Hyphen (-) in domain names

[azmi]

What is the impact on search engine rankings if I use Hyphen (-) in domain names?

like www.my-domain.com instead of www.mydomain.com

Is there any other issues like trademark copyright etc...

Azmi

[kikkertm]

I believe it doesn't make any difference what so ever in the SE ranking... maybe better to ask this question in the Search engine topic ?

[edwinj]

It used to be true that hyphenated domains had an advantage gaining better ranking for their keywords.

But this is no longer the case. Serch engines have become smarter. Hyphenated or non-hyphenated, there are no distinct advantages in securing good positions.

[Linda Buquet]

I don't think it effects search engines, but NO hyphen is more memorable and will have a much higher value if you every decide to sell. I would never go with hyphen for those reasons providing the non-hyphenated version of the word was available.

[Gary Golden]

I would never waste any money purchasing a domain for any substantial value that has a dash or slash in it. They are hard to remember!

I only have one site with a number in it and it is .us but I am the only one that comes up on the search engines.

The money domain are .com and .net and all others are secondary.

[rambodog]

I have to agree, the only time I would put a dash in a domain name is if it is in the original company name or word.

[kikkertm]

I agree in principle although I do have some hyphenated names in my portfolio that I feel are quite acceptable (E-reading.com and Ad-Blocking.com) Offers are welcome - very low reserve ;-)

[xmx]

This is a very discussed issue.

I have as anybody my personal opinion.
I prefer to have not to long domain names keywords rich with 1 hyphen in them than longer domains with not relevant keywords.

Example, I have car-drivers.com and I prefer it to a longer domain as amazingcardrivers.com.

On the other hand when surfing the net I arrive to a website with the domain composed by numerous keywords separated by hyphens I have nothing against it.