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Hyphens in domains

by xbluelinks
21 replies
  • SEO
    • |
I wanted to register the domain "howtoswim.com" but it is taken. What do you think of registering the domain "howto-swim.com" instead? Would it work, with regards to the SEO benefits of being a EMD?

Any thought? Thanks.
#domains #hyphens
  • Profile picture of the author retsek
    How about:

    swimmingcentral.com
    swimpedia.com
    allthingsswimming.com
    swimskills.com
    swimblog.com
    swimclass.com
    swimmingauthority.com
    swimable.com

    All good, brandable choices. And you don't end up closing yourself off by targetting one single keyword. Exact match is so 2003 mate. It's not what it used to be ..get over it and avoid using hypens.
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    • Profile picture of the author xbluelinks
      Originally Posted by retsek View Post

      How about:

      swimmingcentral.com
      swimpedia.com
      allthingsswimming.com
      swimskills.com
      swimblog.com
      swimclass.com
      swimmingauthority.com
      swimable.com

      All good, brandable choices. And you don't end up closing yourself off by targetting one single keyword. Exact match is so 2003 mate. It's not what it used to be ..get over it and avoid using hypens.
      Thanks.

      Btw, "howtoswim.com" is just an example.
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    • Profile picture of the author remodeler
      Originally Posted by retsek View Post

      How about:

      swimmingcentral.com
      swimpedia.com
      allthingsswimming.com
      swimskills.com
      swimblog.com
      swimclass.com
      swimmingauthority.com
      swimable.com

      All good, brandable choices. And you don't end up closing yourself off by targetting one single keyword. Exact match is so 2003 mate. It's not what it used to be ..get over it and avoid using hypens.
      That's just solid advice that I hope people don't skim over. Build a brand and forget the emd crap. Think long term and skip the gimmics. Those are all excellent domain ideas that could be used with many other niches.
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  • Profile picture of the author Blue445nm
    I don't use hyphens at all. SEOMOZ says that using even 1 hypen won't give you the benefit of the EMD domain.

    Try adding an extra keyword though.
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  • Profile picture of the author mrtrance
    Does anyone know if the more letters or longer word you add to your main keyword reduces the EMD more? So is it better to add just a letter like "e" at front or "x" at end or "hq" at end compared to say "guide" at end since that is much longer word and dilutes the EMD more?
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  • Profile picture of the author alphaomegalady
    I don't think using hypens will hurt your SEO, but will be much better if you create shorter & memorable domain name.
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    Cheap Windows Hosting | Best Windows Hosting
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  • Profile picture of the author TotalWebsiteControl
    Originally Posted by xbluelinks View Post

    I wanted to register the domain "howtoswim.com" but it is taken. What do you think of registering the domain "howto-swim.com" instead? Would it work, with regards to the SEO benefits of being a EMD?

    Any thought? Thanks.

    Do NOT use hyphens. Before all the google updates you could do that no problem. Now google will think of it as spam. Try this instead...

    howtoswimx.com
    Signature
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    • Profile picture of the author retsek
      Originally Posted by penguinslayer89 View Post

      Do NOT use hyphens. Before all the google updates you could do that no problem. Now google will think of it as spam. Try this instead...

      howtoswimx.com
      It has nothing to do with the Google updates. Google doesn't care one way or other what your domain name is.
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      • Profile picture of the author Carl Brown
        howtoswimx.com looks spammy too. It can never be an authority site.

        These examples are all great:
        swimmingcentral.com
        swimpedia.com
        allthingsswimming.com
        swimskills.com
        swimblog.com
        swimclass.com
        swimmingauthority.com
        swimable.com

        Why not one of these and make howtoswim a subdomain or put it in its own directory? swimmingauthority.com/howtoswim
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  • Profile picture of the author Mr Lim
    [DELETED]
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    • Profile picture of the author xbluelinks
      Originally Posted by Mr Lim View Post

      Hyphens is a great sources if toy know how to use properly, of course if you wanted to create a spam site that won't be welcomed in anyyway, you get what I meant?
      Not building a spam site but an authority one around a topic. However, I just want to be smart about the domain name I choose that's all.

      I also want the domain to be brandable, hence my thinking to include only 1 hyphen.

      howto-swim.com instead of how-to-swim.com

      But not sure how Google would take it. Hence my question.
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  • Profile picture of the author RedClickSeo
    There are some HUGE sites with hyphens in them. Yaro Staraks blog "entrepreneurs-journey.com" has more link juice that most of us could even fathom. I think this whole debate is dumb. Then again, i also think EMD's are dumb.

    Build a brand, not a website.
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    I'm writing articles to pay my way through college!! Help me out, and get an extremely high quality article from a college student majoring in English and Communications for dirt cheap!! -http://fiverr.com/mared151/write-a-4...y-high-quality
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  • Profile picture of the author Kaljames
    I have been thinking about removing the hyphen in my domains with the hyphens; reading this post; I think I will go ahead and do it.
    Thanks again Warriors.
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  • Profile picture of the author John Romaine
    There's nothing wrong with hyphens. Anyone that tells you otherwise is wrong. Ive ranked numerous websites with hyphens, both before and after the recent updates.

    Have you considered a "related" match domain?

    Here's how I do it
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    BS free SEO services, training and advice - SEO Point

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    • Profile picture of the author xbluelinks
      Originally Posted by John Romaine View Post

      There's nothing wrong with hyphens. Anyone that tells you otherwise is wrong. Ive ranked numerous websites with hyphens, both before and after the recent updates.

      Have you considered a "related" match domain?

      Here's how I do it
      Thanks. I took a look at it and tried it. It works for my other keywords.

      Unfortunately, it doesn't really work well for this particular keyword of mine because the first 3 pages are all filled with <bold>keyword</bold> only.
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  • Profile picture of the author myadcorner
    Use of Hyphens are recommended instead of underscore.
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  • Profile picture of the author Michel Modo
    em, what is EMD?
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    • Profile picture of the author xbluelinks
      Originally Posted by Michel Modo View Post

      em, what is EMD?
      Exact match domain
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  • Profile picture of the author vinzsama
    Does EMD still work today?
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    • Profile picture of the author xbluelinks
      Originally Posted by vinzsama View Post

      Does EMD still work today?
      As you can see in the thread above, some believe that EMD still works today, while others don't. What is certain is that EMD's ranking power has been reduced (significantly).
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