Buying a domain name, need SEO advice.

[SeanMac]

I am planning to purchase a domain for new project that I have planned and I have question that seems kind of simple but I am not sure of the answer.
The domain name will contain three key words and I am wondering what the best name to pick is.

The first option is with hyphens, word1-word2-word3.com
Second option without hyphens, word1word2word3.com

I think the best answer is to buy both names. Right?

Then if I buy both domains which one do I make my primary and which one do I point to the primary with a 301 redirect.

Having solved that little dilemma should I consider options other than .com’s?

Thanks for the insight.

[brian.mark]

Personally, I'd go with word1word2word3.com and forget the other. If you really like hyphens, then you can use the 301, but it won't help for rankings - it'll just prevent someone else from buying it.

Brian.

[Ne0]

Hey Sean,

I would buy both sets of .coms And depending on your budget, it doesn't hurt to buy the .nets too ;)IMO

Also I would use the word-word-word.com as your main .com and redirect the other, I would do this as long as the three words are all targeted keywords ;) otherwise you could use either...

L8 M8

NeO1

[brian.mark]

Originally Posted by NeO~1

Hey Sean,

I would buy both sets of .coms And depending on your budget, it doesn't hurt to buy the .nets too ;)IMO

Also I would use the word-word-word.com as your main .com and redirect the other, I would do this as long as the three words are all targeted keywords ;) otherwise you could use either...

L8 M8

NeO1

What reasoning do you have there for buying them all? It it just to prevent someone else from buying them?

Also, based on some of the comments Matt Cutts has made at SES, I don't think I want any hyphens as the domain I market if I can avoid it. Are you just thinking of SEO and hyphen being a word delimiter?

Brian.

[Ne0]

Originally Posted by brian.mark

What reasoning do you have there for buying them all? It it just to prevent someone else from buying them?

Also, based on some of the comments Matt Cutts has made at SES, I don't think I want any hyphens as the domain I market if I can avoid it. Are you just thinking of SEO and hyphen being a word delimiter?

Brian.

Hey Brian ;) been awhile...

The reasoning behind buying all the domains is simple, if you don't want someone else to have them... you should own them ;) (That's why I mentioned budget, I always suggest this as I had one client get soooooo mad about someone else buying the other name, I know you can't please everyone so I just suggest it) And I own several domains (probably around 85 or so, just because I don't want someone else to have them / or I think they will be good for development later)

I unfortunately (as you know) wasn't able to attend the SES Brian :( And I didn't hear what Matt Cutts had to say about -'s in domain names... In my studies I came across this (keeping in mind that this information pertains to all SE's not just Google)

*from study notes : For example, a domain name such as: http://www.buy-furniture-online.com will generally get ranked higher than http://www.companyname.com, assuming that they had identical keywords and page content. A conclusion would be – you should try to use the domain name which contains your keywords.

Now I disagree with this thought if you have a branded business name, in that case you should just use your business name, something catchy... Anyways does that answer yer q's? ;) and if you have a link to what Matt said at the confrence I'd love to read it!

L8 M8

NeO1

[brian.mark]

Originally Posted by NeO~1

if you have a link to what Matt said at the confrence I'd love to read it!

He's said lots... he speaks on many panels. I haven't seen those particular comments quoted anywhere, so I'll paraphrase.

He makes references quite often to "my hyphen really hypen spammy hypen domain hypen for hyphen viagra hypen powered hyphen rolex hypen watches dot com" quite often. He uses different examples each time, but it's always something funny like that with lots of hyphens with emphasis on those.

I think it was Chicago last year where I heard him say something about more than 2 hypens in a URL usually returns spammy results. He didn't say domain, he said URL. That to me spoke volumes about keeping the hyphens out of the domain so you have some left to use in the directories and file names. Other presenters (I'd need to dig for hours to rediscover who) have stated that hyphens cause the spam prevention bots to look closer at the pages. It doesn't mean any penalty, just that they'll look closer at everything you do. I suppose it's sort of like a foul ball on a 3-2 count - you're not out, but it could have gone either way.

If you take a look at our domains, ToolBarn.com probably wasn't as good as some of the others we own like JustPowerTools.com and JustCordlessTools.com, but we can still get our rankings (although with extra effort.)

We have quite a few competitors that want to rank for tool parts, and you can see it in their SEO campaigns. We haven't really worried much about that phrase because it's pretty generic, but we consistently rank #1 with toolpartsdirect.com. I don't think it matters if you have hypens or not from a keyword perspective, which is why I lean towards the one without after hearing Matt's comments and knowing he's in their SPAM prevention area.

Brian.

[DMC_34]

I can show countless examples of hyphenated domains with 3 hyphens in the domain alone which have ranked for years for some very competitive kewyords. And it seems they cant be knocked out even if you have twice the links.

1st-class-wedding-invitations.com
1st-class-christmas-cards.com

I think hyphens are fine as long as you dont go past 3 per URL. But in hindsight nonhyphenated domains are much better for branding. If I could do it over I would go with a non hyphenated domain and use hyphens in the page names. Hyphens do help in rankings. word1word2 <> word1-word2

DMC

[SeanMac]

Thanks for the input. I will put it to work and see what happens.

[nerdbyte]

I'd pick something easiest for your target audience to remember, rather than buying for search engine inclusion. Domain name isn't the only factor in searching positioning.