Registering Domain Names

exoticpublishing · #1 (**permalink**) 11-08-2004, 01:53 PM

Hi all,

I hope this is the right forum for this question.

What are the rules again on registering? I knowo the max amount of characters is 55, but should it be one long string of words or is it better for the SEs to use _ underscores in between the words?

Thanks so much & have a great Monday

Michelle :)

**jawn_tech** · #2 (**permalink**) 11-08-2004, 01:58 PM

It seems the right place since the topic is about how domains work in SE's...

Underscores don't work in domains. You won't be able to register a domain with an underscore. Filenames yes, domains, no. Hyphens work fine.

Is it better to separate? Actually the shorter the better. If you want the name to catch on, people have a hard time remembering to hyphen. If you only want to use one or the other, I'd go with non-hyphenated domains with as few of words as possible.

I've noticed Google sees keywords in domains even when words are together and not hyphenated. I see this because the word is highlighted in the result listing.

cyanide · #3 (**permalink**) 11-08-2004, 05:21 PM

The rule of thumb for most people, is to decide the domain for your users / clientele and not search engines. Short and relatable to your business/site.

Incidentally I have a client with a 62 character domain

niagara1 · #4 (**permalink**) 11-09-2004, 01:58 PM

I've personally found that it doesn't really matter what the name of the domain is as long as the website has content relevant to the needs of your market.

I have a client who is #4 in Google under "cedar solariums". Their domain name doesn't have the word cedar or solarium in it (registered it before I started working with them) but there they are.

Just my $0.02 worth.