Current feeling on value of hyphenated .co.uk vs .org.uk?

[Edwin]

How do you see the value of a hyphenated .co.uk vs a .org.uk for commercial domains?

Does the number of words (i.e. the number of hyphens) change the value ratio between the two?

For a really good 2-word commercial phrase, which would you rather own if you had to choose just one? word1-word2.co.uk or word1word2.org.uk?

 

[foz]

I'm surprised at what does sell.

Neither. Perhaps go for three word .co.uk or .com

 

[Edwin]

I'm surprised at what does sell.

Neither. Perhaps go for three word .co.uk or .com

Sigh. That really wasn't my point.

I'm just trying to gauge how people feel about hyphens vs .org.uk (all other things being equal)...

 

[foz]

Is that possible? What was the last 10 reported dashed .co.uk sales?

 

[foz]

According to domainprices.co.uk:

Bubble-Hub.co.uk £ 1,425 August 2011
casino-gambling.co.uk £ 870 July 2011
cotswold-cottages.co.uk £ 795 February 2011
driving-lessons.co.uk £ 2,000 May 2011
e-clinic.co.uk £ 995 November 2011
E-Parts.co.uk £ 469 February 2011
Experience-Day.co.uk £ 1,000 October 2011
gas-barbecues.co.uk £ 995 July 2011
Go-On.co.uk £ 1,200 March 2011
half-price.co.uk £ 1,000 June 2011
hedge-trimmers.co.uk £ 795 March 2011
Hi-Tec.co.uk £ 952 October 2011
I-Remortgage.co.uk £ 250 February 2011
kitchen-doors.co.uk £ 6,250 March 2011
lampe-berger.co.uk £ 1,500 December 2011
logbook-loans.co.uk £ 893 November 2011
logo-design.co.uk £ 2,232 April 2011
personalinjury-claims.co.uk £ 1,000 December 2011
rg-racing.co.uk £ 670 May 2011
Sweet-Shop.co.uk £ 401 January 2011
telescopic-ladder.co.uk £ 759 January 2011
The-Brewery.co.uk £ 1,500 September 2011
trade-paint.co.uk £ 1,250 March 2011
vertical-blinds.co.uk £ 1,300 May 2011
woodburning-stoves.co.uk £ 975 February 2011
mortgage-calculator.co.uk £ 12,500 January 2012
plumbing-courses.co.uk £ 700 January 2012
valet-parking.co.uk £ 750 January 2012

Hardly a market worth banking on (25 reported sales in 2011).

 

[websaway]

How do you see the value of a hyphenated .co.uk vs a .org.uk for commercial domains?

Does the number of words (i.e. the number of hyphens) change the value ratio between the two?

For a really good 2-word commercial phrase, which would you rather own if you had to choose just one? word1-word2.co.uk or word1word2.org.uk?

Depends on the commercial entity using it. There is often a thin line between profit making and non profit making businesses, can be non profit making with everyone getting big fat salaries,so it clouds the issue.
But for absolute profit making company, so might issue shares in the future, I don't think org.uk is an option. Hyphenated is tricky though aswell, so, sorry no definative answer from me, if there is a definative answer at all.

 

[redbird]

Personally I'd always go for hyphenated co.uk over an org.uk.

It always surprises me that nationallottery.co.uk redirects to the hyphenated one as their preferred choice when they own both.

 

[foz]

It always surprises me that nationallottery.co.uk redirects to the hyphenated one as their preferred choice when they own both.

The double LL perhaps?

 

[websaway]

Personally I'd always go for hyphenated co.uk over an org.uk.

It always surprises me that nationallottery.co.uk redirects to the hyphenated one as their preferred choice when they own both.

I don't think they originally owned both you know. I think they started off with the hyphen. Love it if someone new for definate.

 

[redbird]

The double LL perhaps?

Possibly, so that might be another thing for Edwin to take into account.

 

[tifosi]

For me depends on the context & syntax and the compound words...

golddust.co.uk vs gold-dust.co.uk. The d at the and & d at the start maked the hyphen more readable & hence commercially more viable

businessplan.co.uk vs business-plan.co.uk. businessplan syntax readable so hyphen less needed.

For 3 or more compound phrases a double hyphen can sometimes make the phrase more readable.

 

[Edwin]

I see hyphenated .co.uk vs .org.uk as a prize fight between 2 featherweight boxers. We all know a superheavyweight (unhyphenated .co.uk) would squash both like flies, but that doesn't make the fight itself irrelevant...

