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.

Simple SEO dash question

Discussion in 'Search Engine Optimization' started by WatchMeFly, Jan 24, 2008.

0
  1. #1
    Hello everyone,

    I know that about a year ago most people would say word1-word2.com would rank better for SEO reasons as opposed to word1word2.com

    Now about a year later are things the same way or has google got smarter and dash or no dash no longer makes a difference.

    Apologize in advance if this question has been asked before
     
    WatchMeFly, Jan 24, 2008 IP
  2. cashmachine101

    cashmachine101 Peon

    Messages:
    637
    Likes Received:
    10
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #2
    I've read a few reports that dashes are bad for SEO. I think so long as you use only 1 dash it's okay.

    Dashes better than no dashes? Haven't heard that before, and I have no idea why that would be the case.
     
    cashmachine101, Jan 24, 2008 IP
  3. just-4-teens

    just-4-teens Peon

    Messages:
    3,967
    Likes Received:
    168
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #3
    dashes are better than underscores in urls, simply because it is easier for visitors to read/remember the url (sometimes underscores can look like spaces), in terms of seo i dont think it makes much difference
     
    just-4-teens, Jan 24, 2008 IP
  4. aira

    aira Active Member

    Messages:
    1,176
    Likes Received:
    7
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    78
    #4
    imo url's with or without dashes are treated the same by search engines though i think they see the one without dashes as natural links
     
    aira, Jan 24, 2008 IP
  5. WatchMeFly

    WatchMeFly Peon

    Messages:
    100
    Likes Received:
    0
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #5
    Thanks for your reply but my question is pertaining to dashes within a domain not after it.

    In other words when it comes to SEO does word1-word2.com have any advantage over word1word2.com ?

    thanks :)
     
    WatchMeFly, Jan 24, 2008 IP
  6. ~ServerPoint~

    ~ServerPoint~ Banned

    Messages:
    1,817
    Likes Received:
    13
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    80
    #6
    Situation:
    phrase golden west
    domains: goldenwest.com and golden-west.com
    People are looking for golden west not for goldenwest
    In this case wich domain would be better?
     
    ~ServerPoint~, Jan 24, 2008 IP
  7. SEOguy101

    SEOguy101 Active Member

    Messages:
    640
    Likes Received:
    14
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    60
    #7
    I would say (although this has yet to be confirmed by Matt Cutts), that websites with one or two dashes in the domain may have a SLIGHTadvantage to those that don't IF they are using them to separate keywords. However, if you have too many dashes it may be possible that you catch one of Google's fancy filters and it will actual will hurt your rankings.

    Matt uses dashes in the end part of his url such as http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/dashes-vs-underscores/ for instance, so apparently they must be useful for the sub-pages of your domain...and I would assume the same for the domain itself as well.
     
    SEOguy101, Jan 24, 2008 IP
  8. Hersheys

    Hersheys Peon

    Messages:
    2,591
    Likes Received:
    23
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #8
    I guess it doesn't matter whether you use dash or not. Your rankings would depend on how well you optimized the site.
     
    Hersheys, Jan 25, 2008 IP
  9. coolslko

    coolslko Active Member

    Messages:
    177
    Likes Received:
    9
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    58
    #9
    Well......its better to avoid dashes or underscores but if needed then using dashes will be always a better choice as Uderscores are considered as spaces by search engines......
     
    coolslko, Jan 25, 2008 IP
  10. ishtar

    ishtar Well-Known Member

    Messages:
    297
    Likes Received:
    3
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    120
    #10
    read more about it here
     
    ishtar, Jan 25, 2008 IP
  11. thunderbolt007

    thunderbolt007 Active Member

    Messages:
    851
    Likes Received:
    7
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    58
    #11

    Where did you get that kind of informations? That dashes are bad for SEO? You must be joking...

    As far as I know it can help a little since A hyphen or dash works as a localized EXACT operation...In Search Engine perspective... :)
     
    thunderbolt007, Jan 25, 2008 IP
  12. angilina

    angilina Notable Member

    Messages:
    7,824
    Likes Received:
    186
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    260
    #12
    simple answer,

    word1-word2.com = good for search engines

    word1word2.com = good for humans :D
     
    angilina, Jan 26, 2008 IP
  13. poseidon

    poseidon Banned

    Messages:
    4,356
    Likes Received:
    246
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #13
    ya fair enough..

    Although now it looks they both have equal value. It is just to human eye, it looks word1-word2.com looks like better as compared to word1word2.com for search engines.
     
    poseidon, Jan 31, 2008 IP