Urgent help should i use + - or __ for new website?

I am doing a new website and i trying to make it as SEO happy as possible. Now if i make a website like

www.sample.com/thailand+samui+beach.php

or

www.sample.com/thailand-samui-beach

or

www.sample.com/thailand_samui_beach

or was it something i missed?

The SE reads the _ as space i guess ?

 

Nope. Search engine read - as space and not _.

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

and http://www.prweaver.com/blog/2004/08/26/2-hyphen-and-underscore

Don't worry about _ or -. write URL for visitors. Search engines don't give importance to them.

More important is keyword in anchor text and not in URL.

 

Well, an interesting query,

though I feel you guess a little too far

I would suggest neither of the three,

Go with

www.sample.com/thailandsamuibeach.php

ya, this is the best option to go with nothing, neither a -, _ or +

Abhilash

 

Why does people write this websites with - + _ ? Why they keep mention it.

 

I agree with ecolatur, its better to use this www.sample.com/thailandsamuibeach.php instead. But if you really wanted to separators, use _. Make a URL that is easier to understand and remember for the user not for the SE. Good Luck ...

 

Now the article i read here says use - not _ and no one says+ so i do not think that is the case. Some one more have a say?

 

Sometimes back (3-4 months) i have read in few newsletters and some (i think) articles saying....keywords in url is NO positive factor and it smells spam to search engines (atleast Google).

 

URL of article??

 

If you need separators go with hyphens (or the " - ") since they are parsed as spaces in google and perhaps in the other major SEs. In my opinion, if your keyphrase is "thailang samui beach" and then use "thailandsamuibeach" in the url, it's not the same and would do nothing no matter how many times "thailandsamuibeach" appears in the url.

this is a quote i have in my notes from reading some articles and forums:

 

anchor text is the one in the Meta tag right?

 

Anchor text is placed between your link URL <a href=URL>Anchor Text</a>

 

I use _ (underscores) and they work just fine for me.

 

It all depends on what "works just fine" means.

As noted, if you want the (small) benefit of keywords in the URL, you definitely do not want to use thailandsamuibeach (read as one word), thailand_samui_beach (read as one word including the _'s), thailand samui beach (creates other problems and will be read/listed in most cases as thailand%20samui%20beach), or thailand+samui+beach.

Use thailand-samui-beach.

 

Thanks a real nice answer Right now i think - is the leader with _ in next place with samuibeach and ++ in the last place. Any one else have some ideas.

 

Yaa...Minstrel always have real answer.

 

Dashes is the way to go. Not only is it easier to read for humans, it reads as individual words to the search engines. It does have benefit to search engines listings and every bit helps.

 

I agree with Minstrel. Use "-".

 

I am half away and it looks something like this. Something i should change?

http://www.a-zthailand.com/dictionary/search.php?query=silom-patpong&idauthor=10&www=true

 

a-z-thailand would have made more sense. If this is a new site and the a-z-thailand domain is still available, change it. If not, and you have PR and rankings established, then leave it.

 

Why does it make more sence, no i have not done any pr yet beucasr the site is not yet finished.