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Does hyphen in the domain name matter?

by looking4adsense
27 replies
  • SEO
    • |
I'm trying to build a niche site and I'm wondering if google will treat
keyword the same as key-word in the domain name? I've been searching for an answer online, but seems there are no definitive answer.
#domain #hyphen #matter
  • Profile picture of the author jpboxersox
    I never had a problem with 1 or 2 hyphens. More than that will look spammy in my opinion. I prefer non-hyphenated URLs. I usually try to select domain names with usability in mind. Short and easy to remember
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  • Profile picture of the author RayW
    Originally Posted by looking4adsense View Post

    I'm trying to build a niche site and I'm wondering if google will treat
    keyword the same as key-word in the domain name?
    No, keyword would be a better choice than key-word. It will only be a slight difference, but it does matter.
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    • Profile picture of the author paulgl
      Originally Posted by RayW View Post

      No, keyword would be a better choice than key-word. It will only be a slight difference, but it does matter.
      Key-word with a hyphen would make no sense.
      Putting a hyphen matters, and matters
      greatly, especially to delineate words that can slur together.

      But nobody would put a hyphen in the middle of a word.
      People would do warrior-forum, but not war-ior-for-um.
      That would not even be in question.

      Many people SHOULD use hyphens. Google can only guess
      as to the words. Sometimes it matters, sometimes it does
      not. If you really want to make sure the words in your
      domain matter, a hyphen could be useful. But domains with
      many hyphens look spammy: best-wii-games-for-fun.com
      is crazy. Think of something shorter.

      Paul
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    • Profile picture of the author rjd1265
      Originally Posted by RayW View Post

      No, keyword would be a better choice than key-word. It will only be a slight difference, but it does matter.
      Incorrect. It does not matter.

      website.com
      web-site.com
      xwebsite.com
      websitex.com

      are all the same. I have each of the above for various sites and am #1-3 on Google for all of them and #1 in Yahoo and Bing.
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      • Profile picture of the author Devname
        Originally Posted by rjd1265 View Post

        Incorrect. It does not matter.

        website.com
        web-site.com
        xwebsite.com
        websitex.com

        are all the same. I have each of the above for various sites and am #1-3 on Google for all of them and #1 in Yahoo and Bing.
        Really,

        Just typed in "website" in Google and website.com is #2 (congrats) and web-site.com no where to be seen. In high competitive keywords I very rarely see a domain with a hyphen in it.
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  • Profile picture of the author Robert Michael
    I have a site with 3 (yep, THREE!) hyphens in the domain name, and I'm on 1st page of SERPs for my keywords.. So whats the problem with them? lol
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  • Profile picture of the author JammerJones
    I've never had trouble ranking hyphened domains. You'll be fine - just don't go overboard (ie: k-e-y-w-o-r-d) lol
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  • Profile picture of the author Maraun
    The effect of a single hyphen is so small you can ignore it.
    You should rather pay attention to how the url looks to the
    potential visitor. As the others have said, one hyphen might
    even help with readability for your visitors AND search engines,
    but don't go crazy overboard.
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  • Profile picture of the author ukcarl
    I have never had a problem ranking hyphenated domains, as long as the keywords are in there I don't find it any different to a normal EMD in ranking terms, it just doesn't look as good.
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  • Profile picture of the author sunray
    Another thing is, that psychologically (you make the site for humans, right?) hyphen is not such a good thing. It acts as a minus sign and splits the domain name in two. Not that many successful websites that use a hyphen in their names, are there?
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    • Profile picture of the author paulgl
      Originally Posted by sunray View Post

      Another thing is, that psychologically (you make the site for humans, right?) hyphen is not such a good thing. It acts as a minus sign and splits the domain name in two. Not that many successful websites that use a hyphen in their names, are there?
      Says who?

      That's crazy. If you don't use hyphens when needed, then
      your domain looks silly. I don't want a domain name looking
      silly. People know what a hyphen in a domain name is.
      It's a space. This is just one more reason why people
      should get off the domain name kick and worry
      abut stuff that matters. Big, authoritative sites use
      short, to the point, branding domains. They don't give
      a rip about getting keywords in there anyway.

      Paul
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      • Profile picture of the author rjd1265
        Originally Posted by paulgl View Post

        Says who?

