1. Advertising
    y u no do it?

    Advertising (learn more)

    Advertise virtually anything here, with CPM banner ads, CPM email ads and CPC contextual links. You can target relevant areas of the site and show ads based on geographical location of the user if you wish.

    Starts at just $1 per CPM or $0.10 per CPC.

Dashes In Domain Names

Discussion in 'Domain Names' started by Ashle S, Apr 8, 2011.

  1. #1
    I'd like to get your thoughts on whether or not an ideal domain name should have dashes separating the words.

    Do dashes in a domain name "de-value" the website in a user's mind and/or SEO? Personally, I don't like to see dashes in a domain, but I would like to know if I'm alone in this.

    Thank you.
     
    Ashle S, Apr 8, 2011 IP
  2. chandan123

    chandan123 Prominent Member

    Messages:
    11,586
    Likes Received:
    578
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    360
    #2
    they are good for seo purpose imo. normally we should get nonhyphenated domains too if we going to use dashed domains :p
     
    chandan123, Apr 9, 2011 IP
  3. dcristo

    dcristo Illustrious Member

    Messages:
    19,776
    Likes Received:
    1,199
    Best Answers:
    7
    Trophy Points:
    470
    Articles:
    7
    #3
    This.

    The hyphens are seen as word separators. But if you can get the exact match domain over the hyphen domain it would be preferable.
     
    dcristo, Apr 9, 2011 IP
  4. hanidesigns

    hanidesigns Well-Known Member

    Messages:
    1,426
    Likes Received:
    24
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    130
    #4
    If u r looking for keyword based domains, normally dashes are used as most keyword domains will eb already taken.
     
    hanidesigns, Apr 9, 2011 IP
  5. JamesColin

    JamesColin Prominent Member

    Messages:
    7,874
    Likes Received:
    164
    Best Answers:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    395
    Digital Goods:
    1
    #5
    Usually I include a dash if my domain has an important keyword, and I also take non-hyphen domain and make it redirect to the hyphened one.
     
    JamesColin, Apr 9, 2011 IP
  6. htmlindex

    htmlindex Prominent Member

    Messages:
    11,748
    Likes Received:
    284
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    315
    #6
    An ideal domain name shouldn't have dashes in between because it kills the value of the name dramatically. However, it wouldn't really matter from an SEO perspective as it could help a little.
     
    htmlindex, Apr 9, 2011 IP
  7. psharma

    psharma Prominent Member

    Messages:
    1,955
    Likes Received:
    85
    Best Answers:
    4
    Trophy Points:
    345
    #7
    but dashes must separate whole words (means dont do ha-pp-y.com. it is an alternate way to get keyword domains because most dash free domains must already be gone.
     
    psharma, Apr 9, 2011 IP
  8. chiragagarwal

    chiragagarwal Peon

    Messages:
    56
    Likes Received:
    1
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #8
    Avoid dashes.!
     
    chiragagarwal, Apr 10, 2011 IP
  9. buysellguru

    buysellguru Peon

    Messages:
    218
    Likes Received:
    0
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #9
    Stay away with it even for SEO or Flipping Domain purposes.
     
    buysellguru, Apr 15, 2011 IP
  10. DangerousDavis

    DangerousDavis Peon

    Messages:
    98
    Likes Received:
    1
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #10
    Since all of the good domain names have been bought up it is common for people to use dashes in the domain name. If your trying to get certain words in the domain name for SEO you have to do what you have to do! This does not devalue the name at all in fact it can really does help your SEO efforts to have key words in the domain name. I have used this techniqe for some of my clients and had great success. The only bad part is that someone else will have the same domain without the dashes and there is a chance that a person typing your domain into their address bar may forget the dashes and land on a competitor site.
     
    DangerousDavis, Apr 15, 2011 IP
  11. easyrider7

    easyrider7 Peon

    Messages:
    1
    Likes Received:
    0
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #11
    I don't think all good domain names have been bought up. I bought my first domain name a few months ago and got a great one by being a bit creative.
     
    easyrider7, Jul 29, 2011 IP
  12. JamesColin

    JamesColin Prominent Member

    Messages:
    7,874
    Likes Received:
    164
    Best Answers:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    395
    Digital Goods:
    1
    #12
    Plus the domain name is not that important at all.. Choose a simple one, short, easy to remember instead of one having keywords, the advantage in seo is like near to nothing and the disadvantage is that it's so long..
    Choose a domain name with something like topoto.com for flowers is same or better than best-flowers.com
     
    JamesColin, Jul 29, 2011 IP
  13. iamawesome

    iamawesome Member

    Messages:
    122
    Likes Received:
    1
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    28
    #13
    Not as good as no spaces, but still good for exact match KWs. Horrible for branding though
     
    iamawesome, Jul 31, 2011 IP
  14. ABM House

    ABM House Peon

    Messages:
    100
    Likes Received:
    0
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #14
    I don't like dashes personally and many belive that it is bad for SEO
     
    ABM House, Aug 3, 2011 IP
  15. unknownpray

    unknownpray Active Member

    Messages:
    3,831
    Likes Received:
    14
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    70
    #15
    anking does not really concern having the dashes or not, it is based on something else entirely. The domain name becomes a bit difficult to type having the dashes and all but not that much.
     
    unknownpray, Aug 27, 2011 IP
  16. bharatmax

    bharatmax Member

    Messages:
    650
    Likes Received:
    1
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    28
    #16
    Search Engines never seriously consider the dashed domains as bad ones.some domain names really require dashes.
    One dash is so fair to have.But more than one or two...not good. As IAMAWESOME said its horrible for branding but works well in search engines.
     
    bharatmax, Aug 28, 2011 IP
  17. Card

    Card Well-Known Member

    Messages:
    3,060
    Likes Received:
    39
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    175
    #17
    Well,It depends if the Domain has important keyword and it has hyphens then it has no problem and it is alos good from SEO point of view :)
     
    Card, Aug 28, 2011 IP
  18. agoes182

    agoes182 Peon

    Messages:
    55
    Likes Received:
    2
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #18
    yes, they still good for seo if u want just get free visitor from search engine
     
    agoes182, Aug 30, 2011 IP
  19. deepk

    deepk Greenhorn

    Messages:
    64
    Likes Received:
    0
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    16
    #19
    I just read articles on SEO effects... most say hyphens-in-domain-names may be seen as SPAM in coming days...
     
    deepk, Aug 30, 2011 IP
  20. karlo.dude

    karlo.dude Greenhorn

    Messages:
    33
    Likes Received:
    0
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    18
    #20
    For me, I would avoid dashes.
     
    karlo.dude, Aug 30, 2011 IP