Does the use of " - " (MINUS) symbol in webpage effect the ranking or search results?

Discussion in 'Search Engine Optimization' started by kslokesh, Sep 15, 2008.

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  1. #1
    Many use " - " DASH or MINUS symbol in the page title, content, keywords, links etc..

    In google and most of other search engines the "-" is used to exclude the results which contains the word next to Minus symbol.

    Eg: Consider a page with title "PhotoEditor -Shareware". Assume that pages and site is indexed.
    When an user searches for the terms:
    photoeditor -shareware [to exclude shareware in the results]
    Will the page with the above title appear in the search results or not?

    Is the careful usage of " - " symbol also an SEO Tricks?
     
    kslokesh, Sep 15, 2008 IP
  2. T_Media

    T_Media Peon

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    #2
    I doubt one could use a hyphen to help them rank for a search using the negative operator.
     
    T_Media, Sep 15, 2008 IP
  3. kslokesh

    kslokesh Well-Known Member

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    #3
    I dont know whether it will affect the ranks, but it may affect the showing up of a page in the results..

    Consider a company is offering a shareware and wants to promote its software. Most of the users will search for free softwares and will try to remove sharewares by using -shareware.. I myself use the terms freeware and -shareware together when searching for some software so that only freewares get listed and sharewares are not..
     
    kslokesh, Sep 15, 2008 IP
  4. astup1didiot

    astup1didiot Notable Member

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    #4
    Well, first the "hypen" is a proper delimiter for web site domain names; it does not have any negative effects on search results or search rankings. Search engines consider this a space in the domain name, it will effect direct type in traffic.
     
    astup1didiot, Sep 15, 2008 IP
  5. Icheb

    Icheb Peon

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    #5
    Give me one good reason why it SHOULD appear. There is absolutely no logic to your statements. With the search engine query you mentioned you state you don't want this keyword in your results, so WHY should Google display those results if they go against what the user wants?

    A bit of logic could go so far, yet no one seems to be able to use it...
     
    Icheb, Sep 15, 2008 IP
  6. catanich

    catanich Peon

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    #6
    Google recommends the use oh the Hyphens. They are used in domains, subdomains and webpage names. They are used in the <title>, Descrip, H1 and so on...

    The only SEO trick that may include the hypen it when you are using a two letter keyword (i.e. my-site)
     
    catanich, Sep 15, 2008 IP
  7. monfis

    monfis Well-Known Member

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    #7
    He's not talking about domain/folder/URLs.

    He's asking for title and page copy advise.

    My two cents. It doesn't matter if we talk about URLs or page copy - they do not harm, used correctly where they should!

    But if you want to rank for "abc abc" I won't advice to use "abc-abc" not on page nor in Domain URL. In folder and page names the hyphen is ok and recommended, it helps a bit (SEO wise).

    "mybestkeyword" (.com) ranks usually better for "my best keyword" (search), than "my-best-keyword" (.com)!
     
    monfis, Sep 15, 2008 IP