I've got a domain name I'm keen on, but it's taken. However the hyphenated version isn't. I remember at one time there was some discussion about hyphenated domains being more attractive for page ranking purposes, but haven't heard much on this lately.

My question is does anyone have any data on this? I can always come up with another name, but if the hyphenated version will do better for page rank, I might go ahead and go with it.

Example.

marketingfornoobs.com OR marketing-for-noobs.com

Thanks!

Hyphenated does well with searches. Hyphenated doesn't always do so well with offline businesses promoting their website.

So in your case, I'd say go with the hyphens. I don't have hard numbers for you, but I tested this for over a year and the hyphens win.

The search engine won't have a problem with either one.

However, people will, if you ask them to type it in.

If you ask people to type in "copy-writers-board.com" most of the time they will forget and enter "copywritersboard.com"

Same problem with .net, they will think .com

The search engines are way better then before, but even if there was a slight advantage to a hyphenated url, I don't think it would matter much.

More important factors include, on page copy, links, whois data, age, etc.

Google is king right now and they use many factors to score a webpage.

Most of my biggest competitors do not have a hyphenated domain.

Tell me about it! What peeves me is someone has a domain name without the hyphen you want, but it's been parked for 2 years now. That's their right, but it sure was a lot easier to buy it off them in the old days. Now you've got all the domain registrars squatting too!

Bottom line is, get both the hyphen and non-hyphen domain if you can. If you can't and you're really stuck on a domain name, and only the hyphenated name is available, that may work, depending on what you're going to use it for, and what the non-hyphenated version is being used for.

For example, when I scooped up power-effects.com, I noticed powereffects.com was already taken, but it was for car buffs, and nothing to do with my niche or a product like mine. For that particular product, the hyphenated version served me well.

I also picked up alternate domain names that also fit the bill. Here's a blog article I wrote that gives some insight into some of my domain picking strategies:

A Domain Name They’ll Remember | A Prescription in Marketing

(Sorry for the blog plug, but this is one case where it's very relevant, and I don't need to duplicate my points here).

Cheers,

John

We have multiple urls for our business.

CompanyNameUrl.com

BenefitRichDomain.com

redirect them into one.

Andy,

I was doing research on this issue recently for a client, and I found contradictory advice about the hyphen.

When I started my Debt-Free-Mom site, I wanted a non-hyphenated domain name. However, someone had it (and I believe it was inactive). Anyway, it hasn't hurt us one bit in the search engines. If you type "debt free mom" without the hyphens, we're still ranking at the top.

Granted, a lot of people will forget to type the hyphens in the address bar. If given the choice, I'd get one with and one without the hyphens. Since that isn't an option, go ahead and get the hyphenated name. I own several hyphenated names.

You can also go with dot net (et al), but dot com usually fares better in people's memories. If I had to choose between a hyphenated dot com and non-hyphenated dot net, I'd go with the hyphen.

Good question. I wish there was hard data from google but I haven't seen it.

I've been using domains for about 12 years and owned or managed at least 300 over that time for clients and myself. Here's some thoughts.

1. If you ever have to say the domain at a live event, in passing, on the radio or tv, or on an audio AND you can't get a print version in their hands that they can take with them like a business card then I'd say no hyphens or digits. It's too much trouble to have to spell it out for them and they'll get it wrong anyway.

2. If it's just a link then I don't think it matters what the domain is because they'll never have to type it in. What matters now is how will the search engines treat it. I don't get into that stuff so I leave that up to the "pros".

3. Length of the domain and the URL as a whole is important when you go to print. It's a pain to get "http://www.stuff-in-a-box-for-sale.com/getitnow/seriously/getitnow.html" on a business card, flyer, classified ad, on a tv screen, etc. That's an exaggeration of course, just trying to make a point.

4. Some of it is just how it sounds to us because we're going to print it, say it and hand it out to people a freakin' lot so pick a name you don't mind looking at and saying for the next 5+ years.

5. I have seen google give preference to people's names in the domain, both with and without hyphens, if the content is about the person and there are links to the site that also have their name either as the link or near it in the text.

I'm sure there are more considerations, these were just the ones that I've had to deal with. Cheers.

Phil's advice is exactly right. I have tested hyphen/no hyphen and google doesn't really care one way or another.

People, however, do.

And it gets worse. If you told people to go to mysite.biz or mysite.us, for some reason people will go to mysite.biz.com or mysite.us.com.

It's funny how people are still not used to the idea of a non.com.

BTW, you could get the .us (google is cool with it) and then register the same .us.com. I believe Network solutions is handling those.

Like I said in my other post, I really don't think you'll see a difference in the search engines with a non-hyphenated OR a hyphenated.

In the old days separating the words may have helped, but not now.

You can get high ranking on a hyphenated url just the same with a non-hyphenated.

As far as the search engine are concerned, it doesn't make a big difference anymore.

If you want to keep up on the search engines
Search Engine News - Search Engine Marketing Strategies from Planet Ocean
is one the best sources of information
or the forum
WebmasterWorld News and Discussion for the Web Professional

I've been a member of both for about 8 years.

Because of the information I've got from both sites and our own feedback, we come up high on many keywords related to our site.

The search engines look at:
*Page title & header,
*keywords in the body text and placement,
*who links to you (and the text they use in the link)
*who you link to
*age of the domain
*Who owns the domain
*image file name
*internal link structure
*there's more, but the above are some of the most important

If I had to pick, I would rather have the non-hyphenated domain, simply because people will forget to type in the dashes between the words.

thanks

p.s.
I'm sure John Carlton would rather have johncarlton.com instead of john-carlton.com

But either way, when you enter John Carlton into Google, his website comes up number one, because he has more people linking to it with the words "John Carlton"