domain with or without hyphen???

Discussion in 'Search Engine Optimization' started by cri8bat, Jun 21, 2009.

  1. #1
    hello all SEO experts :)

    today I found a great niche and when to godaddy to buy a domain rich on the keywords.

    but here is the catch, I found a domain with 3 good keywords but now I am consufed should I use 2 hyphens or no hyphens.

    with hyphens it looks good and whitout hyphens is hard to read.

    but I am not sure if Google will penalyge domain with 2 hyphens?

    the domain is 19 characters long (without hyphens) and 21 char long with hyphens.


    need your advice :)
     
    cri8bat, Jun 21, 2009 IP
  2. contentboss

    contentboss Peon

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    #2
    contentboss, Jun 21, 2009 IP
  3. unna

    unna Well-Known Member

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  4. cri8bat

    cri8bat Well-Known Member

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    #4
    cri8bat, Jun 21, 2009 IP
  5. hiteshb

    hiteshb Well-Known Member

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    #5
    Domain with hypen is not bad particularly if you can fairly divide domain in two keywords. I have most of my domains with hypens and have great sucess. Probably you will not get good direct traffic but search traffic would be good if you have no competitors.
     
    hiteshb, Jun 21, 2009 IP
  6. wibblet

    wibblet Banned

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    #6

    that's not true at all while domain name is nice it's also very hard to get a premium domain without investing a lot of money. It's all about serps if you're number 1 for your targeted keyword then who cares what your domain name is as long as people can find you in search engines you're fine.
     
    wibblet, Jun 21, 2009 IP
  7. Sahil72

    Sahil72 Well-Known Member

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    #7
    I think you should go with the non-hyphen domain name! :)
     
    Sahil72, Jun 21, 2009 IP
  8. alecs

    alecs Well-Known Member

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    #8
    A domain without hyphens is my choice.
    Imagine someone calls you and tells you about a great site "free credit cards dot com". An average human would type in freecreditcards.com, not free-credit-cards.com.
     
    alecs, Jun 21, 2009 IP
  9. Joeey

    Joeey Peon

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    #9
    Does not make a difference. My best site has a hyphen and the only problem is telling people the website address. Now a days everyone knows the lingo "dash" - back in 2003 I had to explain it. I have been trying to buy the name with no dash for years but owner is stubborn. I even got a registered trademark for the name
     
    Joeey, Jun 21, 2009 IP
  10. gkd_uk

    gkd_uk Well-Known Member

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    #10
    I have domains with two hypens and they rank well in search engines
     
    gkd_uk, Jun 21, 2009 IP
  11. xYassassinYx

    xYassassinYx Guest

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    #11
    without is prob best, but a hyphen can work fine too
     
    xYassassinYx, Jun 21, 2009 IP
  12. tinner666

    tinner666 Peon

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    #12
    Buy both and 301 the one you decide not to use.
     
    tinner666, Jun 21, 2009 IP
  13. brian65

    brian65 Active Member

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    #13
    I don't think it matters with or withoue hyphens as long as the version without hyphens isn't confusing. In your case I'd go for the shortest domain name which is the one without hyphens.
     
    brian65, Jun 22, 2009 IP
  14. 3DProf4online

    3DProf4online Peon

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    #14
    It will be ok if a domain name includes hyphens.
     
    3DProf4online, Jun 22, 2009 IP
  15. nidhivishwas

    nidhivishwas Peon

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    #15
    It doesn't matter that url includes hyphen or not.
     
    nidhivishwas, Jun 22, 2009 IP
  16. OnInternetBusinessGuide

    OnInternetBusinessGuide Well-Known Member

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    #16
    A hyphen might help for search engine to get your keywords. Although they can be easier to read for users and SE, they are certainly harder to type spell out to someone else. Without hyphen is good choice and probably better if your keywords are simple.
     
    OnInternetBusinessGuide, Jun 22, 2009 IP
  17. Canonical

    Canonical Well-Known Member

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    #17
    The search engines could care less whether you have hyphens in your domain or not. Personally, if I'm choosing between two domains like keyword1-keyword2.keyword3.com and keyword1keyword2keyword3.com I always go w/ the one without hyphens - less to type, easier to type etc. But when choosing between hyphens or no-hyphens for page and folder names in the URL I always choose the hyphenated version.
     
    Canonical, Jun 22, 2009 IP
  18. legally

    legally Peon

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    #18
    If you have the choice, no dash would be better than with a dash.

    Overall, a great domain with a dash is better than no domain at all.
     
    legally, Sep 9, 2009 IP