SEO & Domain Names with Hyphens

[danl]

How do search engines treat domain names that include hyphens? I ask this question for the obvious reason that many domain names are taken when searching for available domain names that contain keywords which relate to your content-rich web site. However, if hyphens are inserted in a previously unavailable domain name then the chances of the hyphenated domain name being available are increased. How do hyphens affect search engine rankings? Are hyphens counterproductive to prudent SEO tactics? What should I know about using hyphens in domain names?

Dan

 

[999affiliates]

at this time SEs are treating hyphens as a individual word. So if your URL is
www.my-stie.com the search engines will read that as 3 separate words and the hyphen is basically a filler.
If you choose to use this tactic keep in mind you will not be able to change your site to a new market. you will be stuck at www.my-site.com

 

[Linda Buquet]

Note: if it's TOO long with too man hyphens a spam trigger goes off for search engines (I think) as well as consumers.

I'm talking a long one like make-money-online-from-home-easy-money.com

I personally would never do more than one hyphen (but doubt I would ever have to
resort to even 1), you could maybe get by with 2, but that's the max I would do.

There are lots better creative ways IMHO to get a good KW domain.

Numbers: 4greenwidgets 2findcameras 5starWidgets

or adding words: beyondwidgets, widgetvillage, city, land, junction, planet
or any other number of words you could add in front of or after your main KW.

 

[999affiliates]

Note: if it's TOO long with too man hyphens a spam trigger goes off for search engines (I think) as well as consumers.

I'm talking a long one like make-money-online-from-home-easy-money.com

you are 100% correct google trigger hits at the third hyphen. so you will be ok using 2 hyphens. however you should be designing your site for the user not the SEs. no one will remember www.my-cool-stie.com they will leave out the hyphens

 

[Edwin]

at this time SEs are treating hyphens as a individual word. So if your URL is
www.my-stie.com the search engines will read that as 3 separate words and the hyphen is basically a filler.
If you choose to use this tactic keep in mind you will not be able to change your site to a new market. you will be stuck at www.my-site.com

I'm seeing two separate words

1: my
2: site (I presume you made a misspelling in your example)

And you don't have to be stuck with it, if you have a better domain them move everything over to the new domain using 301 redirects, keep the old domain and 301 it to the new domain.

People that will try to find your site using the old domain will automatically end up on your new domain.

 

[999affiliates]

I didn't make a mistake, I stated that the SEs are treating hyphens as a separate word. so the hyphen would be word 2 and site would be word 3.

and yes you could use 301 directs. however I think conversions would be somewhat low when going from say new-cars to pianos.

 

[Edwin]

I didn't make a mistake, I stated that the SEs are treating hyphens as a separate word. so the hyphen would be word 2 and site would be word 3.

Sorry to disagree with you, but a hyphen is not a word, it's a word separator recognized by SE's.

Here is something directly from Google:

word-separator-character: A mapping name may contain one or more semantic "words" which are punctuated with this character. The default setting is the hyphen ("-"), which is SEO compliant.

and yes you could use 301 directs. however I think conversions would be somewhat low when going from say new-cars to pianos.

Ah, got ya - you're correct.

 

[999affiliates]

I am sorry I misspoke. you are correct. i misread a post by Matt Cutts (a google engineer)

 

[Edwin]

No problem

 

[positivecarry]

Some domains that you would think are generic can also be trademarked, and if you hyphenate them, a company will try their best to push you off of it. Search google and the united states patent office search engine for trademarks. And companies can still claim commercial use trademarks.

 

[Edwin]

Absolutely, usage would then also play a big role then when we're talking about generic domains, for a successful UDRP dispute decision to be gained by a company.

Shell-Products.com could be a site about products made from shells, use it in that fashion and you can use it for this.
Use it to list motor oil products and you'll lose the domain.

 

[Mushroom]

I am reading through posts today and this one caught my eye when you mention "trademark" problems.

I have had a law firm come after one of my domains, and the steps they used were insulting.

They sent a matter-of-fact letter stating that I had infringed on their trademarked name and I had one or two weeks to give it to them.

Of course I ignored the letter and it was followed by a couple of more. They were sent eMail. So after being annoyed I sent a reply eMail, and pretty much told them I was sorry they felt that way, and if they wanted to discussed it give me a call, and offered my phone number.

