Does google still like domain names if hyphens are used?

As the title says does google not take a domain as much into account if a hyphen (-) is used to seperate words? such as Keywordkeyword.com & keyword-keyword.com??

cyvex said:

As the title says does google not take a domain as much into account if a hyphen (-) is used to seperate words? such as Keywordkeyword.com & keyword-keyword.com??

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http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=active&biw=1440&bih=733&q=buy+acai+berry+online&aq=1&aqi=g10&aql=&oq=buy+acai+berry+&gs_rfai= Look at 2nd result and decide it yourself!

Yes google gives priority to domains with hypens as like as any other domains.

Solved!

check "hosting review" keyword on google

the first answer is wrong. I would suggest that you watch the youtube video by Matt Cutts from G where he discusses this very issue. G doesnt care much for hyphens in the root domain and hates underscores there according to him.

The example posted in the first answer shows hyphens in a page, not the root domain, but regardless his answer is wrong.

lethbridge said:

the first answer is wrong. I would suggest that you watch the youtube video by Matt Cutts from G where he discusses this very issue. G doesnt care much for hyphens in the root domain and hates underscores there according to him.

The example posted in the first answer shows hyphens in a page, not the root domain, but regardless his answer is wrong.

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:12: of the day

Hypens in Page? Well, I'm not sure what result you've seen.

Take a Look at this screenshot and tell me what result you see in second result. Is that looking like underscore for you? Is that a page? isn't it a domain? or Is it just me who is thinking it as domain? lol...



Edit : Its actually third result. I thought those first two results were ads as the page you mentioned is displayed in ad spot

I have apple-ipads website that outranks the official apple website for keyword 'apple ipads' in yahoo.

I have seen plenty of hyphen domains in top ten results..also I think Mr. Cutts just makes shit up on the spot. If he had any clue how the algorithm really worked..he would work for facebook now.

Thanks for the responses guys and sharing your point of veiws!!

Honestly if you really think about it, Google likes unique content and favors sites with backlinks that contain the anchor text of your keyword.

I have sites with hyphens in the domain that rank well and others that don't rank well at all.

I think it has more to do with your competition. If you have a website already and build a page on that website, it will have hyphens in it. Now if you take that page and build backlinks to it with the anchor text "keyword" that you are trying to rank for, Google will know what the site is popular for and your site will rank for that keyword, given the competition ofcourse.

You have already seen a couple of great examples in this thread, but honestly how many times have you searched for something and found a domain with hyphens in it on the first page? Quite a few I would imagine. That being said, it is more to do with your content and backlinks then your domain. Just an added bonus if you have the keyword in your domain, hyphen or not.

The thing with hyphens is not the hyphens itself, but the use and amount of hyphens in the domain name. If there are two many hyphens in the domain name Google won't value your site as highly, is what some people say. This is what I've read from many sources on internet, googling, and e-books and junk. Other people say hyphens don't matter and that it is even beneficial for your domain to have hyphens to distinguish keywords.

Instead, I find it better to look at Google myself and look at where hyphenated domains tend to rank. What I found is that there are indeed heavily hyphenated domains ranking for many #1 keywords. I didn't really go in-depth, just used MS, and saw that these keywords did have some pretty decent competition, with sites having decent 2+ PR and domain ages of 1+ and decent BLP 1000+.

I didn't really see that hyphenated domain names had to work twice hard with backlinks or something as some people claim. Instead what I found was that both hyphenated and non-hyphenated domains always tend to rank with far less backlinks IF the rest of the competition does not have the keyword phrase in the domain name.

I don't know but I tend to care less about whether to hyphenate domain names than looking for the keyword I want to rank for in the domain name itself. What bugs is me when the competition is so fierce that you can't even buy hyphenated domain names. It actually happens to me all the time so I'm glad if I can even get hyphenate domain names sometimes.

Darn double posts, bhw sure is suffering today

Delete please

i have 3 hypens domain name and it rank well on google serps... #1 from 50million compete pages.

so, think yourself

hyphens, schmyphens, G doesn't give a crap about hyphens.

G cares about link popularity, relevancy, and quality. Period.

I've had a hyphen in my root domain since 2007. Haven't seen any penalties from it.

So to answer OP:
"If the site is good, has numerous back-links, combined with relevant, current content - Google does not care about the hyphen."

Just don't overdo it!

cyvex said:

As the title says does google not take a domain as http://www.blackhatworld.com/blackh...269045-quick-question-domain-experts.htmlmuch into account if a hyphen (-) is used to seperate words? such as Keywordkeyword.com & keyword-keyword.com??

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I am new to all of this so thank you all for the good info

it's just the same, with hyphens or without hyphens

Hyphens is just one of so many factors. Given the choice, I'd take a domain name without hyphens (unless perhaps it's a three word domain). But I'll take a hyphenated dot com over a non-hyphenated dot net any day of the week.

rocket said:

hyphens, schmyphens, G doesn't give a crap about hyphens.

G cares about link popularity, relevancy, and quality. Period.

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^ what he said

lethbridge said:

the first answer is wrong. I would suggest that you watch the youtube video by Matt Cutts from G where he discusses this very issue. G doesnt care much for hyphens in the root domain and hates underscores there according to him.

The example posted in the first answer shows hyphens in a page, not the root domain, but regardless his answer is wrong.

Click to expand...

LMAO, your first problem is that you believe what Matt Cutts says.

Additionally, I am currently ranking on a hyphenated website up against a non-hyphenated website. And the website isn't even done yet!