I was just reading on www.seo-gold.com that Hyphenating domains is better for SEO because it separates the keywords for Google. I was always taught that hyphens in domain names are bad things. Which is right? What should I do, Hyphen or not?
Okay cool, I'll probably only have one hyphen. Doing the keyword research now. Also, does the extension matter for SEO? I was planning on a .com.au domain instead of .com, will this hinder my SERPS? And if it's no problem, is there anywhere that lets you register .com.au for just one year? the minimum seems to be two.
Don't use hyphens in a domain name - it's generally a very bad idea. Search engines CAN recognize two separate words in a domain name without a hyphen. Anyone who says otherwise is wrong. There may be exceptions to this - like when you want to separate two words to avoid any confusion. Classic examples are penisland.com (Pen Island not Penis Land) and expertsexchange.com (Experts Exchange not Expert Sex Change). Now, when it comes to the part of the URL after the domain name (e.g. domain.com/how-to-use-hyphens), then it is a good idea to use hyphens in the URL. Domain extension is important if you are targetting the search engine of a particular country. So get the .com.au domain name only if your site is intended for Australian visitors, otherwise get .com.
Honestly, I'm not sure it makes much of a difference. Search engines can obviously tell the difference between words even if they aren't hyphenated, and there are different gurus out there preaching each way. I've had good luck with both hyphenated and unhyphenated - for me it comes down to availability most of the time.
I'm with Sarah on this. I've heard comments for and against. It is like the saying "what do you see 'nowhere'? - No where or Now here". Personally I think it may have helped when the Web was developing but now I think that SE's are more able to differentiate between words in domains.
I think hyphen websites are annoying, especially if you have to give someone your email. It looks like you hit the .89 cent super clearance at GoDaddy and couldn't afford the $8 dollars
This is my opinion. If you are running an affiliate site which is intended to be found in Google rather than be a memorable domain, then use hyphens. If it is a domain name that you intent people to remember, then dont use hyphens, because it should be easy to remember. I will say that I dont believe for a second that the search engines dont understand the individual words in a domain name that doesnt use hyphens. If that was the case, then why are the prevelant results for most keywords those exact domains?
Well, it's right domain is playing good roll in your seo, but only domain can't give you everything for me simple domain and internal page should be in hyphened and yes if you are targeting any country then your domain should be according them like co.uk, com.au and your hosting or server should be also in same country it's really help
Well, if you are using domain like mysite.com then google read these domain mysite and if you are using my-sites.com then google read separately
I think hyphenated names look better in most cases and are easier to remember. For SEO purposes, the unhyphenated version is probably the way to go but for direct traffic and branding purposes I'd go for the hyphen. Why not register both domains and do a redirect to your domain of choice?
Hyphens suck for branding purposes - have you tried giving out a hyphenated domain name to customers - oh yeah, my domain name is keyword1 hyphen keyword 2 hyphen keyword 3. Anyway, it is clear that people on here love to use hyphens so use them as much as you like. They don't look spammy or anything - not at all...
I'm referring to two word phrases with a hyphen for branding purposes, not those spammy five or six word phrases. I think, for example, that seo-surprise.com (not my site) brands better than seosurprise.com (not my site). It's just my opinion, but I think it looks better on a t-shirt with a hyphen. So I'll stick with my original thought - a hyphen is good for branding.
I guess one hyphen could be OK but if you have an exact match domain for your keywords, I think you'll stand a better chance of ranking without the hyphen. Given a choice of seosurprise.com and seo-surprise.com, I'd choose the former every time. It's just easier to tell someone that domain name rather than have to tell them there's a hyphen, plus a hyphen is just harder to reach for on a keyboard. But each to their own