_ or - , that's the question.

For an SEO perspective, what would be the best way to name a page?

this-is-a-page.html

or

this_is_a_page.html

or

this-is-a-page.htm

or

this_is_a_page.htm



I see that digg uses underscores, but i always thought - were better for SEO.
Now I'm confused

 

I often use hyphen (-) and not underscore (_).

 

It really doesn't matter. The point is to break up different works in the URL, not to score when people do a search for "-" or "_".

 

Technically this-is-a-page.html is always better.

 

I'm pretty sure '-' counts as a space.

 

hyphens have traditionally performed better, but Google can still differentiate words using _ to separate them

 

Yes, I always choose hyphens to separate words in the urls.

 

I think this would be better this-is-a-page.html I always use hyphen to separate my keywords on the URL.

 

i would recommend hyphens, it is read as spaces rather than underscores

 

he's right. also if the url is in a hyperlink the _ is hard to see and is confusing.

 

Many SEO module on variou CMS use this version : this-is-a-page.html

 

same effects for SEO but - is better than _ because the easiness. one press 1 key and another pres 2 keys. also people always get used to - more than _ anyway.

 

this I is I a I page.html

 

Hyphens every time, they are not the same for SEO

See http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/dashes-vs-underscores/ for some historical reference re: Google's handling of them

 

hypen is recommended for space in URL...i also use that! but i would suggest that thisisaspace.html would be very helpful to your visitors... they'll not have a hard time to type and type the hyphen/underscore in the URL...

Regards!