 

[vizzo]

Probably not the reply you want, but here's my view. If it's for a b&m business I think dashed co.uk has to be better than org.uk. If it's for a pure web-based business, then it matters less and to me they are about equal, although having said that I just have the gut feeling that it's easier to rank well without the dash.
Two other factors are readability and rememberability.
Dashes make things easier to read, but sometimes people forget to put them in if they are typing the domain from memory into a browser.
Another factor i guess is the number of words
eg
greenwichplumbingsupplies
greenwich-plumbing-supplies

Now going back and reading Edwins actual question!
I would prefer word1-word2.co.uk

 

[Aegean]

Google approves of hyphens to separate words in all contexts, not just domains. For example, with image names like dormer-windows.jpg or with pdf filenames.

So my view of Edwins original point is I would certainly use a hyphenated .co.uk over a .org.uk. My own clients, and their customers, seem to be used to .co.uk primarily and then .org, but in my own experience .org.uk tends to throw people unless it's heavily branded and promoted. It's no trouble to get a hyphenated .co.uk to the top of google, its just with the obvious type-in error that it interferes with human use.

Thats my 2p's worth.

 

[cc976a]

Personally I hate hyphens, but the fact that you will see many more commercial businesses with a hyphen in their .co.uk domain rather than a .org.uk domain means I'd certainly favour the former if I were buying for a commercial, heavily funded venture.

It's true you loose type in traffic, but let's face it - if you are looking for a specific company, and ended up somewhere else - doubtful you'd buy from them instead as there was a reason you'd typed it in in the first place. You'd find out correct URL and go there instead.

For affiliate type businesses I go for the .org.uk domain, for the theory of better exact match bonus - but commercial i'd go for hyphenated .co.uk

My tuppence worth

 

[Lovekraft]

Just from my experience, I prefer hyphenated domains. One of my highest ever (unpublished) sales was a hyphenated domain name so that is what I have to go on to draw my conclusion.

I don't have too much experience of org.uk's as I've generally avoided them having sold a couple to end users for low £xxx, however I have been seeing some not bad sales for them recently.

As far as end users go, I just think the org.uk extension is a little uglier and overly long, and like has been pointed out a hyphen in some cases can help break 2 words up to be read clearer.

 

[retired_member34]

The only reason to choose either would be as a cheaper (than the unhyphenated .co.uk) SEO play. As the the hyphenated .co.uk will not get an exact match boost, then I'd go for the .org.uk every time.

An actual business would surely never buy the hyphenated .co.uk unless they also had the unhyphenated, that would be foolish (though it was different 10 years ago when Google needed help with word separators).

Doesn't stop people buying hyphenated domains though.

 

[vizzo]

I'm not sure everyone agrees that hyphenated domains lose out in the "exact match boost". Having said that i'm sure there's less hyphenated results in the serps than there used to be.

GeoMal makes a good point though. If greenwichplumbingservices co uk was already in use, surely it wouldn't make sense to go for either hyphenated or orguk. Better to go for another name.

 

[willbon]

hyphenated .co.uk for me.

I see value of .org.uk being about 1/3 to 1/2 of hyphenated .co.uk for £xx-£xxxx range... but after that price point, having a punt at values becomes meaningless.


But totally depends on the way customers are going to find it! I would have thought the .org.uk would show stronger in searches with same SEO factors.



But if it's a long term proposition, surely it 'needs' the unhyphenated and hyphenated on all extensions to be viable?.. However, if you're market is the owner of the non-hyphenated, then it depends who they are!

Don't you think it's about time the domain industry 'named it's price' ... it would make life a lot easier! ;-)

 

[wb]

Would probably say the values of them are the same or very close when undeveloped, but the type of buyers for each are different.

From what I've seen (and I could of course be wrong without knowing all the data), more hyphenated .co.uk domains seem to have been purchased by end-users than .org.uk domains. The latter being favoured instead by affiliates and lead generators.

Personally I would prefer an unhyphenated .org.uk to a hyphenated .co.uk. Neither are going to be ideal for offline advertising, but I'm basing this purely on the slight exact match bonus the unhyphenated .org.uk should get leading to potentially quicker and easier results. Either can always be 301'd once ranking to an unhyphenated and memorable .co.uk.

A good example is the current number one result for 'payday loans' which started out as a hyphenated .co.uk, then unhyphenated .org.uk and finally a memorable .co.uk.