I recieved a call from a law firm, and they were very polite, but stated that I needed to comply or they would have to resort to legal action. Now that really was the wrong thing to do to an old man like me. Which I quickly replied as to what they could do with their threat, and I did not see where they had a trademark on my domain name. The attorney quickly pointed out the trademark reference, and I looked it up. At that point I laughed and said that was what I thought they had a trademark for their "font used" and graphic design in spelling of the name, but not the name itself.

Anyway I may be drifting from the topic, but I felt my experience may help with understanding what can happen with domain names, and trademarks. I still have the domain name, and that has been about three years.

As far as hyphens I like them, and I can not speak with certanity how they are viewed by the search engine. My gut would say "NO" impact because search engines are focused on strong content, and domain name only plays one part of the scoring.

 

[jcorkern]

"Now that really was the wrong thing to do to an old man like me. "

That may have been your saving grace. If it would have been someone young, they probably would have caved with fear of a lawsuit. You age and wisdom walked you through this. I have dealt with these kinds of issues many times. One with a mortgage company over a city name in the title, url and content. But this company had also incorperated the city name into his/her business and url and tried the same tactics.

As long as it is not a registered trademark (have to trademark the url) then there are no worries. Using a name as part of a title , url or content as long as you are not pushing the same branded and trademarked product and or service, there are very limited routes thay can go.

I have also had some contact me about keywords, saying they had keywords trademarked. This was laughable at the least.

 

[marketraise001]

at this time SEs are treating hyphens as a individual word. So if your URL is
www.my-stie.com the search engines will read that as 3 separate words and the hyphen is basically a filler.
If you choose to use this tactic keep in mind you will not be able to change your site to a new market. you will be stuck at www.my-site.com

Exactly what ever domain you choose it will be counted as one.Over the years almost all other major SE'S like Google,Yahoo and Msn have changed their style of search operandi.Whether it is lower or upper case characters or singular or plural,the search term is considered to be the same.Eg: market and Market or market and markets.Same goes for domains with hyphens they are considered as one term.

 

[Edwin]

Exactly what ever domain you choose it will be counted as one.Over the years almost all other major SE'S like Google,Yahoo and Msn have changed their style of search operandi.Whether it is lower or upper case characters or singular or plural,the search term is considered to be the same

.Eg: market and Market or market and markets.Same goes for domains with hyphens they are considered as one term.

There is no difference to be made in lower or upper case, that part is true, but when you say no difference is being made when it comes to singular or plural...that part is not true.

Google for instance doesn't treat that as the same, because it are two different terms...singular and plural.

Just do a test and see for yourself, here is an example on stock market vs stock markets.

If your theory that Google views singular and plural as the same holds true then the top ten search results would then also be exactly the same.

As you can see there are differences in the results, so it's proven that Google doesn't treat singular or plural as the same.

Top ten Google results for stock market:

1: News results for stock market

2: NASDAQ Stock Market - Stock Quotes - Stock Exchange News - NASDAQ.com - 109k - Cached - Similar pages

3: finance.yahoo.com/ - 68k - Cached - Similar pages

4: NYSE Euronext - 18k - Cached - Similar pages

5: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stock_market - 96k - Cached - Similar pages

6: money.howstuffworks.com/stock.htm - 64k - Cached - Similar pages

7: Find the Hottest Stocks in the STOCK MARKET - 26k - Cached - Similar pages

8: StockMaster at MIT - 2k - Cached - Similar pages

9: American Stock Exchange - 13k - Cached - Similar pages

10: The Stock Market Game? - Home - 21k - Cached - Similar pages

Top ten Google results for stock markets:

1: News results for stock markets

2: NASDAQ Stock Market - Stock Quotes - Stock Exchange News - NASDAQ.com - 109k - Cached - Similar pages

3: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stock_market - 96k - Cached - Similar pages

4: NYSE Euronext - 18k - Cached - Similar pages

5: money.cnn.com/data/us_markets/ - 39k - Cached - Similar pages

6: money.cnn.com/data/world_markets/ - 44k - Cached - Similar pages


7: money.howstuffworks.com/stock.htm - 64k - Cached - Similar pages

8: news.yahoo.com/i/1196 - 47k - Cached - Similar pages

9: allafrica.com/stockmarkets/ - Similar pages

10: finance.yahoo.com/ - 68k - Cached - Similar pages

Viewing the difference in results for singular and plural it's proven that singular and plural aren't considered the same search query.

Same goes for domains with hyphens they are considered as one term.

A hyphen is a official word separator - so by definition if you have two words divided by a hyphen it can't be considered one term

 

[lexiseek]

I don't think there's any problem with using hyphens. Sometimes the domain name you want isn't available so you have to adjust..