hyphens or underscores for SEO?

which ones do you use and which ones are better? I have heard many people say that hyphens are better than underscores but in my my own experience i have found that underscores seem to achieve a higher SERP? has anyone else experimented with both?

 

I've never actually put it to the test myself, but when this subject is discussed the consensus tends to be that hyphens are better.

 

yea that is the general consensus i believe many people have told me that hyphens are preffered

 

This gets done weekly, just use hyphens. With underscores:

http://www.domain.com/whats_this.html

What does that URL appear to have? Yes a space when it actually doesn't, use hyphens for the best URL recognition plus it takes 1 key to type instead of 2.

 

Use forward slashes hehe

 

i prefer hyphens over underscores - << see a hyphen lol - i use them when posting a lot for some reason but same with domains - but i doubt any one of these affects seo

 

highphens are better than underscores.

 

highphens or + in between keywords give u good serps results

 

as sweet funny said hyphens makes it easier to remember domains rather than underscores. Hyphens are also easy to type in as it can be done with a single key press but its takes 2 keys in case if an underscore

 

there are many threads about this already.

im 99% sure that most people will choose hyphen over underscore.

 

I used to use underscore but then changed to a hyphen with new sites after reading somewhere that this was a better way to do it as Google and other search engines are more likely to accurately index a URL that contains hyphens as opposed to underscores. How much truth there is in this I don't know, but I've been sticking with hyphens.

 

Matt Cutts has clearly said hyphens make the two words recognized as two words in google. That should put this question to rest, IMO.

 

Go with hyphen and do all seo tactics for better ranking and visibality of site in search engines.

 

Hypens, as a SE does not consider a underscore as a word seperator

 

here is some answers for your question. they are all related "Hyphens or underscores"

http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=120022
http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=82221
http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=74750
http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=69248
http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=25978

 

I use hyphens too.

 

Hyphens here

 

I'd go with the hyphen. Most people who do not type for a living have no clue how to find the underscore on the keyboard. If they had to type out your address, they would never get it.

 

great feedback all thanks!

 

Hyphens appear to be the winner. Google normally will find and highlight words not separated.