To Delete - Or Not to Delete?.That is the question.
So going over the training a second time I see that hyphens in the domain name is a no,no. I must have missed this first time round with so much to take in.
But my domain is now out there - with hyphens.
Will this affect my rankings to the extent that I can be marked down?
If so should I delete my website and start again? (Without hyphens)
Will I be able to use the content of the old site on the new site?
What other problems will I have should I delete?
Oh the horror!
I feel as though I cannot move on until this is resolved.
I am grateful for any replies received in my hour of need.
Recent Comments
14
Hello Anne,
I had the same problem and I do hate hyphens, they made look my website so unprofessional.
That said, I do not know if my solution is universal or only goes for my theme (Ribosome), but all I did was adding the following code to the additional CSS:
p, blockquote, li, h1, h2, h3, h4, article { hyphens: none !important; }
A line of code allowed me get rid of a nagging headache, would you believe it?
I truly hope this helps!
PS.
Please backup your website if you are going to try my solution.
Well, well, thank you so much for your reply. I think I might catch a headache by going in those CSS. I am not yet confident. Let's say I'll try next year...
But you are right I will backup the website first and, of course, I will let you know how it worked.
Wishing you a nice day,
Anne
Anne, I was more worried than you, but it was easier said than done. I am in the middle of something now, but I am going to send you a pm later today. :-)
Hi, Paul. I know what you mean about wanting to everything right, and finding a mistake = panic! Thankfully you have the community to assuage your fears and guide you through it. Carol
Hello Carol, Thank you. When you don`t know "stuff" that everyone else seems to know you can start to think you`re way out on a limb. Then you think you`ve blown it. Followed by "I`ll never be any good at this" and yet what you see as a major issue may not be anything at all!
Thank you for the response and reassurance. Now following.
Paul.
You're welcome, Paul. Thanks for the follow. I spent a lot of my career in the mental health field as well. Carol
I ran a very successful insurance site for many years with hyphens. The sky is not falling. The world is not ending. Write the title without hyphens unless you are referring directly to the URL. All will be okay.
Thank you Jeannine,
That's encouraging. In trying to do things right first time, molehills can become mountains!
Kind regards, Paul.
The reason that hyphens is discouraged is that it is hard for people to remember. For instance if you have www.waelthy-affiliate.com then your tribe following you will forget the hyphen and type www.wealthyaffilaite.com on the address bar. So it's a generational thing kids will type in the address bar and older people are more likely to favourite your page and bypass the address bar. Doesn't happen in every case I am talking about statistically.
However, from a ranking point of view Google ignores punctuation such as hyphens.
Whether you start again depends whether you have bought your own domain or whether you are using siterubix. If You decide to purchase another domain name, Then the first one is defunct. You can always use it as a test site though. It means purchasing a completely separate domain name and I'm guessing if you had to have a hyphen Then the original domain is not free without it.
If you are using siterubix There no problem just create another domain name.
Hope this makes sense, if not reply to this message
Hello Kat, Thanks for the reply. I bought the domain so realise I would lose the $14 on that one and then spend another $14 on the new one but would put that down to experience. I do not need the hyphens. It was just a way to make it different from similar titles. Perhaps I will persist with the original.
PS. Love your bio. Now following.
Kind regards, Paul.
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Hi Paul!
In your case, I would focus on blog posts and other pages and try to rank with them well. Use the proper keyword strategy and try to rank the articles well.
That way your website will be visible as well. remember that every page or post of your site is important, with their URL and keywords. Not only the home page or main URL of your website.
The SE robots are looking after the written content and links. They try to understand the text. I am sure you know that. This is the main consideration.
Best regards!
Stay well, market better, convert best!
Igor