Dash or no dash in domain name

I've used exact match domains with single and double dashes before. From experience I would try to avoid multiple dashes if possible. A single dash isn't too bad but no dashes is always preferable.

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Boricua

14 years ago

Originally Posted by Virtualghost

Does it make difference whether you have any dashes in domain.Looking at one which is available with or without dashes,anyone know which is best for search engines etc.
Thank You

Check this out... Google "Canadian government grants" ...

She is #1 on Google... of course depends who does the SEO

I've also seen competitors from London ranking a .us extension on Google.com (USA). The dashes simply don't make a difference at all, of course, the less the better. Try to go for 1-2 dash at most if no other options for exact match domains, it'll depend later on your SEO dow

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JDIZM

14 years ago

i've had a double dash domain rank pretty well for competitive terms but it was a very old domain too.

I personally would avoid buying new domains with dashes though.

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Charlesth

14 years ago

According to me no dashes in domain name is best for search engines because hyphen might break your keyword and thereby pushing you website down in SERPs. Check out the following link to get more detail about domain.
seomoz.org/learn-seo/domain

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1 reply

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paulgl

12 years ago

Originally Posted by Charlesth

According to me no dashes in domain name is best for search engines because hyphen might break your keyword and thereby pushing you website down in SERPs. Check out the following link to get more detail about domain.
seomoz.org/learn-seo/domain

ROTFLMAO! You give an example of a hyphen in a url.....sure...your
logic holds, doesn't it?

If dashes are perfectly acceptable for urls, why not domains?

Sometimes I wonder if you people actually read what you post.

In fact, some domains NEED a dash.

If you leave them out, boy it sure could affect a lot of things.

Paul

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Chronic IM

14 years ago

Hello! I don't see any difference in putting or not putting any dashes on domain names and I'll always wonder why people should put dashes on their domain names. It's more of a hustle for me though. It's best if you don't put any dashes onto your domain name. best of luck!

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CaesarSEO

14 years ago

No dash. Recommended.

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dragtastic

14 years ago

No dashes is preferred but if you are going after a domain with hundreds of thousands of exact searches then I don't think that having a dash in the domain will have any negative impact

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msu

14 years ago

Also bear in mind the length of the domain. A two worder with a dash looks ok but in a three or four word domain it starts looking spammy, which will put people off clicking the domain when they see in search engine results.

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smodha

14 years ago

Take the dash/hashes out. It's better SEO. If you can't get hold of the EMD then add a suffix like a number.

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TheProgrammer

14 years ago

NO DASH or DASHES.

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yukon

Banned 14 years ago

If you ever expect to get return traffic get a domain without a hyphen, If you don't your traffic will be going to the competition without a hyphen in the domain.

Traffic is lazy, don't make them think.

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shenzorewildes

Banned 14 years ago

[DELETED]

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princee 14 years ago

Originally Posted by shenzorewildes

i also have two dash domain and its working fine with seo.. am getting my results.

Yeah you can. Here just a matter of Priority. Here members meant If you have both choices with or without dashes than domain without dashes should be your first choice.
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delton yell

14 years ago

Well i recommend you no dashes.

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seocentralservices

14 years ago

Originally Posted by Virtualghost

Does it make difference whether you have any dashes in domain.Looking at one which is available with or without dashes,anyone know which is best for search engines etc.
Thank You

It doesn't matter if no dashes or have. The important is how you optimize your site.

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SEOtraveler

14 years ago

No dash is believed to be a better option simply because users tend to forget the dash and head over to your competitor. The best way to go is have both dashed and non-dashed domain and simply have a redirect. Otherwise you'll simply lose traffic.

If you can't have both options, better think of something more brandable. I believe keywords in domain names are next to worthless, and I explained why at http://www.warriorforum.com/adsense-...tter-here.html

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joomir

14 years ago

no dash is better

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1 reply

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Dan Hower

14 years ago

I have asked the same question before, and the answer was no dashes. At least here on the forum.