        That's crazy. If you don't use hyphens when needed, then
        your domain looks silly. I don't want a domain name looking
        silly. People know what a hyphen in a domain name is.
        It's a space. This is just one more reason why people
        should get off the domain name kick and worry
        abut stuff that matters. Big, authoritative sites use
        short, to the point, branding domains. They don't give
        a rip about getting keywords in there anyway.

        Paul
        Agree to this as well. The domain means nothing really. I recently did a product launch for an IM product and had the KW in the domain and was ranked behind 9 other sites that had nothing to do with the product in the domain.
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  • Profile picture of the author epathj
    i have several hyphen domain.
    They look fine and ranking well.
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  • Profile picture of the author Nathan Isaac
    It won't matter too much, but try to stick with a keyword without any hyphens. Even if you have to add one word at the end.
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  • Profile picture of the author simplyben
    I have had several domains with hyphens over the years and they always seemed to rank the same as other domains.
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  • Profile picture of the author JohnnyS
    using hypen to your site name is not bad. But you choose to use key-word? I think you need to think a hundred times before using this. Think of your customer, think of your target region. Or better yet review more keywords which is best for your site
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  • Profile picture of the author ganteng007
    I have several domain with hypen name and rank in page 1 google. So.. it is very good as long as you have good quality content.
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  • Profile picture of the author sunray
    Face-book.com or you-tube.com would have NEVER EVER become these household names they are today. With the hyphen in they look and feel cranky, shaky and not reliable.
    But, I'm not here to argue with anyone.
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  • Profile picture of the author Austin357
    I try to hyphenate only when I need to for a specific phrase or long tail phrase. I try to avoid it if I can but it hasn't affected any of my rankings so far.
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  • Profile picture of the author J0hnnycl1ckz
    If you're sticking to niche sites I don't think it really matters. Just don't go overboard with hyphens. I personally don't like using them because I think they look tacky. I did buy a few when I first started out and they ranked fine...just so cosmetically unappealing lol.
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  • Profile picture of the author gearmonkey
    Depends. Is it key-word or my-keyword?
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  • Profile picture of the author TBInternetMarketing
    Originally Posted by looking4adsense View Post

    I'm trying to build a niche site and I'm wondering if google will treat
    keyword the same as key-word in the domain name? I've been searching for an answer online, but seems there are no definitive answer.
    Hyphens work well, but personally I prefer to add a letter to the end of the domain like an 'x' if the EMD is not available.
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    • Profile picture of the author WebDesignGuy
      What about adding an extra word such as 'site' or 'shop'. For example

      bluewidgetshop.com
      bluewidgetsite.com

      I think that looks better than bluewidgetx.com.
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      • Profile picture of the author jimnastics
        Originally Posted by WebDesignGuy View Post

        What about adding an extra word such as 'site' or 'shop'. For example

        bluewidgetshop.com
        bluewidgetsite.com

        I think that looks better than bluewidgetx.com.
        One of the most popular WSO courses out there suggests that adding "x" on the end is the next best thing if you can't get emd.com / net. I assume it's because Google will basically ignore the "x" because it makes no sense, whereas adding a word like "site" or "info" on the end brings in another proper word to deal with. He doesn't even consider hyphens.... which is unnerving as I've just registed a kwkw-kw.com domain!
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  • Profile picture of the author HorseStall
    I personally have had good success with hyphenated domain names. It doesn't make a huge difference, the best option is to get both hyphenated and non-hyphenated ;-)
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  • Profile picture of the author TMW
    Sorry reviving an old thread here.

    I have a domain where the EMD is available but is 4 words and sounds funny. Sounds better with hyphens between each word (2 words could be combined or not, for 2 or 3 hyphens). Should I get the EMD with or without hyphens? And if with hyphens (which sounds better), with 2 or 3? I'm not interested in branding issues for various reasons.

    Thank you!
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    • Profile picture of the author AskJon
      Originally Posted by TMW View Post

      Sorry reviving an old thread here.

      I have a domain where the EMD is available but is 4 words and sounds funny. Sounds better with hyphens between each word (2 words could be combined or not, for 2 or 3 hyphens). Should I get the EMD with or without hyphens? And if with hyphens (which sounds better), with 2 or 3? I'm not interested in branding issues for various reasons.

      Thank you!
      If the EMD is available without hyphens, go for it, period. I'd deal with hyphens only if the "without hyphens" domains were unavailable, and even after EMD+filler words were unavailable, but that just personnal preference.
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