Does Google Penalize Domain Names With Dashes or Hyphens?

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Does Google Penalize Domain Names With Dashes or Hyphens?

Anyone have experience with this?

Thanks!
 
Thats the stupidest question ever.

But no they dont. That would be dumb. Domains and some TLD's are all equal, its the content on those domains that get you penalized.
 
Not in my experience. I have created normal domains and domains with hyphens and noticed no difference. I think it's more about whether or not you have the right on and off page SEO that determines rankings.
 
Thats the stupidest question ever.

But no they dont. That would be dumb. Domains and some TLD's are all equal, its the content on those domains that get you penalized.

Come on..the stupidest question ever??:p

Just wanted to know if there was a noticeable ranking difference for example:

dogtraining .com

vs.

dog-training .com
 
No, so manner other factors have far greater importance. This question has been asked a hundred times before and there are some long threads you should review. But the answer is still no.
 
Come on..the stupidest question ever??:p

Just wanted to know if there was a noticeable ranking difference for example:

dogtraining .com

vs.

dog-training .com


if i build a site for crawlers ( spam sites, mfa, etc, aff info blogs) i would choose the second one. But anyway... there is no difference at all ;p
 
One hyphen = no problem. I prefer no hyphens though, just because it looks better and is more easily typed for branding purposes; the resale value of domains without hyphens is also greater. Google has established that they can accurately parse the separate words from a domain name, so that's not really an issue.

More than one hyphen = you may have a problem. Cutts has said in the past that more than one hyphen can be an indicator of a spammy domain, and I'd tend to agree with that.

All in all, it's not really a big deal.
 
keyword domain with no hyphen will have more juice then one with a hyphen. But keyword domain with hyphen is still greater than non keyword domain.
 
I don't think i've ever seen a domain with hyphens in #1 spot. Maybe for some long tail keywords. Maybe i'm wrong :)
 
well no. Why would domain registrars put hypes on domains if its not good?
 
Nope, no effects. I have a site with hyphens an it's ranking very high. :)
 
well no question is stupid. Everyone around here is to learn.

I see several hyphen sites ranking better than sites with no hyphens at all. Domains with one hyphen will not matter and domains with two hyphens is something to look into but still i have seen many sites doing better, but more than 3 hyphens will be considered spammy and it is better you avoid such domains.

Example, when you search for love quotes you will see 2 hyphened domain ranking above all. Work on good onpage and offpage and you should be fine.
 
go for dash domains,,,

i have one and it ranked high on google ;) got #1 spot!
 
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