dashes in domains..?

by 24 replies
28
Hi warriors, how do you guys feel about dashes in domains?

are they as effective for the keyword your targeting to get to top 3 in google?
#search engine optimization #dashes #domains
  • Exact match domain without dashes is best if you can get it. With dashes is also good but it loses some bonus for ranking. If you cant get that either put a random letter on end of domain.
  • ahh , i find you are capable , I never touch the dashes in domains as I am just a new learner. May you success.
  • Back in the old days they were great. Now, it doesn't really make a difference except to any surfers who will be typing it in. Always try to keep it as simple as you possibly can.
  • I always thought the hyphens made no difference to the search engines, they just ignore them. The only thing hyphens may affect is the resale of your site, or people remembering to add them when they type your site name directly into the address bar.

    If your aiming for SEO traffic then the hyphen domain shouldn't be a problem.
  • I've heard they aren't as effective... but with Google there are always theories going both ways.

    I have used them and still do, I just try to get an exact match regardless of tlds or dashes, although I try to get non dashed .com's first, but I also have dashed .info sites because that was all that was available.

    Hope this helps
  • If you are planning a niche website, both with and w/o dashes are fine. Of course, without dashes, it's easy to type.
    • [1] reply
    • Yeah there are many people that say one "hyphen" is ok in order to secure a really good keyword domain name (for seo etc).

      It's definitely a topic of hot debate.

      Personally, I'm not a fan though at all of having any "hyphens" and would steer clear of such domains.

      To me it's all about the long term and you need to set yourself a "precedent" from the start if purchasing a lot of domains.

      Say your website is successful in the long term:
      - It's not bad on the eye but it just ain't good either (yeah it's just as easy on the eye but has a more spammy look too)
      - Imagine reading your website over the phone to someone with a hyphen (sounds weird)

      Just a couple things to consider among many others.

      But NO definitely not a fan at all of the hyphens!
  • Without dashes is better but with them is OK too and you can use it. It can rank high in search results if you optimize a keyword match domain well.
  • Same here I use it too, but it doesn't really bother me, as it all comes down to the content of your website that will make a difference.
  • There are plenty of dashed EMDs but I'd advise against it. Try and find an EMD, it will definitely be easier to rank.
  • With or without hyphens makes absolutely no difference in terms of ranking. Ive ranked numerous sites first page, first position using hyphens. Infact I just ranked one first AND second position.

    Type in "dog training"
    • [1] reply
    • This is what I was looking for.

      How long did this take you?..lol
  • They are acceptable but always aim for the domains without dashes or hyphens or anything.It's better, if you can't the exact domain for the keywords chosen, to put an "x" in the end of it.

    alantalantoula.com -----> Not available? Try this alantalantoulax.com

    PS This is not an existing or real website.But what a nice domain, don't you think? LOL
  • The only drawback of using dashes in domain names is that it is harder for people to remember it. For example, a site named as software-co.com is difficult to remember, most people when trying to revisit the site, will type in softwareco. The extensions like.com, .net, and .org are the common ones, for regular people they will assume .com and have little knowledge of anything other than that. The use of symbols or hyphens lowers the chances of getting revisits.
  • For me they do not work, had some sites with dashes and they are nowhere in top 10 for micro niche, however some other sites without dashes and extensions like blog are much higher
  • A disaster when you get to the level of off line marketing of your site.
  • You will always get mixed feedback with this, but the way to settle it would be to google few terms and see what comes up. I've just tried this for a keyword I know gets about 6,000 exact searches a month, and the number one site has dashes/hyphens. So looks like its working ok for that site.
  • I think that most important is the optimization and the quality of the backlinks. For example search in google "kitchen countertops".
  • Dashes are ok! But if you have 3 or more dashes in a single domain then you url becomes devalued by search engines. 1 or 2 dashes are fine...
  • A hyphenated dot com domain name that is identical to your keyword is the second best domain name to buy after the non-hyphenated dot com. But this is as afar as SEO is concerned. For branding, offline marketing and telling people your domain name, I strongly prefer no hyphen.
  • [DELETED]
  • It is better to avoid the hyphen where possible. As the one or two word domains are had to find, it is tough to remember the new website name. And on top of that if you add hyphen it will be more difficult.
Join the discussion

Next Topics on Trending Feed