What's your opinion of hyphenated domain names?
 

Such as a name like domain-name.com. Does it cause any real problems? Problems with search engines ranking. Also problems with an actual search for the term "domain name".

Scott S.

Re: What's your opinion of hyphenated domain names?
 

Hi Scott,

I think hyphenated domain names have both good and bad qualities...

For some domain names, there's a "type in" factor - that is, how likely people are to just "type it in" when they're looking for something. I think people generally don't type in the dashes (and it can be hard for some people to find the hyphen on their keyboard!).

So, while some people might type in "runningshoes.com" (if they're looking for running shoes), I suspect they're less likely to spontaneously type in "running-shoes.com".

Also, people, I think, are less likely to remember the hyphen. So if you tell people to go to running-shoes.com, some people will forget the hyphen and go to runningshoes.com - which might be your competitor (or some spammy website).

On the other hand, when people link to a website, they often do so just using the domain name. So, for example, if a person links to www.running-shoes.com - I think search engines are more likely to see this as the phrase "running shoes". On the other hand, if there's a link to www.runningshoes.com - the search engine sees this more as the single word "runningshoes". Anyway, this might affect search engine placement in some cases (positively for the one with the hyphen)...

The rule I tend to follow is - where possible, get both. If the one without the hyphen is available, get that. If the one without the hyphen is not available, but the one with the hyphen is available, then consider it, but consider alternative phrases too, since you might be able to find a good one without the hyphen... :)

I hope that helps! (I have several domains, both with and without hyphens...)

Cheers,

Dien

Re: What's your opinion of hyphenated domain names?
 

Yep...it sure does with people who need to type the domain name in...they either forget the hyphens or they type in underlines instead. Sometimes they just forget where/how many hyphens are in the name.

Haven't noticed any difference as far as search engines.

Hyphenated names are usually slightly lower in appraisal $value because of the hyphens.

Anyway, that's been my experience with them so I avoid them any more and use the hyphenated ones I have for group/division names , where I have other domains under a main one, so I eliminate the people mis-typing it problem. HTH

Sandi Bowman

Re: What's your opinion of hyphenated domain names?
 

Hi Scott,

Hyphenated domain names can Help in the search engines Depending on how Google feels at the time... :)

But Who knows the Future?

Will Anyone actually Bookmark or Remember you or your Hyphenated domain named business?

From over 7 million Domains for Sale at http://www.sedo.com/

What percentage are Hyphenated vs. Not and will it add Value to your business down the road... ;)

Brandable and Memorable domain names in my opinion will Always add Value & Benefits to your business...

Here's some Great Lessons on Naming... David Frey's latest video...
'Name Change'
http://www.imnewswatch.com/archives/...ml?visitFrom=1

Phil

I think...
 

If you want to use one, use it.

Problems? Consider THIS domain: http://www.itt-tech.edu. Not only the hyphenated, but also an "edu" versus a "com".

PR? 6/10

Pete

Re: What's your opinion of hyphenated domain names?
 

Scott,

Hyphenated domains such as domain-name.com should not cause problems with search engines at all.

As for how it will hurt or help your business, that mainly depends on how you will advertise. If a lot of your traffic will be driven by business cards, fliers, word of mouth, and so forth... then you will want something that is easy to remember and preferrably short.

On the other hand, if you will be advertising mostly through search engines, and linking to other websites / from other websites, then hyphenating your domain will not cause a problem. People who find your site from search engines, links, and then book mark your site could for the most part care less how long your domain is.

I own www.Bluefireweb.com which is a hosting company, designing websites / search engine optimization / and hosting are my specialties!!

Hope this helps!

Daniel Rosales
http://bluefireweb.com/

Re: I think...
 

Keep in mind...

PR usually has No preference on your choice of domain name. :)

There's a whole different debate on how PR can make you Money and sometimes Not... ;)

Phil

Re: I think...
 

Hi Pete,

.edu sites usually rank higher than .com sites.

--

Scott,

Thanks for asking. You've already received good advice.

My opinion is: go with non-hyphen names if you can find one. Because they are better from usability point of view. If you take a long view, you will face a nuisance after 5 years when your website is popular and people mistakenly type the domain without the hyphen.

From the search engines point of view, there is negligible difference between a domain with hyphens and a domain without hyphens. But from your audiences point of view, hyphenated domain names isn't a good idea.

Hyphen-Schmyphen
 

Scott,

Thanks for ASKing.

