WordPress SEO - To Hyphen or Not to Hyphen?

Norris416 · 08-12-2009, 12:07 PM

hello - I'm doing my best to optimize my new WP mini site but I'm confused about one aspect.

I've adjusted the page / blog structure to use actual customized names for each page or post. I'm using a hyphen in between each word in the page titles.

ie. domainname.com/page-name.

Is that effective SEO or should I lose the "-" and do this:

domainname.com/pagename

OR is there a better way to do it?

Obviously this only applies to multiple word pages/posts.

Insight and wisdom appreciated.

Thanks everyone!!!

thebutler · 08-12-2009, 12:54 PM

Keep the hypens. It will help with long tail keyword phrases in the search engines. You can really work your page and/or blog entries to hit some keyword phrases.

shockie · 08-12-2009, 02:48 PM

you might as well keep them if they're in there, but i think they play only a very small role in seo, unless you have very obscure keywords.

angilina · 08-13-2009, 02:50 PM

Originally Posted by Norris416

hello - I'm doing my best to optimize my new WP mini site but I'm confused about one aspect.

I've adjusted the page / blog structure to use actual customized names for each page or post. I'm using a hyphen in between each word in the page titles.
????: NamePros.com http://www.namepros.com/search-engines/602801-wordpress-search-engine-optimization-hyphen-not.html

ie. domainname.com/page-name.

Is that effective SEO or should I lose the "-" and do this:

domainname.com/pagename

OR is there a better way to do it?

Obviously this only applies to multiple word pages/posts.

Insight and wisdom appreciated.

Thanks everyone!!!

I think I saw Matt Cutts saying that using hyphen between words will make the two words separate. Not using them means that SE bot will consider them one word.

I am not sure about it. I will try to search Matt Cutts blog to find the post where he talked about this.

08-12-2009, 12:07 PM	THREAD STARTER #1 (permalink)
Norris416 NamePros Member Join Date: May 2009 Location: Ontario Posts: 120	WordPress SEO - To Hyphen or Not to Hyphen? hello - I'm doing my best to optimize my new WP mini site but I'm confused about one aspect. I've adjusted the page / blog structure to use actual customized names for each page or post. I'm using a hyphen in between each word in the page titles. ie. domainname.com/page-name. Is that effective SEO or should I lose the "-" and do this: domainname.com/pagename OR is there a better way to do it? Obviously this only applies to multiple word pages/posts. Insight and wisdom appreciated. Thanks everyone!!!

08-12-2009, 12:54 PM	#2 (permalink)
thebutler Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 1,229	Keep the hypen Keep the hypens. It will help with long tail keyword phrases in the search engines. You can really work your page and/or blog entries to hit some keyword phrases. __________________ Test Internet Speed - Computer Freezes - Slow Internet SEO in Toronto - Slow computer - Internet speed check DSL speed test help

08-12-2009, 02:48 PM	#3 (permalink)
shockie Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2006 Posts: 4,702	you might as well keep them if they're in there, but i think they play only a very small role in seo, unless you have very obscure keywords. __________________ - shockie

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