As Aaron Wall wrote in his Seo Book , hyphenated domains are bad for looks of the site and they are not really important for SEO. When you register a domain name for your site you shouldn't register it necessarily filled of keywords. That's not the key to SEO success, and it's really really a unprofessional image for your site. Let me give you a small example: You want to open a web site about APPLES - well, trust me georgeapples.com (if available) would be alot better than a-p-p-l-e-s.com . Try to buy Aaron's seo ebook, it will open your eyes in many ways, and prevend you spending tons on crap. So the answer to your question " Are having hyphenated domains good? " has two answers : 1. Maybe/YES - quick sale purpose. 2. NO - Long term , SEO , SERPS