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To use or not to use Hyphen in the url
- Thread starter ddwebguru
- Start date
- Status
you'll lose type in traffic, if yo don't also own the non-hyphenated version. So if you own great-cars.com and I own greatcars.com, I'm going to benefit from the work you do on your own version.
In the vast majority of cases I'd say the non-hyphenated would be the better choice as people will tend to default to that when they type in the address. BUT, if your aim is search engine traffic, i'd rather pay for site development and content and see if something works with a hyphenated domain than make a big investment in the domain and spend less on the site.
In the vast majority of cases I'd say the non-hyphenated would be the better choice as people will tend to default to that when they type in the address. BUT, if your aim is search engine traffic, i'd rather pay for site development and content and see if something works with a hyphenated domain than make a big investment in the domain and spend less on the site.
Hmm ... slow-motion replay ... here's the "why" ...
Once upon a time, search engines were not very good at parsing domain names, and a hyphen helped the spiders.
Now, the spiders are better at parsing, so for Search Engine Optimisation purposes the difference is not noticeable.
If you want a domain for commercial use, it is better to have an unhyphenated name for spoken purposes (ie. when you actually tell the name to someone), because the hyphen is often forgotten, and you may also lose traffic to the unhyphenated domain. If you only need to transmit your domain name in written form, there is no disadvantage in using a hyphen.
And if you want to get type-in traffic, where people look for an appropriate site by speculatively typing in a web address, the hyphen is usually a disadvantage, because they usually try this without a hyphen. In fact, get the right unhyphenated name, corresponding to a hyphenated domain with heavy traffic, and you can pick up a lot of business.
Once upon a time, search engines were not very good at parsing domain names, and a hyphen helped the spiders.
Now, the spiders are better at parsing, so for Search Engine Optimisation purposes the difference is not noticeable.
If you want a domain for commercial use, it is better to have an unhyphenated name for spoken purposes (ie. when you actually tell the name to someone), because the hyphen is often forgotten, and you may also lose traffic to the unhyphenated domain. If you only need to transmit your domain name in written form, there is no disadvantage in using a hyphen.
And if you want to get type-in traffic, where people look for an appropriate site by speculatively typing in a web address, the hyphen is usually a disadvantage, because they usually try this without a hyphen. In fact, get the right unhyphenated name, corresponding to a hyphenated domain with heavy traffic, and you can pick up a lot of business.
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If you want type-in traffic, you want the name without the hyphen. If you are looking for Search Engine results, it doesn't matter if you have a hyphen these days - the spiders have learned to parse the keywords properly in most cases. But sometimes the hyphen is useful. keep on down the thread, ignore the big gaps where me and aZooZa removed the animated discussion.
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- Joined
- Feb 10, 2009
- Posts
- 148
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Thanks for the simple explanation. But I wonder shy some reputed website owners are using hyphenated domain names.
When to use a hyphenated name is - when you want the keywords, and the competition can't be bothered to put the work in.
Example - you search for nicewidgets and find the .com, net, co.uk, org.uk are all taken.
Try nice-widgets, and you find the co.uk and org.uk are available, but the .com is taken.
Then you look harder - all those sites which are taken are parked, and you are interested in using the keywords "nice widgets" to develop your live widget site for widget sales from your base in Nice, France.
C'mon - it will not take long to get a good site about widgets indexed, when the competition are not even selling widgets, and they are not based in Nice.
The big boys look a little harder - click on the "view site" button, don't just say "It's taken, I won't bother".
Example - you search for nicewidgets and find the .com, net, co.uk, org.uk are all taken.
Try nice-widgets, and you find the co.uk and org.uk are available, but the .com is taken.
Then you look harder - all those sites which are taken are parked, and you are interested in using the keywords "nice widgets" to develop your live widget site for widget sales from your base in Nice, France.
C'mon - it will not take long to get a good site about widgets indexed, when the competition are not even selling widgets, and they are not based in Nice.
The big boys look a little harder - click on the "view site" button, don't just say "It's taken, I won't bother".
Perhaps this is the best reason of all for going for a hyphenated domain. I've steered clear of them myself so far, but maybe it's time to take the plunge. They seem to work for many webmasters.
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