Hello, I'm wondering about using domains with dashes. Its getting very hard to find good domains and I'm thinking of using dashes between my keywords. If the domain name tacklebox is taken and I use tackle-box how would the search engines look at this? Most people type in tackle box to do a search and would see the domain name tacklebox but it seems they must type in tackle-box exactly to see my site if I decide to do it that way. Is this correct? Would using the dashes make it hard for people to find me? Looking at it from a SEO stand point would this make it more difficult to optimize?? I hope I explained clear enough, if not please let me know. If you want a domain and can't find a good one that you like would you consider using the dashes??? What would you do instead? Thanks very much! Mm
A couple points: - Dashes aren't a big deal to search engines, sometimes they even seem to work better than non-hyphenated domains, especially where 2 separate words are involved (race-cars.com vs. racecars.com) - However, they can be a big problem if you want some word of mouth traffic. People usually forget the dash and end up typing in the wrong URL, killing some potential traffic. So there are positives and negatives to using hyphenated domains, but if you'll be relying on search engine traffic, it's not a big deal.
What he said. Do your own research, too. There are sites with dashes that are ranked high on a search, and there are those equally strong with no dahses. If you can't find a good domain name under the com extension, try using another one. Extensions, be it NET, FM, INFO.... does not matter. It's HOW you get it out there that matters. I have FM, and I do just fine. In fact, many are curious about the extension FM, along with the unique ads about the site, so.... Try to think outside the box.