I think I made a mistake choosing my Domain Name with hyphens between the words. I understand that could be mistaken for a spammer site. Any truth to that? And, what about rank
Excellent question! Let me see if I can help you out.
First off I would just like to say that in my opinion and everything I have read,(pros and cons) Hyphenated domain names aren't a very good idea. There are many different opinions and it is a hotly debated subject.
That being said I have included a few links here that will perhaps give you a well-rounded view of the subject.
This first link is from Alistair McBride. He offers excellent examples and reasoning as well as quotes and links from some "big names" in the SEO field. A very compelling article and a good read.
http://www.selfassemblysites.com/hyphen-in-a-domain-name-good-or-bad-idea/
Now, this next link actually comes from one of our very own ambassadors and a well-respected man in our community, Nathaniel. I really enjoyed this blog. He speaks from his own experience and he does very well in the rankings. (I'm either above or below him in quite a few articles we've both written on the same subject.)
I think his blog will help put your mind at ease about the domain name you have chosen.
Hyphenated Domain Names: Do They Rank? By the way, what is your domain name?
I hope these articles help you out
it is not advisable to have hyphens in domains.. makes it easy for people to forget..
If you are using hyphens because the domain you want is gone then its also advisable to just choose another domain
I don't get the logic behind what you say. My site is http://fit-cats.com and I am getting search traffic to it from the articles I write. I did want to register the domain name fitcats.com but found that it was a domain name for sale at a huge asking price of USD4000! That is why I elected to get the hyphenated name.
Jim
Whew! Thanks Jim for the input. As you know, my website has hyphens. I didn't give it any thought. It will just make us work harder to drive raffic to our website.
how much of your traffic is going to fitcats.com though Jim? Like it or not some of it is.. especially if its an established website..
There are some instances when hyphenating works but in most cases not.
the logic is individuality... being unique.. we have all seen those knock off brands... samtung, bokia, etc
its a matter of being original... it would be like me wanting to create a site called coca-cola.com instead of cocacola.com.
Well Beau there are obviously arguments for and against having a hyphenated domain name. Nathaniel who is ranked #10 here at WA has a such a domain and he wrote a blog article about this subject on this link:- Hyphenated Domain Names: Do They Rank? His website has a first page google ranking being #8 so a hyphenated domain hasn't really affected him and he gives other examples of such domain sites similarly unaffected
Jim
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Domain name with hyphens in between or not?
I think I made a mistake choosing my Domain Name with hyphens between the words. I understand that could be mistaken for a spammer site. Any truth to that? And, what about rank
This is a topic debated often, there appears to be the fors and against. As far as I understand your URL is not that important these day. Content is top of the list. Your write a blog post and the title is part of your URL for the post. It needs to have keywords to attract viewers. I would not be too concerned about the hyphens. Cheers Kev
Excellent question! Let me see if I can help you out.
First off I would just like to say that in my opinion and everything I have read,(pros and cons) Hyphenated domain names aren't a very good idea. There are many different opinions and it is a hotly debated subject.
That being said I have included a few links here that will perhaps give you a well-rounded view of the subject.
This first link is from Alistair McBride. He offers excellent examples and reasoning as well as quotes and links from some "big names" in the SEO field. A very compelling article and a good read.
http://www.selfassemblysites.com/hyphen-in-a-domain-name-good-or-bad-idea/
Now, this next link actually comes from one of our very own ambassadors and a well-respected man in our community, Nathaniel. I really enjoyed this blog. He speaks from his own experience and he does very well in the rankings. (I'm either above or below him in quite a few articles we've both written on the same subject.)
I think his blog will help put your mind at ease about the domain name you have chosen.
Hyphenated Domain Names: Do They Rank? By the way, what is your domain name?
I hope these articles help you out
it is not advisable to have hyphens in domains.. makes it easy for people to forget..
If you are using hyphens because the domain you want is gone then its also advisable to just choose another domain
I don't get the logic behind what you say. My site is http://fit-cats.com and I am getting search traffic to it from the articles I write. I did want to register the domain name fitcats.com but found that it was a domain name for sale at a huge asking price of USD4000! That is why I elected to get the hyphenated name.
Jim
Whew! Thanks Jim for the input. As you know, my website has hyphens. I didn't give it any thought. It will just make us work harder to drive raffic to our website.
how much of your traffic is going to fitcats.com though Jim? Like it or not some of it is.. especially if its an established website..
There are some instances when hyphenating works but in most cases not.
the logic is individuality... being unique.. we have all seen those knock off brands... samtung, bokia, etc
its a matter of being original... it would be like me wanting to create a site called coca-cola.com instead of cocacola.com.
Well Beau there are obviously arguments for and against having a hyphenated domain name. Nathaniel who is ranked #10 here at WA has a such a domain and he wrote a blog article about this subject on this link:- Hyphenated Domain Names: Do They Rank? His website has a first page google ranking being #8 so a hyphenated domain hasn't really affected him and he gives other examples of such domain sites similarly unaffected
Jim
See more comments
This is a topic debated often, there appears to be the fors and against. As far as I understand your URL is not that important these day. Content is top of the list. Your write a blog post and the title is part of your URL for the post. It needs to have keywords to attract viewers. I would not be too concerned about the hyphens. Cheers Kev
Thank you for your advice, Kev.
You are very welcome. Cheers Kev