Does having "-" in domain mean less traffic?

I got this idea for a domain name but its taken [ by someone and its not even being used!=( ]. So I was wondering if I added something like "-" in the name will that affect my SEO and traffic?
For example:
www.wowguides.com
www.wow-guides.com

 

No difference for SEO purposes, but big difference for branding. Almost definitely without"-" will means more traffic if both are given the same treatment and serps.

 

I know Google declared the other day that underscores in domain names would now be parsed as "word separators," but I'm not sure about dashes - though I assume the same. I think the larger problem is going to be with identity in a marketing sense, lost clicks and with the primacy of the existing domain over yours in SEO terms, but SEO's my weakest field so someone else probably has better answers.

 

In short yes. People forget the hyphen and will just type the words straight.

This isn't always the case though. Good-Tutorials.com is easily remembered by me even though it has a hyphen.

But the probably do lose some traffic.

Skinny

 

It should not make difference with search engines. It will make a difference when people search for site. They will not put the dash in most times so it is harder to remember url.

 

wowguides.com is good in domain name.
Someone replace "-" with "Space" for search

 

Type in wise definitely yes. How many people do you see who like or even think of using the hyphen while typing the website name ?

 

bottom line it will take 2 years before you see a steady solid flow of incoming traffic reason being the domain is brand new so take your chance and don't stress on the domain stay very relevant to your market and get as close as you can to branding it meaning key words in the domain that describes your content

 

Wow, that is some lousy advice given above.

Search Engine rankings will be higher with dashes assuming "wow guides" is what is being searched for (which it probably is not). But as a general rule, yes separate key phrases in url by "-"

I've got a 4 month old site that just surpassed 1k visitors for the month yesterday. Those stats are not impressive but they debunk any "sandbox" or 2 year grace period that anyone might have.

I am glad to hear that google uses "_" as spaces now when in a url. I have not seen the proof but I did check about a month ago and the underscore "_" was counted as nothing when in the url. meaning wow_guides would be viewed as wowguides by a spider. If you could provide a reference for that I would greatly appreciate it.

The best advice I can give you is to buy both and have wowguides.com redirect to wow-guides.com. People typing will inevitably leave out the "-" but search engine spiders might not use it as a space ... so do both. That sounds like a $10 solution that will save you headaches regardless which direction you choose to go.

Good luck, hope this helps

 

Ahh, finally someone with an intelligent post

Hyphens can be a serious pain in the ass for branding purposes. I use a couple hyphenated domains for my SEO based sites, but anything I am trying to grow into a larger project uses a domain without a hyphen.

By the way, people should also register other available extensions of the domain if they are starting a project. If you're serious about your business you'll want to avoid people snatching up the names if your site gets popular. So basically, if you're registering wowguides.com you should also pick up wowguides.net, wowguides.org, wowguides.info, etc. That extra $50 can save you thousands down the road.

 

Sure thing. As you'll note, I stick to offering concrete advice only on things that I have some professional reason to believe that I'm correct about. Everything else I note as speculative or qualify as "not my area of expertise." The link to the underscore thing is here:

http://news.com.com/8301-10784_3-9748779-7.html

 

I don't think "-" makes difficulty in traffic.
traffic depends on your keywords and your content that you written.

 

- makes a difference for recognition of the keywords by google, especially at first google will recognize the keywords better if they're separated by the -. Long term: people linking will probably separate the keywords anyhow, so if your content is good you will rank for the keywords separately anyhow.
But practically speaking, if the URL with - is the best you can get, go for it.

 

ErectADirectory
okay Mr Big Shoot your on the seo chopping board and my theory is just," and my strategy is insanely sought after by your most thought of web designer," you maybe right about one thing but that's all ! any bird brain seo in his right insightful mind knows this!

I said 2 years for the site to bang it home not the stinken domain and thts key visitor are seen at first but sales are the key factor and wht do you know about the holly grail of seomenship?

1k traffic is a milestone away from 5 thousand unique and that is what you will need to target sales"

0123go I agree with you 100% good inclusion

Google is not giving the dash in the domain any props its all over the web my friends

 

He can't buy both as the domain name without the hyphen is already taken! But, like you said Google treats the underscore "_" and the hyphen "-" as a space so in terms of SEO it may help with SERPs. But you may get less direct traffic because of the branding issue. But if the existing domain without the hyphen is not being used then the chances are good that the person trying to get to your site will use the hyphen.

 

You will be fine with the "-", don't worry.
But it's useless to say it's better without "-".
All you need now is to build powerful backlinks and you will rank well in SEs.

Good luck!

 

Zexy I agree with this

this is the hardest part and probably the longest especially if he is not buying them"

 

OK, 1st of all when posting to a public forum please be mindful that everyone will not agree with you and you should keep an open mind when listening to other's opinions. Don't be antagonistic as someone will eventually make you look foolish. I would gladly do this for you but I've been in pissing contests before with people who are stuck in their ways ... I'd rather educate these days.

If you want, I'll send you a note next month when I surpass 5000 visitors since you think that is the most important number. It's not about time ... it's about content and effort.

Who is my most thought of web designer? I didn't know this profession had a Yoda or Dumbledorf working in it. And what is your strategy ... Let the domain age for 2 years?

There is not 1 holy grail of SEO. It's about checks and balances. What works today might now work tomorrow. You must keep up with the news, this is a full time job.

Also people, don't forget to take dlm's advice and lease out the .net & org domain names also. One he forgot to mention that gets typo'd frequently is .cm For all the gooogle / googel / googlee they own I'm sure they would love to have google.cm as it gets typed a bunch.

Great find on-on Very up to date information (released last week). Rep heading your way. I wished I could give some to google for finally seeing the light ... what a terrible policy it was, glad to see a change.

 

Ick, more bad advice. Backlinks should be relevant not powerful. All you need is a few decent links and some great content (titles, headings & paragraphs) to rank well for most phrases. Now if you are trying to rank for "gay money shots", then you have to really evaluate the competition and roll up your sleeves for some serious work as there is a ton of competition. PR DOES ABSOLUTELY NOTHING FOR SERPs. Don't buy what they are selling.

What is the #1 way natural links happen? The digital point or http://www.digitalpoint.com ?

I suggest it is the latter and if you think google's algorithm has time to parse out all the possible combinations of letters in a url you are very wrong. The anchor text in the above examples is ...
#1 - The digital point
#2 - http www digitalpoint com

So looking at that example, can you see the additional benefit of having a word separator in the domain name? By having this you are actually improving the anchor text people will use when linking to your site ... therefore improve your rankings. Links are all about relevance people.

 

It makes not difference to the search engines. The differences exist when people are naturally typing the address in browser.