Using hyphens in keywords

I have a keyword in one of my accounts that is getting a ton of impressions. This keyword contains hyphens, and I am curious how Google treats hyphens. From the Search Query report, it appears that Google takes the hyphen out and replaces it with a space.

Example:

blue-widget-case
"blue-widget-case"

Google sees:

blue widget case
"blue widget case"

Is this correct based on your experience? I appreciate the help.

-John

 

You are basically correct. I would expect that with the added weight now given to the URL of a site you will begin to see more hyphenated names.

 

Google treats hyphens and spaces as one thing

 

As long as I am learning about this, what about these other special characters?

"ABA/NBA champs" = "ABA NBA champs" ?
"dr.cold" = "dr cold" ?
"curvy (not fat)" = "curvy not fat " ?
"figure+8" = "figure 8" ?
"we're #1" = "we're 1" or "we re 1" ??

Thanks for your help!

 

I am no expert, but I have found that Google ignores most punctuation. The except is an underscore. "Dr_Cold" will turn up different search results than "Dr Cold"

I don't know what other search engines do.

 

Interesting. What would make an underscore different? Not a common enough use to warrant being ignored?

 

From my experience, Google treats them all the same, especially hyphens in domain names.

 

Thanks plibb, but I want to be sure we stay focused on keywords here used in Google AdWords, not domain names. When I was searching for this answer on the web, domain names and keywords with hyphens got muddied and it was difficult to ascertain an answer.

-John

 

I don't know. I would not have expected it to be treated differently than other punctuation. It seems odd to me that it is be different and I wish I knew why.

 

Totally misread your post lol Sorry about that but yeah, it seems Google still does that.

 

if you are using Google AdWords, Google doesn't allow using any punctuation in keywords. so you won't be allowed to use keywords like:
"ABA/NBA champs"
"dr.cold"
"curvy (not fat)"
"figure+8"
"we're #1" or "we're 1"

but only
"ABA NBA champs"
"dr cold"
"curvy not fat "
"figure 8"
"we re 1"

 

Thanks I-Gloo. So you are saying that Google essentially REPLACES the punctuation with a space? This is different than if Google REMOVES the punctuation.

Also, anyone else know about the underscore issue?