Then I asked users what they prefer and the answer was clear: with dashes. Since it it easier to read.
internet-marketing-forum-administrator
is being recognized immediately while
internetmarketingforumadministrator
takes some time to realize what it means.

Except here in this forum I never heard dashes are considered spammy.

So all my latest domains are with dashes.

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1 reply

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Rehmat

14 years ago

Originally Posted by Dan Hower

I have asked the same question before, and the answer was no dashes. At least here on the forum.

Then I asked users what they prefer and the answer was clear: with dashes. Since it it easier to read.
internet-marketing-forum-administrator
is being recognized immediately while
internetmarketingforumadministrator
takes some time to realize what it means.
.

Sir Hower has pointed it out clearly. Sometimes, dashes are necessary if the domain name is confusing. Not only users, search engines may also feel uneasy to parse the keywords correctly in some cases like this:
"yoursoilresearch.com"
Then what will it meant to search engines? your soil research or yours oil research?
In such circumstances, dashes are necessary to be used. If your domain is your-soilresearch.com or your-soil-research.com, then it will be parsed better by search engines and keywords in domain really make a great difference if they are matched with the searched term...

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retsek

14 years ago

Originally Posted by Rehmat

Sir Hower has pointed it out clearly. Sometimes, dashes are necessary if the domain name is confusing. Not only users, search engines may also feel uneasy to parse the keywords correctly in some cases like this:
"yoursoilresearch.com"
Then what will it meant to search engines? your soil research or yours oil research?
In such circumstances, dashes are necessary to be used. If your domain is your-soilresearch.com or your-soil-research.com, then it will be parsed better by search engines and keywords in domain really make a great difference if they are matched with the searched term...

Search engines are not dumb as you think. From your content and hopefully the relevancy of your backlinks, they'll know that the site is about oil and not soil.

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Warock

Banned 14 years ago

No dashes, dashes nowadays consider spam sites to google. I have read a lot of guides mentioning that dashes should not be included in the URL.

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Mike Ometeo

14 years ago

It all depends on the domain name. When using general kw / exact match domains, dashes are regarded suspicious by Google. For sure multiple dashes are out of the question.
With that said, recent Google updates have caused non dashed EMDs to lose ranking.

I think that more than ever its important to invest in a brand sounding domain (and the best content possible. This may cause slower rise in ranking but for sure a safer one.

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1 reply

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Dan Hower

14 years ago

Originally Posted by Mike Ometeo

It all depends on the domain name. When using general kw / exact match domains, dashes are regarded suspicious by Google. For sure multiple dashes are out of the question.
With that said, recent Google updates have caused non dashed EMDs to lose ranking.

I was just wondering - if dashes are suspicious - why Wordpress for an article like

"More oil discovered" on "energynews.com"

automatically uses the URL

"energynews.com/more-oil-discovered.html"
and not
"energynews.com/moreoildiscovered.html".

Does that mean that all Wordpress pages are suspicious to Google?

Cheers
Dan Hower

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Toyota Hilux Dealer

14 years ago

Dashes don't matter. My sites with dashes have done better than non-dashed sites so it is all a question of on-page and off-page optimization. Recent EMD updates though have made exact match domains a little suspect these days and it is EMD that generally have the most dashes.

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patco

12 years ago

For me it's almost the same. In most cases sometimes with dashes it's easier for people to read the domain (if the domain is long!), but for SEO go with no dashes (if possible!)

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Steve Zones

12 years ago

If it is your personal site and not for SEO purpose, you can have hiphen.

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BrianFish

12 years ago

I have a six year old domain that ranks well for a lot of regional/local longtail keywords with no issues (va-outdoors)

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UMS

12 years ago

Sometimes a dash can save a lot of embarrassment.

A classic example is

expertsexchange.com took sometime before they made experts-exchange.com their primary domain.

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Angle Warrior

12 years ago

I haven't had any problems using dashes in my ulrs and as pointed out by UMS one of my domains was easier to read with the dash and I've had no ranking issues using them, I do however try and find domains without dashes if possible but it's not as important to me as making sure that my domains are .com

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Dash or no dash in domain name

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