domain name, dashes or not?

I've heard some rumblings that G's engineers use the dashes as a tipoff that the site is spammy. If you've got a legit site, this shouldn't be a big concern, but why make them wonder?

I also agree that the no-dash URL is better for branding. I'd like visitors to be able to tell their friends about my site around the water cooler without them having to explain that there are dashes between every word. Ultimately, the value of having a memorable URL that people can remember is more valuable then any additional ranking help that a dashed URL could give, IMHO.

 

the-answer-is-easy.tld/the-engines/prefer-sites/with-hypens.html

Great little 'tweak' for added love. I will take a hypenated domain that ranks well, over a compound one that has great branding (but no traffic)

Huuuuhhhhh? hmmmm...

 

well, it is true that many spammy sites have lots of hyphens in their names, but there are good sites with one or two hyphens too. They would be penalizing these ones if they'd do that.

 

i'll choose the dash site.

 

without hyphens are worth more if you ever wanted to resell it, I'm sure that the search engines can read seperate keywords within a domain, hyphened or not.

I'd say buy both but use the non hyphenated because it is all round better for your visitors and for resell value

 

a non dashed site(absence of hyphens) is always better form branding purpose. To get a hyphened domain name just to conquer the SERP's would be a stupid thing to do as SE can change their listing creteria anytime and you would be left with a URL nobody can reach (even if the brand is well recalled). there are various ways to get listed in SERP's apart from dashed domain name

 

I don't think that G actually penalizes for dashes, but they do use it as an indicator that the site could be spammy, and it makes them take a closer look, IMHO (or so I've heard from a fairly reputable source). Take it or leave it.

 

That sounds reasonable.

 

I couldn't have said it better myself, although with dashes will get you a better SEO rank off the bat.