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do dashes in domain name influence SEO?

by DrLegend
4 replies
  • SEO
    • |
Hi,

I have a domain that I used to have a website on, but I have taken it down. Now I want to use it again to create a website where I will make money with adsense and affiliate products.

The domain contains a 4 word keyword that has around 12000 EXACT searches per month (google keyword tool). The domain is very descriptive and very well suitable for such a purpose. However there is one aspect that I'm not sure about: it has dashes in it. More precisely it looks like this:

www.word1-word2-word3-word4-tips.com (word1 to 4 are the words within my keyword).

Now my questions is: DO DASHES AFFECT SEO in a negative way?

Thanks!
Ivan
#dashes #domain #influence #seo
  • Profile picture of the author nicktyler
    I would be inclined to say yes it is better without the dsahes from looking at the search results. But the thing that really makes me think that is the fact that high wolume KW domain names without the dashes are MASSIVLEY more expensive than the same with. I guess that users will be less likley to type the dashes when coming direct also.
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  • Profile picture of the author eurekapsycrille
    There have been many discussions about this matter and I have the conclusion that it will not have negative effects in your ranking. But, it will not also have good effects either.

    I've seen many websites that are on top of Google SERP with dashes on their domain name. So, it's not really a big issue if you put dashes in your domain name or not. It's all bout on how your work for your site.
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  • Profile picture of the author JSProjects
    Google ignores hyphens, so I don't think it has too much, if any, of an effect. If I'm looking for EMD's I'd prefer to find a non hyphenated .com. But my second choice is the hyphenated version. If that's not available, I'll look for a different extension. (Yes, even .info!)
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    • Profile picture of the author DrLegend
      Thanks guys!

      Actually, I don't know if any of you know Site Build It! (Ken Evoy). They have a whole tutorial for how to create a website and do keyword searches and which domains to pick. They actually DO advertise dashed domains (if it have more than two words)!! which is also where I started my website.
      Anyway, there's not knowing for sure without trying, so that what I'm gonna do soon
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