Should I convert my site from underscores to hyphens?

Right now I did all my pages like this:

http://www.gastricbypassexpress.com/mini_gastric_bypass.htm

And I have been reading alot on the forums and some people are die hard hyphen fans. Should I switch it all over? This site has not yet been indexed, so if I want to change it now would be the time...but I dont know if its worth it...

Opinions?

 

I think that's overkill and would just leave it as is.

Work on more important things like offpage optimisation.

 

I too seem to notice the benefits of naming with - vs. _

I have started to alter all designs on new sites, I am not sure about going backwards.

 

Keyword URLs as well as hyphen URLs are highly overrated.

Keep your current URLs as you will only lose from your change. You will not gain any significant improvement.

 

So you think:

sexy lindsay lohan
resulting #1 in google with:
http://www.lindsay-lohan-sexy-pictures.com/
is conincidence?

I am not questioning you, just asking your opinion. I have been trying to do research on this and my conclusion is that is does have a positive effect.

 

It's not because of the keywords in the URL, but because :

lindsay-lohan-sexy-pictures.com is #1 in allinanchor for the word.

lindsay-lohan-sexy-pictures.com has 1 important IBL from a highly relevant IMDB page, as well as having MORE IBL's than the second one.

Also, the lindsay-lohan-sexy-pictures.com has a much higher inpage keyword density, than allsexycelebs.com/pics/lindsay_lohan/, which basically has NO text, just some images.

I think this kind of proves you that keyword URL's are pretty much overrated (not useless, but pretty much).

 

Thank you. I am going to try and understand this "allinanchor" thing that I obviously don't quite get yet.

Anyway, thanks for the links. I will keep researching.

P.S. I am not sure how many others here have never even taken a single computer or programming class of any kind. All my skills come from viewing source code and the garbage can, so excuse my slowness or ingornace on some topics which seem well known.

 

Start here. Great resource for newbies, and not only.

Chill. We all gotta' start somewhere

 

I prefer using hyphens than underscores... if you want to emphasize spaces.

 

Hey, I found DP, I can't be that slow. ; )

 

Okay, so let me see if I get it:

Basically, if I want to be known on the internet and come up first for "king browntwn" I want any page that links to me, to use that,"king browntwn", as the text that is hyperlinked?

Like King Browntwn


Sorry to hijack your thread into a side issue

 

Definitely hyphens. When I switched, I experienced a massive improvement in my SERPS.

 

Your right on there.

 

Okay, great.

So who has the tool that tells me how many sites with an "allinanchor" set of terms are out there? Let's say I am crazy and want to go after the term "jessica alba picture" How do I know how many sites I am competing against for that "allinanchor" term?

I dont just mean: allinanchor:jessica alba picture

But rather, how do I know how many allinanchor links the top site has?
Thanks for all the help. I can learn fast around here!

 

if matt cutts says hyphens, then thats what you shgould do. You should do it now if you aren't indexed yet, otherwise you will need to set up 301 redirects to make sure that you don't lose traffic.

about the allinanchor link stuff for king browntwn. It would be even better if you could get it (the link) as a sentance of some sort that incorporates another keyphrase for whatever king of browntwn is. if you are a travel site you might have something like: Get "King Browntwn" lodging specials and vacation infomration to experience savings of 10% and more. and make the whole thing a link.

 

Hi All, newbie here.

Are underscores generally more marketable than hyphens. I have a hyphen in my webname...should it be underscored?

 

If someone links to your site using the domain name as the anchor text (like is often done in forums and similar places) and the url has has hyphens, then the keywords will count as anchor text. Otherwise, I think that they won't.

Despite that, I rarely use hyphens myself, though I do use them on occasion. When it comes to underscores vs. hyphens, though, I try to go for hyphens.

 

Thanks for the tips.

 

This is an awesome thread. Who would have guessed that using a hyphen or an underscore would make any difference?!?! Anyways, here's a question for some of the veterans: Though it seems that hyphens are better to use now - could it be possible the the SEs decide to change their algos and all of a sudden UNDERSCORES are better???

Thanks!