Hi, I'm writing some url names, but I was wondering, which word separator char is better for seo to use - '_' or '-' ... or it just doesn't matter? ex. 'name_of_my_page.aspx' or 'name-of-my-page.aspx' Thanks in advanced for all replies
DEFINITELY use hyphen ('-') instead of underscore ('_') as a word separator in your URL. It is the preferred method for most engines of separating words in folder and page names on your site. Until a couple of years ago, Google did NOT recognize underscore as a word separator. While they said then that they were changing their system to recognize it as a word separator, Google STILL recommends that you use hyphen instead of underscore. Note the 2nd paragraph: There is likely a good reason for this recommendation. My guess is that not ALL code at Google has yet been modified to see the underscore as a word separator. IMO you should avoid using word separators at all in domain names, but ALWAYS use them in folder and page names in URLs. Use word separators and descriptive names for images as well because they give Google clues about your images for image search. I say avoid using word separators in domain names because of the usability issues they create, NOT because of they create any SEO issues. Using word separators in domain names makes the domain names harder to remember, longer to type, more difficult to type, etc. After all, people are much more likely to remember your domain name than they are to remember the entire URL to a particular page on your site (unless it is a very simple URL like example.com/blog). Using word separators in domain names doesn't create SEO issues, but at the same time doesn't really add much, if any, SEO benefit. The engines are pretty good at matching multiple keywords in a search phrase to a domain name when it counts - EXACT MATCH. Since exact match in domain names is really the only time having keywords in the domain gives you a "significant" SEO benefit, search engines can easily check for an exact match for a "keyword1 keyword2" search phrases in http://www.keyword1keyword2.com/. Even in the folder name and page name portions of the URL, the engines are pretty good at locating the keywords from the search phrase in the URL... However, your users may not be. And sometimes even the search engines may parse the URL into the wrong keywords unless you explicitly tell them how you want it parsed w/ a word separator like hyphen. For example, if you have a page named iamsad.html, they may parse this as i-am-sad or as iams-ad (Iams being the premium pet food manufacturer). So it's always better in the folder and page names to explicitly use word separators so there is no confusion to the search engines AND your users.
I won't answer your question... Matt cutts will! See the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3SFVfDIS5k