A Hyphenated domain name does not cause a problem with "search term". Generally, your search engine results will be more about the terms used on the Website as opposed to its domain name.

Look at your own searching. How often does a site come back in the results who domain name has Nothing to do with the Search Term you entered? Every time, yeah?

As for people Typing a name into the location bar... how often do You do it? Not often, if ever, I bet. I'd say, you move around the 'Net by Clicking Links, don't you? The same way those who come to your site will get there - by clicking links. In which case, it doesn't matter as Much whether the website has a hyphenated name or not.

The main thing about a Hyphen name is... it's prestigious. It makes you Sound more Official. It Might even give your customers more Confidence to shop with you - then again, if you have what they are after and it's hard to get elsewhere, they might just buy it anyway and sales won't be hurt at all.

Domain names are so Cheap these days, there really is no excuse for not Just Jumping In and Giving It A Go, hyphenated name or not, for whatever idea you have.

Get the non-hyphenated if you can. Even one of the others like .net or .info. Otherwise, go with the hyphen and market better than the others. Either way, Getting Started is More Important than agonizing over a hyphen.

Michael Ross

unhypened or not
 

dien...

so , you are saying that the normal spelling and the hypenated spelling are read by the search engines as the SAME ?

then usatoday.com
and usa-today.com
would have the same ranking ? if that is so , then EVERY domain name would have to have the hypenated domain also, to be protected ?


thanks
bob

Re: unhypened or not
 

Bob,

Thanks.

Ranking is determined by more than the spelling of a domain name.

Michael Ross

This might Answer all your PageRank questions...
 

Excellent PageRank article...

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2007...know-about-it/

Phil

Re: unhypened or not
 

Hi Bob,

To my knowledge, your search engine ranking is mostly dependent on (a) how many links you have in, (b) the words used in those links that are linking to you, and (c) the "Google page rank" of the pages that link to you (the higher the page rank of pages linking to you, the better).

What I was commenting on was part (b) - the words used in linking to you. That's because sometimes people link to you using your domain name.

For example, I might say...

"Go check out www.runningshoes.com "

Notice it's a link. But the "words used" in the link are www, runningshoes, and com.

On the other hand, let's say I said...

"Go check out www.running-shoes.com "

Notice that here, the words it is using for the link are www, running, shoes, and com (since the search engines seem to treat a hyphen the way they do a space). The search engine will see the phrase "running shoes" as part of this link, whereas for the earlier link, the phrase is "runningshoes" (with no space).

Of course, this is only a factor if people link to you using your domain name - as may happen sometimes. It has no effect if people link to you with other words, eg. like saying hey check out running shoes here. So it may have a small effect, in my opinion...

But I think the advantages of having a non-hyphenated domain name outweigh any small effect that I'm talking about here...

By the way, if you do a search on Google for "running shoes", you'll notice that www.runningshoes.com is the first result, and www.running-shoes.com is nowhere to be found (not on the first page, anyway). So does this contradict what I said?

If you check for links in to these domain names (using, say, Altavista), you'll see that runningshoes.com has 391 links in

http://www.altavista.com/web/results...nningshoes.com

while running-shoes.com has only 3 links in

http://www.altavista.com/web/results...ning-shoes.com

So on the 3 criteria I listed above (a, b, and c), runningshoes.com is beating the heck out of running-shoes.com on links in - which is probably the number 1 factor for search engine ranking. The effect I mentioned only helps if you have links in, and if people happen to link to you using your domain name (as people sometimes will do)...

I hope that helps! :)

Cheers,

Dien

More search engine real life examples prove it doesn't matter
 

Dien,

Thanks for explaining.

I just did a search for "running shoes" - with the quotes. And www.runningshoes.com is the last result on the page. The first result is...

Running Shoes - information from ePodiatry
Information from ePodiatry about running shoes, a comprehensive resource on podiatry, podiatric medicine and running shoes.
www.epodiatry.com/running-shoes.htm - 29k

Notice the searched term "running shoes" is in the title, description and url 3 times - it's highlighted each time.

While the www.runningshoes.com url in its link, is not highlighted as a match to my search term.

I repeated the search without the quote marks. www.runningshoes.com is still last (10th) but this time the url is highlighted.

Trying to second guess the search engines is like trying to take a close up photo of the horizon. An exercise in frustration.

Michael Ross

Re: What's your opinion of hyphenated domain names?
 

Thanks everyone for the response.
Scott S.