is this the right domain name?

[gingerlyspicy]

hi guys.....read some stories here and got inspired so decided to start a micro niche site so after doing keyword research, i searched the domain if it was available....

the word is something like - how to blah blah blah

the domain name howtoblahblahblah.com, .net. org are unavaliable....i dont like .info and that also is not available i think....

so the following choices are left how-to-blah-blah-blah.com but too many hyphens look spammy.....

the second option i got is to chose howto-blahblahblah.com or how-toblahblahblah.com ...which oen shud i go for

 

[sercon]

In my opinion never use hyphens..... not even 1. try to add a suffix or prefix like howtoblabla123.com just an example....

 

[gingerlyspicy]

In my opinion never use hyphens..... not even 1. try to add a suffix or prefix like howtoblabla123.com just an example....

hmm i see......ok

 

[lossehelin]

dont go for that kind of domain

 

[bertbaby]

Hyphens are not a problem and this has been discussed a thousand times before in the forums. The disadvantage to hyphens is people remembering the URL not the actual ranking ranking. Lookup the keywords "cheap cigarettes" in Google, I don't know why it just came to mind, 4 of the top 10 sites have hyphens. Duh, people just like making up shit!

 

[gingerlyspicy]

Hyphens are not a problem and this has been discussed a thousand times before in the forums. The disadvantage to hyphens is people remembering the URL not the actual ranking ranking. Lookup the keywords "cheap cigarettes" in Google, I don't know why it just came to mind, 4 of the top 10 sites have hyphens. Duh, people just like making up shit!

yeah many hyphenated sites for that keyword cheap cigarettes..i think i can go with one hyphen...even my only site has one hyphen and is doing quite ok in search engines

 

[bertbaby]

To my point, people hear or read something in SEO and they repeat it endlessly as gospel (sounds a lot like religion). Or they have a bad experience with a hyphen domain name and then extrapolate that observation to all hyphenated sites. I literally made up those keywords "cheap cigarettes" and right away it blows away all that nonsense about hyphens not ranking. Oh, by the way I don't smoke!

 

[gingerlyspicy]

To my point, people hear or read something in SEO and they repeat it endlessly as gospel (sounds a lot like religion). Or they have a bad experience with a hyphen domain name and then extrapolate that observation to all hyphenated sites. I literally made up those keywords "cheap cigarettes" and right away it blows away all that nonsense about hyphens not ranking. Oh, by the way I don't smoke!

kool cleared my doubts and yeah i also dont smoke

 

[giganut]

If you want to go the route without hyphens then it's probably better to have your keyword at the front of the domain and then a short filler word after such as review or maybe even just an 's' after it. It's easier to remember if your keyword is first and Big G seems to prefer to have keywords near the start of things, titles, sentences etc..

 

[SLSWebber]

The rumor is, Google is paying less attention to domain names anymore because, well, they know what we're up to.

 

[krillinc11]

it might be the right domain name

 

[cornkernel]

i agree that domain names with hyphens look spammy. well, to me they do. if i'm looking for something in google, and there's two results - one with hyphens, and one without, i always click on the one without the hyphens. even if the one with hyphens is higher in the results. i know it's stupid, but that's the way i've always done it.

 

[ksaris]

its better to add a word instead of a wasted spot with a hypen. Just add a filler word like: howtosurfNOW.com (filler word now), or howtosurflessons.com etc etc

That way you can pick up a new keyword possible as well... Hope that helps.