Are-Too-Many-Dashes-Viewed-As-Spam?

So can we conclude that we can have as many - in domain names or file names and search engines wonnt filter it as spam? Thats other thing what user think about it..

Also i have 4 months old domain - womens-apparel-wholesale dot com
What i have done is that i have made domain forwarding of another website - protexindia dot com to this url. Its now 4 months and site is not indexed in google. I have even submitted the sitemap which was successfuly downloaded but still site is not indexed in google. What could be the possible reasons?

 

Good point, that theory makes sense to me.

 

clasione

i think we established above that this isn't the case... they won't be penalized algorithmically, atleast not in google.

 

Hmm, I'm now wondering what exactly Matt means when he says "that may still attract attention for other reasons".

Google says they generally try to resolve issues algorithmically, not on a case by case basis. What is it that sets off a filter, or attracts attention to that URL? The keywords (viagra?) The # of hyphens? Or is he just kinda saying, don't make intentionally keyword-heavy URLs in general?

I think Clasione has an interesting point about domains vs. file names. IF they were to penalize, and I'm not saying that they are, it would make more sense to look at domain URLs than extensions.

 

I've not seen a site get penalized for it, but I've seen several sites rank high in the SERP's by doing it. Would you prefer to be ranked higher in the SERP's or possibly have your url considered to be spammy. Although most of the people in these forums might recognize it as being spammy, the other 99.9% of the internet public doesn't know about mod rewrites and doesn't care. It might be worthwhile to consider that SEOChat does it. My experience has been that Yahoo loves it, Msn Likes it, and google doesn't really care too much.

 

My guess is that repetition in the URL can be penalized. for example viagra-viagra-viagra-viagra.com might not be penalized for the dashes, but it could be because the same word is repeated over and over. I have no evidence for this at all, it's just a hypothesis based on Matt's comments. I can't think of anything else other than a manual review/penalty.

 

They don't have to know or care about mod_rewrite to recognize a spam artist, any more than you need to know anything about how a car works to recognize a cheap fly-by-night used car operation.

I rest my case

 

I forget where I read or heard this from but it came from someone at Yahoo. Yahoo does take a look at domains that have too many dashes in them. I'm not sure how or if this is by human review or not..... but they do.

 

While a respect your opinion, I'd disagree. Ask my dad, mom, sister, wife what the url was when they made their last online purchase. I'd guarantee you that they don't know and don't care.

Ask me, and I'd probably probably know the domain name, but not the url. If you are selling to webmasters, then maybe you should care. If you aren't, I'd rather be ranked higher in the serp's.

Where I will agree with you is using to many dashes in the domain name. I think most people would recognize www.gap-clothes-online-1-day-sale-only.com as being spammy. However, if they were to visit, gap.com/christmas-sale-on-jeans.htm, I don't think they would blink an eye.

If you look at the original post, it is asking about a cms using modrewrite on the url.

 

I wasn't talking about remembering the URL - I was talking about having it staring you in the face in the search results - Google, MSNSearch, or Yahoo - it's right there under the description. So unless the individual just clicks on "I Feel Lucky" or the #1 listing, I assume they will at least read what the SE returns.

 

My point is that most non-internet professionals don't look at the url, much less remember it. Most non-internet professionals don't examine the url before deciding to click on a search engine result. I would guess that the large majority look at page title or description, but don't care about url's.

Getting back to the point of this thread,

I've never read anything that said that having too many dashes in your url would hurt you in the serps. But, if you'd like Minstrel to visit your page, don't use hyphens.

 

It would be nice to have some data about this - obviously, I think you're wrong but I can't prove that any more than I can prove I'm right. To each his own, I guess.

 

I agree Minstrel.

 

I've actually thought about this quite a bit myself. I think that people tend to look at the title of the page in the SERPs and not necessarily the URL. I think those of us in this industry are much more prone to viewing the URL than the regular shopper or surfer who just checks if the big bold title looks relevant.

Of course it's obvious what's preferable in terms of branding and repeat visitors.

My conclusion is that unless your site genuinely is spam, it's a much better idea to stick with memorable URLs that people are likely to type in to the address bar in the future.

 

Didn't read the whole thread but want to give my viewpoint:

Domain: Don't use more than 1 dash. It can harm you and has even been commented about by Cutts.

URLs: That's fine for the SEs. But not longer than 250 chars. But indeed, unprofessional in the eyes of the user.

There is a weight added with the KWs in URL. Even if small, that can be vital.

So, judgement should be done.

If it is another of those MFA article sites, who cares if it is long URLs.

If it is your business site representing your company - well ...

 

hi jim,

actually on the first page i link to the post you reference by Matt. he says the dashes won't harm you

anyway, nice to see someone from sweden! jeg er lige kommet hjem til californien (boede i koebenhavn i et aar)--hvis du forstaar dansk

 

What he really said:

 

haha you got the quote before i switched it to danish

 

Hi kkibak,

(Nice dirs you have.)

I give you the exact quote:

http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/dashes-vs-underscores/

"Google doesn’t algorithmically penalize for dashes in the url."
He talks about the URL.

"And bear in mind that if your domain looks like ...."
He talks about the domain.

 

I think you're reading too much into that, Jim. I don't think the intent was to differentiate between dashes in the domain name and dashes in the remainder of the URL. I think he was drawing attention to the obviously spammy.

In other words, it isn't an across the board penalty or filter against dashes but overdo it in an obviously spammy way and don't expect Google to necessarily ignore it.