter nonsense.

        Consecutive hyphens have never been allowed in any domain-names, and they still aren't.

        (Call me pedantic, but these are hyphens, people, not dashes: the "dash" is an entirely different punctuation-mark).

        ops, sorry, thanks correcting me, but it is true that some people used double hyphens in domains, something like:example--example.com, will send you a pm about the two domains that i found recently.
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        • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
          Banned
          Not at all ... thank you for correcting me, and apologies! And thanks for the p.m. That's absolutely weird! I've seen all sorts of references online to the fact that two consecutive hyphens aren't allowed. And have myself tried (unsuccessfully!) to register a domain-name with two consecutive hyphens. I can't understand how someone has apparently managed it?! :confused:
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        • Profile picture of the author thecableguy
          Originally Posted by seowebempire View Post

          ops, sorry, thanks correcting me, but it is true that some people used double hyphens in domains, something like:example--example.com, will send you a pm about the two domains that i found recently.
          Yeah you can use double hyphens, it was mentioned by Dave (MSN loophole) a few years back, but I've never had any luck with them (double hyphens, it was the last choice for EMDs) nor have I ever seen any sites on Google's 1st page that uses them. Single hyphens are a different story, if com, net and org versions weren't available hyphens would be my next choice before adding a suffix, then a prefix.
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  • Profile picture of the author razorhound
    I've seen a niche keyword "long-tail-key-word.com" (2nd in page1) ranked better than "longtailkeyword.org" (6th in page1), it really depends on how you build your backlinks.
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  • Profile picture of the author JamesJeffery
    The domain name plays a tiny (if noticeable) roll in adding weight to SERPs.

    If my keyword has more than 2 letters I like to separate with a hyphen. Users do read the domain name link and I think it adds a little trust for the user. Especially when they can see you-keyword-here.com without having to unmangle the keyword in cases like iphoneexperttechnicians.com (where the last letter of a word is the same as the start letter of the next word). iphone-expert-technicians.com reads much better.I check domain names all the time on results listings to ensure that I'm not being taken to a phishing page, or a malware page.

    I have a book called "Dont Make Me Think" by Steve Krugg. Although his principles relate to web design, and content placement, and how "making the customer think" is likely to lose custom - the overall principle remains.

    The link might also be on other search engines, users might share it, it may be on forums, and the same will apply.
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  • Profile picture of the author jhonsean
    I would suggest that citing an normal name of the domain that are more related to your site will do better. Visitors are more on likely to easy to familiarize sites.
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  • Profile picture of the author sneharastogi
    I would prefer prefix than dashes as they neither help nor hurt search enging optimization.
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  • Profile picture of the author thebitbotdotcom
    I have used both stop words such as "the" and hyphens in the past and ranked easily with both. Either way, I now shoot for keywords in the domain name, exact match if possible. Ranking without them is certainly doable, easier with them.
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