The Truth about Hyphenated Domain Names and SEO

[abd]

Most people understand the benefits of having keywords in a domain name, but one question that is often asked in forums is whether it is necessary to separate keywords with hyphens.


Although many people have the misconception that search engines aren't smart enough to pick out keywords without the help of hyphens, they are sorely mistaken.



When you give it some though, it would be pretty pathetic if a search engine like Google, which maintains an index of over 10 billion web pages, couldn't pick out simple keywords from a string of characters. Fortunately, it has been proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that they can, and that placing a hyphen in your domain (or not) should have no direct effect whatsoever on your search engine rankings.


When it comes to picking domains, it simply isn't worthwhile to use a hyphen simply for the imagined SEO benefit. In the vast majority of cases, its preferable to pick an unhyphenated name (if it is available) for the simple purpose of proper branding.

[Brendan]

I do agree.. I run a number of small blogs that have the keyword as the domain, with hypends and it hasnt affected my search rankings at all.

Obviously though, if you can get a domain without Hyphens that directly matches your keywords.. then I suggest you get it.. but if its not available.. a hyphenated one is just as good.

[nathanhulls]

The only real benefit for hyphenated keywords is when using the domain for PPC advertising.

When you Advertise on Google Adwords, and your ad appears for the keyword used in your domain, it will appear bolded, so for the human eye, having the keyword hyphenated makes it easier to read, and seeing the keyword they searched for makes the ad more attractive to click on.

I hope that makes sense....