Hyphens in Domains

[Spiffy2]

I was wondering if using hyphens in domain names makes any difference in terms of SEO?

Thank you,
Spiff

[mwz81]

I've used a couple of sites with hyphens.... I haven't had any noticeable negative effects from it.

If you do some google searching you will see sites all over ranked high that use hyphens.

[marciahenin]

Having hyphens in the domain name does not affect the search engine positions. I have sites with and without hypens and it make not much different.

[SnerdeyWebs]

Before using hyphens make sure you don't have competitors without them. People tend to forget to enter them and it's not best practice to have same domain name just with added hyphens. So, without knowing more about what you're up too that's the only thing I can think of so far

[SeoRasta]

For SEO it makes no difference BUT for marketing and promotion it does!

[keyon]

Although I don't know of any scientific tests about this topic (I suspect people have done them), most of the SEO research I've read over the last few years place hyphenated domains somewhat down on the list of best-scenario formats for SEO. Most guidelines I've seen put exact keyword match domains first on the list (bluewidgets.com). This is followed by exact keyword + modifier at end (ie: bluewidgetsblog.com). Curiously enough, the hyphenated version comes in even a few more lines below on the list (at least on the lists I've seen).

Doesn't make much sense to me. Don't know why Google would favor non-hyphenated domains (if in fact they do). Seems like hyphenated keywords would only serve to help search engines by separating the words for them. But then there's a lot of things I don't understand about search engines

[morestar]

I would like to second second this statement.

Although I don't know of any scientific tests about this topic (I suspect people have done them), most of the SEO research I've read over the last few years place hyphenated domains somewhat down on the list of best-scenario formats for SEO. Most guidelines I've seen put exact keyword match domains first on the list (bluewidgets.com). This is followed by exact keyword + modifier at end (ie: bluewidgetsblog.com). Curiously enough, the hyphenated version comes in even a few more lines below on the list (at least on the lists I've seen).

Doesn't make much sense to me. Don't know why Google would favor non-hyphenated domains (if in fact they do). Seems like hyphenated keywords would only serve to help search engines by separating the words for them. But then there's a lot of things I don't understand about search engines

[domylights]

If there is any negative effect that adding a hyphen to a domain name it has to be minimal. I have seen too many top ranking websites with hyphens that suggest that it has litle to most likely no effect on the ranking; although I have heard a few people say otherwise.

[blings]

I was wondering if using hyphens in domain names makes any difference in terms of SEO?

IMO, hyphenated domains are usually the last resort for top position hungry SEO spammers and site flippers. Like if I wanna ride on the popularity of ezinearticles.com, I'd grab a registration for ezine-articles.com, promote it to take a portion of ezinearticles' branded popularity. But I think there's nothing wrong with using hyphens on domain as long as it is not similar to the scenario presented, else right then and there, you're automatically understood as a spammer even if you appear otherwise.

[stevecane]

One hyphen is as good as none, any more than one and you're wasting your time because it starts to look 'spammy' e.g. work-from-home-plan.com LOL!

S